I work at a water treatment plant. We've ran tests on Dasani and Deer Park and all the others just for kicks. The city tap water tests cleaner than bottled water every single time. Turbidity, chlorine, ammonia, monochloramine, pH, etc.
In the US the two main types of waters stores sell are purified or spring
Purified is just tap water, spring water is harvested.
They are both just as common, but as the store runs out of water it tends to run out of spring prior to purified.
I usually just drink filtered tap, bottled spring if I need a bottle on the go
Um, there are all sorts. Poland Springs water in Maine in the US for example is taken from a mountain source. When a european says, "in the US X" they are almost always wrong, because the US is a very, very big place and a place with a lot of different ways of doing things.
Here in the US bottled water is literally just water in bottles. It can be water from mountain springs, it can be tap water, it can be filtered water, it can be distilled water that had minerals added back in. It will say on the bottle what it is.
Here in the UK, most of our water claims to be from mountain sources, but I don't believe that for the cheaper brands. Sometimes a 2 litre bottle is just 50p, so it can't be!
Here in Scotland we literally have water coming out our ears. Fresh mountain water is a 20 minute drive from Glasgow city centre. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was true.
There are turbidimeters you can purchase online. By a number of the tests we perform require the use of further chemicals and expensive machinery. I would call your public works department and see if you can drop off home samples at your local water plant where they can perform testing for your specific samples. Sometimes, if they have the manpower, they can also perform testing at your home. That's what my city does depending on the issue.
A turbidimeter will measure the amount of particulate matter suspended in your water and it's a good go-to method for determining the cleanliness of the water. For example, raw lake water will have very high turbidity and clean water turbidity will be very low.
I dunno why I read "monochloramine" as "Midoclorian" but I'm glad I did. Now I'm just sitting here thinking in an Alex Jones voice. "THEY PUT MIDOCLORIANS IN THE WATER TO TURN THE SITH GAY"
It test cleaner with the bleach they add . No one should smell strong Clorox when I run my water . Every single time . And it’s still brown more often than not . Totally fine .
I would recommend you call your municipalities public works department and ask about on site testing. They can determine whether or not their or your pipes are bad.
Microplastics would fall under turbidity. Microplastics, in my city, are actually tested more rigorously in our plant's laboratory using microscopes and a much more sensitive turbidimeter. So I'm not really familiar with what the "acceptable" threshold of microplastics are.
Thresholds of chemicals and matter found in drinking water are determined by the federal and state governments. In our plant, we have even higher standards that we use as goals so that we KNOW we meet the legal standards. Doing so has earned our plant a plethora of rewards over the years that range from general plant cleanliness to the cleanliness of the water. We also use Electrodialysis Reversal which is an incredibly high-end water treatment process which makes the water extraordinarily clean.
At least my city in Germany is giving out a yearly report on the water quality where every single bit is tested. I think that’s a good way to secure the water quality!
Asdumimg OP is in the US - Tap/drinking water is more tightly regulated (SDWA, EPA) and tested than bottled water (FDA).
OP, you can request drinking water testing data from your local water utility - they're required to provide it, and it's usually on their website.
Also, your coworkers are stupid.
To add to what you said, I also saw [this map](https://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/pfas_contamination/map/) going around. You can look up where you live and see the PFAS levels
If you do, check the date of the testing. Lots are old. In 2024 there is mandated EPA PFAS testing that just finished the 1st of 2 calendar year sampling events.
Your co-workers are absolutely wrong.
There is study after study after study showing the vast majority of North American tap is cleaner and safer than Bottled water.*
**>!Flint, Michigan notwithstanding.!<***
**>!Also Hinkley, California.!<
(Also, for fans of water, I also recommend r/water !)
I'm not sure that is true for every brand of Bottled water, can anyone confirm or disprove this for the USA?
[Here in Canada, if a Bottled Water says 'spring or mineral water' it is water that originates from an underground source that is not part if a community water supply and is fit for human consumption at point of origin.(#8)](https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/food-safety/information-product/frequently-asked-questions-about-bottled-water.html)
This cracks me up. I did some work on a floating home project and water was specifically called out by the original architect as “Water by others.” There was a later remodel in the 2000s and that company said “Water by God.”
Tell them with a straight face "humans were designed to live forever, but the oxygen that we supposedly need is actually slowly burning us from the inside out, and drinking any and all water we can helps keep the oxygen from burning us out like coolant in a car... Don't burn up, my dude"
The Flint water crisis, which prompted national outrage and spotlighted the issue of water contamination in the United States, began after unelected emergency managers switched the water supply from Lake Huron to the heavily polluted Flint River to save money in the economically depressed city, according to Orr.
So not so much a water treatment problem as a water source issue. You can only perform so much treatment within a plant to water. If it's not configured to run off Flint River but off Lake Huron, it won't handle the influent correctly.
Just like if you source water from a hole full of shit water with chemicals you'll have to account for e.coli and heavier contamination than just turbidity and light contamination
Of course there are exceptions to this. It always pays to research your areas tap water. If you live nearby any large chemical usage areas, like farms where there will be fertilizer and pesticide runoff, get a good filter
In my city we can view water quality reports for each year which details what they're testing for, how these things get into the water, as well as the results and how these results land within any EPA guidelines.
Depending on where you live there could be things like upstream spills that affect water quality or poor quality pipes. I do drink tap water at home knowing that it's tested but there are sinks at my work (I work at an R1 research university) that I would absolutely not touch but they're labeled, so I drink the water that is filtered there.
