I often hear people complain about the poor quality of tap water, the need to buy bottled drinking water, inadequate water supply etc.
I’d like to take this opportunity to praise the yummy, pristine, plentiful, federally protected water supply in this area. We can thank The Great Miami Valley Buried Aquifer for this bounty.
The water is so good here that there is a Miller brewery located about 5 miles from here. Mmmmm beer, ewww Miller.
So how’s the water where you are? Is it clean and clear or is some hazy liquid that smells of sulfur and chlorine?
It’s vile hellbrew, reeking of sulfer and chlorine, yet disturbingly clear. Being a firm believer in the utter idiocy of bottled water when filtered water would do nicely, I use a brita. I also drop the damn things on the floor with disturbing (and expensive) regularity, being fundamentally an uncoordinated person.
When I saw the title of this thread, my eyebrows did verily arch-- I’ve always been a sucker for ye olde english and a little innuendo never hurt either.
Anyway, here in Denverish, Colorado the water seems just fine to me. A lot of people I know claim it smells funny or something but I don’t really notice it. It should be noted that I drink a ridiculous amount of water and am probably largely desensitized to it. I find the water in Boulder to be absolutely delicious. Never went in for filters or bottled water. I don’t really know if its a credit to the water given the swill they turn out, but Coors is here. (I just want all you non-Colorado people to know that even though you see pictures of mountains streams and such in all the Coors commercials, Golden Colorado is actually a pretty run down little town on the Eastern edge of the foothills surrounded by mining operations and a rather impressive nuclear repository. Cheers!)
I live in Iowa City, Iowa. The water is frightning, but not dangerous. Lots of people drink bottled water and no one is without a Brita. This is normal for most people, coming from other icky-water areas, but for me, it’s daily torture. For I hail from Dubuque, Iowa: home of the best damn water anywhere!
I recall us flat-out winning an international contest a few years back, but I can not find a site. But here: waterwaterwater we at least won the bronze in 2001. (scroll down about twice)
Our water is so good I can take it from the tap, put it in a water bottle, drive back to IC in 90 degree heat, let the bottle sit in the closed oven of a car for a few hours, break it out and drink it warm and it is still the best water I have ever drunk. I miss it…sniff…
Very good, crystal clear, tasteless and odourless (I’m on the South coast of England) - I believe it’s just been independently tested and given high approval.
Synchronicitly, there was an article in the UK press this morning that Yorkshire water and United water are to start bottling their tap water in a bid to take on the established bottled water brands.
“They are taking up a gauntlet thrown down by the chief inspector of drinking water, Michael Rouse, who said that British tap water has reached almost perfect purity, and that water companies should take on the bottles”.
IMHO, the quality of water in my area has risen a great deal in the last 15 years, and I drink it happily. Then again, in a perfect world my kitchen tap would dispense Timothy Taylors. I guess you can’t please all the people all the time…
I do remember a time, perhaps 8 years or so ago when I was awoken at midnight by a loudspeaker van (I thought it was the WW3 or something) driving around the streets telling people not to drink the tapwater without boiling it first (apparently excessive rain had caused runoff from cattle fields to contaminate the sources with cryptosporidium and the filters (or whatever had overflowed).
A heartwarming little tale that accompanied this incident: my siste works at a psychiatric unit where adolescents with eating disorders are treated; she was sent out to get a supply of bottled water for them (because people who are dangerously malnourished are much more susceptible to illness and the consequences are much more serious). She was fortunate enough to get the last few bottles in the store, but a man (middle-aged, professional type in a sharp suit) pushed her to the ground and took the bottles from her trolley for himself, she protested that the water was for a hospital and he replied “yeah, sure it is” (or some such) and walked away with the water.
We have good quality water here in Matsuyama. Actually, the artesian basin water is of such good quality that it can be drunk without boiling, and so we use it a hell of a lot.
One foreign friend was amazed at the good taste of the water, she asked what brand it was when I gave her a glass!
Cool site. Having great water is a good choice on where to live. I used to live in Tucson and they had bad water. We had to get those water coorler services.
My dad used to live in St. George, KS and he had some kick ass water from wells dug down to that hugh aquifer under the Great Plains
Here in Hawaii we generally have amazing water since it’s filtered through all this lava rock which is really porous and a great filter. Why just 2 years ago we took a tour. See the little red bar on the left of the island? We joined a small group and walked to the back of that tunnel. It’s called the Waihe’e Tunnel. At the end was water that had gone through 6 months of filtration. They gave us styrofoam cups and we all caught water draining from the ceiling, and boy does it drain, and drank it. Really good. It’s a free trip and if you ever come to Oahu it’s something cool to see if you can do it. Most tourists don’t since nobody knows about it, they don’t advertise.
But all is not well. Our water is closely connected to rain. And 5 years of draught (which have just ended) have left our both the aquifers under the Ko’olaus and under the Waianaes losing water fast. And with 1 million people and growing on the island it’s a tough siutation.
My word! My sentences are just terrible. Quite embarassing. But I guess I’m asking for by staying up so late. Someday I shall learn my lesson in all of this.
Water’s fine here, unless it rains a whole lot - then we’re recommended to boil it. Tastes a bit chlorinated, but that’s because we have a really old pump in our neighborhood (I live across the street from it), so the filtration system’s a bit off, but it’s good enough to drink right from the tap.
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
During severe droughts, occassionally you get a little taste of chlorine.
Apart from that, I’ll drink it straight from the tap, no purification or anything and it tastes great.
Of course, I rarely drink water. Fish fornicate in water you know.
The water in Cumbria is plentiful.
In my old workplace, it stank of chlorine, because the chlorination works was not very far upstream. At home, however, it’s just fine.
There’s a Bloom County cartoon with Opus, Milo and the gang perched on Three Women Peeing (the unofficial name for the fountain on the Ped Mall, now removed, sadly) saying, "Iowa City, how do I love thee . . . let me count the ways . . . " And it ends with, “But the water tastes like Spic ‘n’ Span.” With any luck, you can probably find it hanging in the public library.
Weird. I’m from the country near Dubuqe, and I always throught city water tasted funny. Though I guess now that I think about it, it’s better than the city water 'round heyah. And of course it’s a damn sight better than IC water.
We live in the country, and I don’t mind our tap water, though it’s got too much iron for my husband’s taste, so he gets cheapo gallon jugs of spring water from the grocery store. I usually drink that, because it’s cold out of the fridge.
I moved last year from a suburb in Colorado Springs, CO city limits to a tiny suburb right outside Colo Spgs city limits. Within Colorado Springs, the water was delicious. Clear, Pure, Pristine, you name it. I’d routinely just hunker up and suck my water straight from the faucet (cups, we doan need no steenking cups!). Whats more, though, is that when I rinsed after showering, the water would actually move the soap off of my body, leaving me squeaky clean. The water for Colorado Springs comes from several reservoirs in the Rocky Mountains.
Out here where I live now, though, our water is drawn from Widefield Aquifer. It is, IMHO, supremely inferior to Colorado Springs water. It tastes minerally and flat, and powdered drinks made with it always taste a bit ‘off’. Whats worse, though, is that now when I rinse after showering, I am left with a soap film that the aquifer water refuses to remove. Stupid Aquifer Water!
I guess just call me spoiled from drinking from a mountain reservior during my formative years…
Sure, Mermaid, drag me in here expecting some sort of Elizabethean pornfest, and all you want to know about is my tapwater? You can come down and suck on my tap anytime you like, doll, you know how to find me! But apparently I should come up to the town between the cities.