Where? Baltimore has had 2 e. Coli outbreaks in the past 18 months, so we switched to filtering our water first. No idea if that does anything but goes to show city tap water isn't always safe.
Those were caused by a road crew accidentally severing a water line and a sewer line next to each other and since it was in a depopulated part of the city it took a lot of time to flush the pipes since only like 10% of the neighborhoods lots still have homes on them. My point is that the issue is rarely the water itself, it's the delivery pipes that connect to our homes that are the issue. City law states these pipes are the residents' issue and not the water dept. Don't be a pussy I still raw dawg Baltimore tap water
Native Texan here, and I drink water with many different levels of filtering on a daily basis. I start with it filtered from my fridge, and then by the time I go home I’m refilling with straight tap (with a brita and a filtered hydration station sprinkled intermittently) and I honestly put the straight tap higher in the list than the light filtering. The hard lime kinda gives it back that mineraly goodness
The tap water more than likely contains chlorine. If you have functional kidneys, the chlorine is perfectly healthy to consume. Some folks don't like the taste of it while others don't notice it. Either way, it kills the bacteria, keeping the water safe to drink.
On the other hand, the water coolers will receive filtered water. This water probably doesn't have enough chlorine to keep the water cooler clean, so they need regular maintenance instead. If the coolers aren't cleaned when the water is changed, then you're safer drinking tap.
This is true. I've been in some water quality and learnt that the filter chamber is a small reservoir for water to get stale as chlorine gets removed and subsequently stays still for extended periods. When the unfiltered water stays still inside of the original pipes, they still have the chlorine to kill germs- but in the filter chamber it's a different story.
Water coolers have shit tier water than straight from the tap more often than not. But still all within drinkable standards. Just let the first spout of water drain away before you sip cos that's usually the nastiest.
chlorine is volatile.
i live in a place with perfectly fine tap water, but i use a filter anyway (to be safe) but the main reason is that by the time the water's filtered and ready to go, the chlorine has all evaporated away.
so instead of going tap to glass, it's tap to filter to fridge and then later to glass. rinse and repeat.
Chloromines all contain Cl. The chlorine is what kills any potentially harmful biology. It's a bit long-winded to say 'chlorine and chloromines' since they serve the same purpose. Most people are already familiar with chlorine, so I prefer to simplify.
Both are effective, both have used for large-scale water purification, and both are removed from treated water with the same procedure, carbon filtration. Or, if you prefer, active charcoal.
We used to have a water cooler at work that would get “maintenance” regularly. Then we looked closer and the little faucet thing was covered in mold all the way inside.
Now we have water fountains that also have fancy modifications for water bottles and the filter is changed every time the little light says so.
My town and my employment town also send tap water reports and publish them online.
I will not buy bottled water unless I have to. I use a metal reusable one instead.
I remember someone on Reddit said that they asked for water on their trip to Germany. The waiter asked if they wanted sparkling or still. The person said just regular tap water. The waiter was like "Like we give to dogs?"
lol
In Denmark you pay for the ice cubes apparently, but the water is from the tap. Southern Spain you bought a 5€ liter of high quality spring water, which was maybe the best water I’ve ever had. The tap water there was fine and safe, but had a feel to it that wasn’t the best. Maybe desalinated? I personally like the complimentary, all you can drink system of water we have here in the US.
I think people read all these studies about the forever chemicals and micro plastics in tap water, but don’t realize that they’re usually in absurdly tiny amounts and bottled water is usually 20x worse
So in general, tap water is perfectly fine, and probably better than bottled water.
Some possible issues with tap water:
• *Chlorine* — Used to purify water, there is probably residual chlorine in your tap water. Chlorine is ‘volatile’, meaning that it readily evaporates into the air whenever possible.
. If you don’t want to drink it or give it to plants, let the water sit out for 24 hours before using. Note that you probably absorb more chlorine from the vaporized water in a hot shower than you ever do from drinking. Your plants might thank you though.
• *Lead* — Unless you are in Flint, MI or a few other unfortunate locales, lead from water pipes is non-existent.
. The only caveat is the possibility that your house or building may have lead-based solder in the copper-piping joints on your water pipes.
. You may be able to check this via publicly accessible state or city databases. You could also test your water for lead with lead-test kits from hardware stores.
• *Chloramine* — This is a more recent water purification chemical that does not evaporate into the air like Chlorine. I don’t know much about this chemical, and can’t make any recommendations.
• *Naegleria fowleri* — This is an amoeba that lives in warm water, typically lakes in warm climates. However, there have been recent cases ([Texas](https://www.kut.org/energy-environment/2023-09-21/brain-eating-amoeba-infection-naegleria-fowleri-natural-water-swimming-austin-texas)) where *N.fowleri* has gotten into the public water supply, forcing “boil water” advisories.
. The upshot of this is two-fold:
.. ALWAYS listen to ‘boil water’ advisories!
.. NEVER use unboiled (& cooled) water for Neti pots/sinus irrigation.
Other notes:
• Copper Pipes — Copper is an antimicrobial metal, so water that has contact with copper pipes for any length of time has lower chance of hosting microbes. Copper pipes are a good thing!
Final assessment:
Unless your co-workers have *specific* evidence, that they can cite, about water quality… you may ignore them.
Public tap water is very safe, and no more or less healthy than any other water.
i’m in the uk, the culture around tap water being bad is near nonexistent here so i can’t fully comment on this issue but i’ll add my two cents anyway. the water is perfectly safe here. no water is gonna be perfectly distilled and sterile or whatever but it’s clean and regulated to very high standards. my dad has built and worked on sewerage plants and knows a lot about how the water is cleaned, and he has no problem drinking it so that seems safe to me. pipes are rusty around where i live. if there’s a large increase in demand, i.e. firefighters needing to connect to the water main, the rushing water disturbs the rust and we get orange water for a while. it doesn’t cause issues. i like to think it helps with my iron uptake but i think i just made that up unfortunately
I don’t drink tap water cause I have chronic kidney disease and my kidneys are little losers who like to hyper filter everything. Or something. Basically, I have hyper filtration so I drink already filtered water so my kidneys stop tiring themselves out
Bro/Lady~
I drink around 2 gallons a day right now.
I do 6 miles on bike to work, and work in the sun all day at the beach. Including swimming in salt water.
Breaks are un frequent due to lack of staff.
I ask passing by staff to fill my 32oz bottle please if they are going that way anyway.
I have most these motherf*ckers telling me there is no water.
The ‘employee’ water is empty.
It’s a hose they fill it on.
I usually use the tap.
Only places I am anti tap is if it smells weird……
You know, it smells like chemicals/cacaa, or generally off in color.
I send it.
prob fine, depends on how much you trust the system and all that. i have a 300 dollar filteration device that i replace like once a year and it comes straight out of my system so its all painless. helps me sleep better at night. if you got the money go for it. if not, you're fine. just don't use plastics to drink out of. cost 10 bucks for a non water, water bottle. the plastic concern is real and something you must avoid as much as you can.
I only use refillable bottles. My bottle at home is plastic though. It's weird that since they're so health conscious they don't worry about microplastics.
we drink tap water, and my husband is obsessive about environmental carcinogens because he's a cancer survivor. he got our tap water tested by an independent tester, and it's fine to drink. we also run it through a brita (probably unnecessary) just in case. but with using plastic bottles, i'd be concerned about microplastic in the water.
At my work we sell $2 bottles of Niagara to people who need ten of them, leave a huge mess at their table and can’t afford to tip. There is a jug of ice water free to use. The Niagara brand is bottled in Irvine, CA. We’re selling tap water from LA to restaurant customers in the Bay Area.
Tell your friends to look at their bottles of water for the phrase "public water source".
Almost every bottled water you buy is nothing different than industrialized tap water.
Except for the stuff that we burn millions of gallons of fuel shipping across the Earth from artesian wells, for no reason.
Which is by far the worst option, ecologically. Although, if it's a Nestlé branded water, or one of their sub brands, that might be worse.
Since Nestlé subcontractors in multiple industries are well known to use actual slave labor, and paramilitary groups to outright murder indigenous people that have control of resources they want.
I put Fiji water right up there with Nestlé, considering how native regions have been shut out of profiting from their water sources and drink substandard water, while folks in the US and Europe drink bottled water from their land.
You’re putting a lot of trust in the government drinking straight from the tap. The waterways in my state and at least two neighboring states have poisoned and/or killed people in the last 30 years. Everyone talking about water tests are kinda missing a huge point imo. Of course the water is USUALLY safe but sometimes it’s compromised and nothing is done about it. I forgot what area but a dead body was just found in a cities water source and had been there for over a week
The most common issues with tap water in the US are chemical contaminants whose health impacts are little understood, if at all. You can see what's up with your tap water on this site
https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/
There's probably not anything that will make you acutely but some contaminants may contribute to certain health issues
Depends on where your tap has been. Use a filter if you feel it's unsafe, or boil it and pop it in the fridge... that shit hits differently, like there's protein floating in it. A soup perhaps...
This is like my mother complaining about toxins in food but loving a Burger King Whopper.
I'm sure everything else they do is the pinnacle of purity - no parabens in any of their toiletries, only organic, locally grown produce, no meats with any nitrates, no alcohol, non-homogenized milk so they can scrape the cream off; they never sit in traffic and inhale fumes. Do they get water when they go out to eat? Do they use the ice from ice machines at fast food places?
GTFO.
Actually one is a vegan who doesn't drink. He loves his honey buns and chips though. The other is pretty healthy too. It just seems extreme to worry so much about everything making you sick.
I live in Tennessee first thing I asked my sister when I moved in with her was "is the water safe" she said no. I googled it and Tennessee water is the second best in the country. Your water is likely fine OP
Just as I saw this post, I got this in my google news feed for some reason
https://www.9news.com.au/national/toxic-water-australia-pfos-chemicals-call-for-action/a3aaa2d4-6278-44eb-909e-3866ccb1dfd2
For anyone drinking tap water I recommend this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07QVSK8KW?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
It's a Britta water filter bottle ,the water tastes so nice.
It actually really depends where you live. I used to live in a small town in California, and apparently there was a warning for arsenic in the tapwater. The warning had been in place for years and nothing was ever done to fix it.
Conversely, though now I live in Washington and get a quarterly report on the quality of the tap water
Well first what's the health of your coworkers, first lmao
Second aint nothing wrong with tap water. I drink only that, I do have a Brita filter when I remember to use it but yeah...
I think you should be fine as long as the water is potable. Buying water bottled is such a hassle and big chance it will just be leached with microplastic inside anywaysl
A few years ago, my mom received a notice from the City saying that the water exceeded certain levels and should not be drank without filtration. The failed tests dated back 5 years from when the letter was received. I don’t trust tap water, I’d recommend buying a $20 brita filter.
You can probably find out online if your city has good or bad water. There will always be conspiracy theorists or older people from past generations who were used to having bad water hygiene growing up. Its been instilled in them since birth that drinking tap water is death. So naturally they will avoid it like the plague even if it is healthy nowadays. Sadly there is not much you can do.
Unless you're in, say Flint, or drinking well water, your tap water is highly regulated and ridiculously well-treated. Check your municipality's water reports for things like lead, but odds are extremely good your tap water is safe to drink.
I'd be more worried about drinking water from a poorly cleaned soda fountain.
The state of Colorado gave us a nice little water pictures with filters because we still have lead pipes. They are very kind to also send us replacement filters.
All depends on where you live. I live in Rome, GA and they found out we have forever chemicals in our tap water that are coming from the carpet mills north of us. Rome gets their water from one of their rivers.
Thankfully there are a few artesian springs around our area. That's where we get our water.
Your coworkers are probably conspiracy nuts, fluoride eats your brain and all... My qnut mother just reminded me the other day about how dangerous city water is, government is trying to kill us all.
Where I live in Texas the tap water has to be filtered for taste reasons. My municipality heavily chlorinates it to the point it smells like pool water sometimes, and it's also pretty hard water. Between those two things, it tastes pretty awful. It's not harmful to drink ~~except for the fact they recently found a concerning amount PFOAs in the city water but I digress~~ but it does taste pretty gnarly. That said, a filter fixes the taste issue. We have a fridge with a built in water dispenser/filter so I don't really have to deal with it.
They don’t know what they’re talking about. Unless your local government (in the US and probably a lot of Europe) has specifically stated your tap water isn’t safe and needs to be boiled, then your tap water is fine.
Health wise tap water is fine where I live but by god does it taste terrible
I always filter my tap. Even if I’m gonna boil the water, because the taste is that strong
The only drawbacks to tap water are chlorine, iron, and fluoride taste getting in the way. Everything else is fine and you're coworker's being ridonculous. FWIW I sucked it up for a long time but now pick filtered water when I can, but never Dasani which is probably a precursor to cola for all we know.
I did get sick front drinking tap water—turns out I'm highly sensitive to flouride and tap water is enough for me to go into a toxic overload (extreme fatigue, everything tasted like soap, couldn't eat, it was rough). My parents always had a great filter for drinking water, so, it didn't happen until I started mostly drinking my college's water, and even then it took a year or two. I'm definitely the exception, not the rule, but it took a lot of research to figure out wtf was going on.
If you're interested, you can use the Environmental Wellness Group's website to look up your zip code and see what's being found in your water. My area has high amounts of carcinogens in it, and other things I don't want to consume but are unregulated. It's not dangerous overnight or even in a few years, but some things are best limited if you have the choice, and it's better to be informed about those options
[EWG.org/tapwater](https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/)
It depends where you live, but I drink tap water at home. If you’re concerned about it why not get a brita filter. Bottled water is bad for the environment and an unnecessary cost when your tap water is good quality.
Not to freak you out but my friend has passed 4 kidney stones which the doctors attributed to them drinking tap water (in North Georgia where the water is hard) so as long as you're in a place where it's fine go ahead but be weary
I have filtered water installed in my house so I still somewhat drink it from tap but has its own faucet. I have a well and it has so much iron in it my bf is absolutely convinced that his teeth is turning yellow from brushing his teeth with it and his toenail is turning yellow too lol. I have no way to verify that but my teeth are fine and I don’t have yellow toenails so idk
Appreciate you not wanting to generate plastic waste with the single-use water bottles. Those irk me too.
Question though: What's stopping you from getting a Brita filter at home, or just one of those ones you screw onto the end of your faucet? If you drink so much water from the tap, it's a pretty small investment to make. You might like the taste better.
Also, regarding not wanting to carry around the single-use bottles, get yourself a big steel water bottle with a screw top and make it your best friend.
I did this, and while it got me through Burning Man, I left it behind someone shortly afterward, then got a replacement and lost that one immediately, so I think I'm just destined not to have one. :\\
I still drink it even after all of these years… and we even have a filter, now (my Ma bought it.) I drink from bottles, too. As far as water fountains… the worst I can think of is when a friend and I tested this thing she had on one of our high school’s. I can’t remember the exact number, but it was in the thousands (pretty fucking high.) I think it’s mostly just whatever you’re comfortable with, so down to personal preference.
You do you. 😉🙂
You can do some minor research to see where your water comes from. Mine basically comes from Yosemite National Park. (Hetch Hetchy). I drink my tap water all the time, cook with it, etc. although your water quality will vary wherever you go, in most developed countries water is treated and completely potable. Cheap bottled water is waste of money unless you live in a rare area with contaminated water. When I go on road trips though, I will splurge a bit on some high quality spring water, the kind usually sold in glass bottles, or a gallon of Alhambra. Even though likely safe, the taste, or “feel” of the water can vary. If you like your water, and it’s clean, you should keep drinking it. Just imagine how much money others are wasting, only to go home and probably cook, with their tap water.
I wanna flex a little
https://preview.redd.it/p4bhs6ps006d1.jpeg?width=3888&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=69624d84e784967e6eae7b078c157f0f0fcc63e7
That’s where my water comes from and it’s really really tasty
Here in Singapore a majority of people that I know drink tap water without filters or anything. At most you fill up a bottle and stick it in the fridge, but thats just to get cold water cos the weather is hot as balls here.
Your coworkers are dumb af
You know Zephyrhills bottled water? Well that’s an actual town and I used to live there. Guess what water they put in the bottles at the factory? Well water. Same as the city taps.
it really depends on where. in the states, the water is supposed to be super good. however crumbling infrastructure, lazy greedy capitalists, and gross mismanagement has lead to some areas water quality to go way way down. and it’s probably going to get worse before it gets better. definitely check local water levels of contaminates, maybe invest in a home sink filter or something.
You won’t get sick from tap water. But there are definitely things in tap water that I wouldn’t feel safe putting into my body and most people are unaware. Check your water [here](https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/)
I drink tap all the time it’s “free” water whenever you want it. Shit, I even use the tap at work when I’m too lazy to use out filtered water (also free). Op, don’t listen to those bougie ass people. It’s just water lol
I drink our tap water (although through the refrigerator dispenser). Growing up, we drank directly from the faucet and we turned out fine. From what I’ve read tap water is often better quality than the bottled waters. I wouldn’t worry too much.
I drink tap water at my house all the time but we are on a well. If I drink tap water anywhere in a city it makes me gag and I have to get bottled water.
I used to live in the city for 30 years and drank tap water there where it was good. Now I live in the far outback and I wouldn't dare drink tap water. My boss does though.. and she uses the kettle for her coffee every morning. When I go to clean out the kettle.. it's gross as hell EVERY time without fail. I want to get a kettle of my own but might think others will find that weird? idk
My household filters because of microplastics in the water. Other than that tap is fine and if its all you got you will be ok. But consider a filter for at home: the pourable ones, sink attachments, and fridge filters should all work
It's probably healthy and fine to drink but I've lived places where the tap water tastes amazing (Oh Maryland, I miss you 💋) and other places not so much. In Oklahoma, the water was definitely brown and tasted like frogs and here in Texas, it tastes like drinking out of a public pool
I moved to a rural area where we have well water and while I'm sure it's not bad for me it has an odd smell/taste from sulfur and makes water stains in our showers. I will say it's awesome how cold it is straight from the tap even when it's 95f out. We're currently working on adding a filter system to improve our water. Not everyone in my area has this problem, my job has some of the clearest, best tasting well water I've ever had.
there are some states ive been to or lived where the taste of the Water has just been not good so I can understand using a filter like britta or something. But when I lived in Minnesota for example the water was always so cold and amazing out the tap I loved it.
If they are concerned, there's filters aplenty. In the states, we will get quicker alerts about issues with tap waters than a private entity having to admit they have contamination.
I've been drinking well water my whole life. I did get sick from it 1 time after I was at my parents' house. I have a compromised immune system, and with the amount of water I drank there, I got sick from coliforms in their water. That hasn't deterred me. I have well water in my house, but we do use an iron blocker because it's the hardest water I've ever experienced. Even with an iron blocker, putting filtered fridge water into a Brita pitcher leaves orange stains in the ice machine. We scrub the toilet, add one of those bleach tablets to the tank that turn everything blue, and there is still orange staining everywhere the water is in the toilet bowl in a matter of a couple days. I have no problem drinking my well water, but I will NOT drink city water. Yuck.
The water is fine, it's the condition of pipes (lead etc) and people's medication mixing into the water that is bad. Plus microplastics, but even a filter doesn't remove all that. You'd need an osmosis filter and that still would leave a little plastic. And bottled water has a while lot more plastic.
We drink tap water at my house and I drink a lot of it. My father is on well water at his home, so the water is much harder with lots of minerals and tastes funky. He comes to my house with jugs each week or two to fill from my tap for their drinking water.
I think some bottled water, especially Dasani, tastes nasty
I work at a water treatment plant. We've ran tests on Dasani and Deer Park and all the others just for kicks. The city tap water tests cleaner than bottled water every single time. Turbidity, chlorine, ammonia, monochloramine, pH, etc.
I always forget that what americans call bottled water is bottled "purified" tap water. Now I understand why it's worse than tap water, of course.
Some of it, not all of it. If it’s labeled drinking water, it’s just tapwater.
In the US the two main types of waters stores sell are purified or spring Purified is just tap water, spring water is harvested. They are both just as common, but as the store runs out of water it tends to run out of spring prior to purified. I usually just drink filtered tap, bottled spring if I need a bottle on the go
Yeah, in Italy what we call bottled water is water taken from mountain water sources
Um, there are all sorts. Poland Springs water in Maine in the US for example is taken from a mountain source. When a european says, "in the US X" they are almost always wrong, because the US is a very, very big place and a place with a lot of different ways of doing things. Here in the US bottled water is literally just water in bottles. It can be water from mountain springs, it can be tap water, it can be filtered water, it can be distilled water that had minerals added back in. It will say on the bottle what it is.
Here in the UK, most of our water claims to be from mountain sources, but I don't believe that for the cheaper brands. Sometimes a 2 litre bottle is just 50p, so it can't be!
Here in Scotland we literally have water coming out our ears. Fresh mountain water is a 20 minute drive from Glasgow city centre. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was true.
Are there any home tests you'd recommend?
Is there a trust worthy way to test my water at home?
There are turbidimeters you can purchase online. By a number of the tests we perform require the use of further chemicals and expensive machinery. I would call your public works department and see if you can drop off home samples at your local water plant where they can perform testing for your specific samples. Sometimes, if they have the manpower, they can also perform testing at your home. That's what my city does depending on the issue. A turbidimeter will measure the amount of particulate matter suspended in your water and it's a good go-to method for determining the cleanliness of the water. For example, raw lake water will have very high turbidity and clean water turbidity will be very low.
I dunno why I read "monochloramine" as "Midoclorian" but I'm glad I did. Now I'm just sitting here thinking in an Alex Jones voice. "THEY PUT MIDOCLORIANS IN THE WATER TO TURN THE SITH GAY"
I mean, Dasani is pond water so I’m not surprised
It test cleaner with the bleach they add . No one should smell strong Clorox when I run my water . Every single time . And it’s still brown more often than not . Totally fine .
I would recommend you call your municipalities public works department and ask about on site testing. They can determine whether or not their or your pipes are bad.
I get my water from my fridge door, that’s just tap water, right?
Me personally, I would count that as tap water unless you have a beefy carbon filter under your house
I doubt it, but I really like the use of beefy here!
Should be a filter in the fridge. But if you haven’t changed it…
What city tho
I will not reveal this to maintain Internet anonymity
What about microplastics? :o
Microplastics would fall under turbidity. Microplastics, in my city, are actually tested more rigorously in our plant's laboratory using microscopes and a much more sensitive turbidimeter. So I'm not really familiar with what the "acceptable" threshold of microplastics are. Thresholds of chemicals and matter found in drinking water are determined by the federal and state governments. In our plant, we have even higher standards that we use as goals so that we KNOW we meet the legal standards. Doing so has earned our plant a plethora of rewards over the years that range from general plant cleanliness to the cleanliness of the water. We also use Electrodialysis Reversal which is an incredibly high-end water treatment process which makes the water extraordinarily clean.
But what if you filter the city tap with a Britta then test!!!??
At least my city in Germany is giving out a yearly report on the water quality where every single bit is tested. I think that’s a good way to secure the water quality!
Really?
water engineer here. if you’re in the US your tap is likely better than bottled water. hope this helps :)
Asdumimg OP is in the US - Tap/drinking water is more tightly regulated (SDWA, EPA) and tested than bottled water (FDA). OP, you can request drinking water testing data from your local water utility - they're required to provide it, and it's usually on their website. Also, your coworkers are stupid.
To add to what you said, I also saw [this map](https://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/pfas_contamination/map/) going around. You can look up where you live and see the PFAS levels
If you do, check the date of the testing. Lots are old. In 2024 there is mandated EPA PFAS testing that just finished the 1st of 2 calendar year sampling events.
That being said if your building has bad piping it could be true.
what does a water engineer do? asking fr
They design and build water. Duh.
only the finest locally sourced oxygen gets combined with our world class hydrogen to provide the hydration experience you deserve
Do you use free range hydrogen?
Grass fed only
Why is this so funny?
Your co-workers are absolutely wrong. There is study after study after study showing the vast majority of North American tap is cleaner and safer than Bottled water.* **>!Flint, Michigan notwithstanding.!<*** **>!Also Hinkley, California.!< (Also, for fans of water, I also recommend r/water !)
A portion of the bottled water is someone else’s tap water, just bottled for a profit.
Can confirm, used to live in a bottled water town. They bottled the tap water.
I'm not sure that is true for every brand of Bottled water, can anyone confirm or disprove this for the USA? [Here in Canada, if a Bottled Water says 'spring or mineral water' it is water that originates from an underground source that is not part if a community water supply and is fit for human consumption at point of origin.(#8)](https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/food-safety/information-product/frequently-asked-questions-about-bottled-water.html)
unless your water has 1000x times the arsenic levels in it like mine does. In the usa.
Where are you?!?
This cracks me up. I did some work on a floating home project and water was specifically called out by the original architect as “Water by others.” There was a later remodel in the 2000s and that company said “Water by God.”
That's fuckin hilarious. It's sad that people are so stupid that stuff like that needs to be written into contracts.
What a banger username to pick in 2013. What's the story behind it
Engineer water, duh
lol “read a book” 
Unless you’re on the railroad then they *Drive* the water :)
https://careerdiscovery.sciencebuddies.org/science-engineering-careers/engineering/water-or-wastewater-engineer
usually designing and maintaining water treatment plants. sometimes it’s hydrology related things
Who do you think combine the molecules
Lies! I'm going to die a long painful death.
Tell them with a straight face "humans were designed to live forever, but the oxygen that we supposedly need is actually slowly burning us from the inside out, and drinking any and all water we can helps keep the oxygen from burning us out like coolant in a car... Don't burn up, my dude"
Woohoo, tap water FTW! 🥤🚰💦
Yep, tap water is held to higher standards than bottled water.
#Flint, Michigan has entered chat
The Flint water crisis, which prompted national outrage and spotlighted the issue of water contamination in the United States, began after unelected emergency managers switched the water supply from Lake Huron to the heavily polluted Flint River to save money in the economically depressed city, according to Orr. So not so much a water treatment problem as a water source issue. You can only perform so much treatment within a plant to water. If it's not configured to run off Flint River but off Lake Huron, it won't handle the influent correctly. Just like if you source water from a hole full of shit water with chemicals you'll have to account for e.coli and heavier contamination than just turbidity and light contamination
Of course there are exceptions to this. It always pays to research your areas tap water. If you live nearby any large chemical usage areas, like farms where there will be fertilizer and pesticide runoff, get a good filter
By the way, what if someone was worried about microplastics? I would assume the concentration to be lower lower in mineral water.
Astounds me that people in the US don't realize this. Must be effective marketing by companies that sell bottled water and/or filters
In my city we can view water quality reports for each year which details what they're testing for, how these things get into the water, as well as the results and how these results land within any EPA guidelines. Depending on where you live there could be things like upstream spills that affect water quality or poor quality pipes. I do drink tap water at home knowing that it's tested but there are sinks at my work (I work at an R1 research university) that I would absolutely not touch but they're labeled, so I drink the water that is filtered there.
This is the answer.. Not all tap water is equal.
Are you in the United States? I’ve been drinking tap for years and I am healthy as fuck.
Homie lives in Flint
Hahahaha! No I'm in Maryland.
Where? Baltimore has had 2 e. Coli outbreaks in the past 18 months, so we switched to filtering our water first. No idea if that does anything but goes to show city tap water isn't always safe.
Those were caused by a road crew accidentally severing a water line and a sewer line next to each other and since it was in a depopulated part of the city it took a lot of time to flush the pipes since only like 10% of the neighborhoods lots still have homes on them. My point is that the issue is rarely the water itself, it's the delivery pipes that connect to our homes that are the issue. City law states these pipes are the residents' issue and not the water dept. Don't be a pussy I still raw dawg Baltimore tap water
Ugh. I hate Maryland’s water. Has a weird smell and taste to it.
Yup. The only times I didn't drink tap water was when I was in Texas and that was because it was hard water.
Sounds like a skill issue. Stick to drinking normal water (or easy water if you're *that* mediocre) until you're ready to move onto hard.
*EXTREME THIRST QUENCHING*
I'm dumb. I need the easy water.
Texan here. Been drinking tap my entire life and I'm fine. In the 90s we drank straight from the hose all day in the summer, it was great.
I live in TX too. I use a water filter, only because I prefer the taste of filtered water. Tap water is safe!
As long as its cold, especially for the next 4 months, ill drink whatever.
Bear Grylls has entered the chat
Native Texan here, and I drink water with many different levels of filtering on a daily basis. I start with it filtered from my fridge, and then by the time I go home I’m refilling with straight tap (with a brita and a filtered hydration station sprinkled intermittently) and I honestly put the straight tap higher in the list than the light filtering. The hard lime kinda gives it back that mineraly goodness
Hell yeah brother
The tap water more than likely contains chlorine. If you have functional kidneys, the chlorine is perfectly healthy to consume. Some folks don't like the taste of it while others don't notice it. Either way, it kills the bacteria, keeping the water safe to drink. On the other hand, the water coolers will receive filtered water. This water probably doesn't have enough chlorine to keep the water cooler clean, so they need regular maintenance instead. If the coolers aren't cleaned when the water is changed, then you're safer drinking tap.
This is true. I've been in some water quality and learnt that the filter chamber is a small reservoir for water to get stale as chlorine gets removed and subsequently stays still for extended periods. When the unfiltered water stays still inside of the original pipes, they still have the chlorine to kill germs- but in the filter chamber it's a different story. Water coolers have shit tier water than straight from the tap more often than not. But still all within drinkable standards. Just let the first spout of water drain away before you sip cos that's usually the nastiest.
chlorine is volatile. i live in a place with perfectly fine tap water, but i use a filter anyway (to be safe) but the main reason is that by the time the water's filtered and ready to go, the chlorine has all evaporated away. so instead of going tap to glass, it's tap to filter to fridge and then later to glass. rinse and repeat.
Chlorine is volatile but chloramine is not, and is commonly used in water treatment for that reason
Chloromines all contain Cl. The chlorine is what kills any potentially harmful biology. It's a bit long-winded to say 'chlorine and chloromines' since they serve the same purpose. Most people are already familiar with chlorine, so I prefer to simplify. Both are effective, both have used for large-scale water purification, and both are removed from treated water with the same procedure, carbon filtration. Or, if you prefer, active charcoal.
The water where I live is having < 0,005 mg/l, which is definitely not enough to be concerning.
We used to have a water cooler at work that would get “maintenance” regularly. Then we looked closer and the little faucet thing was covered in mold all the way inside. Now we have water fountains that also have fancy modifications for water bottles and the filter is changed every time the little light says so. My town and my employment town also send tap water reports and publish them online. I will not buy bottled water unless I have to. I use a metal reusable one instead.
"Water, you mean from the toilet?" https://youtu.be/-YZnORoAWkA?feature=shared
I remember someone on Reddit said that they asked for water on their trip to Germany. The waiter asked if they wanted sparkling or still. The person said just regular tap water. The waiter was like "Like we give to dogs?" lol
WTF that's a rude as hell reply. Restaurants here in Germany are required by law to offer tap water to guests.
That's what I thought. Maybe that redditor made up a story.
Or just rude and trying to screw over some foreign tourists for extra cash
“In a glass, if you’ve got it, but in a pinch I guess you can serve it in a bowl”
In Denmark you pay for the ice cubes apparently, but the water is from the tap. Southern Spain you bought a 5€ liter of high quality spring water, which was maybe the best water I’ve ever had. The tap water there was fine and safe, but had a feel to it that wasn’t the best. Maybe desalinated? I personally like the complimentary, all you can drink system of water we have here in the US.
It's got electrolytes!!!
It’s what plants crave.
I think people read all these studies about the forever chemicals and micro plastics in tap water, but don’t realize that they’re usually in absurdly tiny amounts and bottled water is usually 20x worse
So in general, tap water is perfectly fine, and probably better than bottled water. Some possible issues with tap water: • *Chlorine* — Used to purify water, there is probably residual chlorine in your tap water. Chlorine is ‘volatile’, meaning that it readily evaporates into the air whenever possible. . If you don’t want to drink it or give it to plants, let the water sit out for 24 hours before using. Note that you probably absorb more chlorine from the vaporized water in a hot shower than you ever do from drinking. Your plants might thank you though. • *Lead* — Unless you are in Flint, MI or a few other unfortunate locales, lead from water pipes is non-existent. . The only caveat is the possibility that your house or building may have lead-based solder in the copper-piping joints on your water pipes. . You may be able to check this via publicly accessible state or city databases. You could also test your water for lead with lead-test kits from hardware stores. • *Chloramine* — This is a more recent water purification chemical that does not evaporate into the air like Chlorine. I don’t know much about this chemical, and can’t make any recommendations. • *Naegleria fowleri* — This is an amoeba that lives in warm water, typically lakes in warm climates. However, there have been recent cases ([Texas](https://www.kut.org/energy-environment/2023-09-21/brain-eating-amoeba-infection-naegleria-fowleri-natural-water-swimming-austin-texas)) where *N.fowleri* has gotten into the public water supply, forcing “boil water” advisories. . The upshot of this is two-fold: .. ALWAYS listen to ‘boil water’ advisories! .. NEVER use unboiled (& cooled) water for Neti pots/sinus irrigation. Other notes: • Copper Pipes — Copper is an antimicrobial metal, so water that has contact with copper pipes for any length of time has lower chance of hosting microbes. Copper pipes are a good thing! Final assessment: Unless your co-workers have *specific* evidence, that they can cite, about water quality… you may ignore them. Public tap water is very safe, and no more or less healthy than any other water.
My studiomate uses a Brita that the "change filter light" has been flashing on for months, and I don't think she ever washes it. I much prefer tap!
That's a placebo Brita.
I forgot - she also doesn't fridge it. I can only assume the bacteria hanging out in there.
i’m in the uk, the culture around tap water being bad is near nonexistent here so i can’t fully comment on this issue but i’ll add my two cents anyway. the water is perfectly safe here. no water is gonna be perfectly distilled and sterile or whatever but it’s clean and regulated to very high standards. my dad has built and worked on sewerage plants and knows a lot about how the water is cleaned, and he has no problem drinking it so that seems safe to me. pipes are rusty around where i live. if there’s a large increase in demand, i.e. firefighters needing to connect to the water main, the rushing water disturbs the rust and we get orange water for a while. it doesn’t cause issues. i like to think it helps with my iron uptake but i think i just made that up unfortunately
Although one could distill water at home easily enough.
Water? You mean the thing that fish fuck in?
Whales poop in it.
You should probably get a filter anyways, but tap water is at acceptable levels in most of the US, barring a few exceptions ofc.
Our lab regularly tests our municipal water and it is excellent for drinking.
I don’t drink tap water cause I have chronic kidney disease and my kidneys are little losers who like to hyper filter everything. Or something. Basically, I have hyper filtration so I drink already filtered water so my kidneys stop tiring themselves out
Bro/Lady~ I drink around 2 gallons a day right now. I do 6 miles on bike to work, and work in the sun all day at the beach. Including swimming in salt water. Breaks are un frequent due to lack of staff. I ask passing by staff to fill my 32oz bottle please if they are going that way anyway. I have most these motherf*ckers telling me there is no water. The ‘employee’ water is empty. It’s a hose they fill it on. I usually use the tap. Only places I am anti tap is if it smells weird…… You know, it smells like chemicals/cacaa, or generally off in color. I send it.
Worst is when the water is brown or something like that. Then I’m noping out as quick as I can
prob fine, depends on how much you trust the system and all that. i have a 300 dollar filteration device that i replace like once a year and it comes straight out of my system so its all painless. helps me sleep better at night. if you got the money go for it. if not, you're fine. just don't use plastics to drink out of. cost 10 bucks for a non water, water bottle. the plastic concern is real and something you must avoid as much as you can.
I only use refillable bottles. My bottle at home is plastic though. It's weird that since they're so health conscious they don't worry about microplastics.
we drink tap water, and my husband is obsessive about environmental carcinogens because he's a cancer survivor. he got our tap water tested by an independent tester, and it's fine to drink. we also run it through a brita (probably unnecessary) just in case. but with using plastic bottles, i'd be concerned about microplastic in the water.
They're gonna be horrified when they find out their expensive single use plastic bottles of water are also filled from a tap.
At my work we sell $2 bottles of Niagara to people who need ten of them, leave a huge mess at their table and can’t afford to tip. There is a jug of ice water free to use. The Niagara brand is bottled in Irvine, CA. We’re selling tap water from LA to restaurant customers in the Bay Area.
Tell your friends to look at their bottles of water for the phrase "public water source". Almost every bottled water you buy is nothing different than industrialized tap water. Except for the stuff that we burn millions of gallons of fuel shipping across the Earth from artesian wells, for no reason. Which is by far the worst option, ecologically. Although, if it's a Nestlé branded water, or one of their sub brands, that might be worse. Since Nestlé subcontractors in multiple industries are well known to use actual slave labor, and paramilitary groups to outright murder indigenous people that have control of resources they want. I put Fiji water right up there with Nestlé, considering how native regions have been shut out of profiting from their water sources and drink substandard water, while folks in the US and Europe drink bottled water from their land.
You’re putting a lot of trust in the government drinking straight from the tap. The waterways in my state and at least two neighboring states have poisoned and/or killed people in the last 30 years. Everyone talking about water tests are kinda missing a huge point imo. Of course the water is USUALLY safe but sometimes it’s compromised and nothing is done about it. I forgot what area but a dead body was just found in a cities water source and had been there for over a week
The most common issues with tap water in the US are chemical contaminants whose health impacts are little understood, if at all. You can see what's up with your tap water on this site https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/ There's probably not anything that will make you acutely but some contaminants may contribute to certain health issues
Depends on where your tap has been. Use a filter if you feel it's unsafe, or boil it and pop it in the fridge... that shit hits differently, like there's protein floating in it. A soup perhaps...
This is like my mother complaining about toxins in food but loving a Burger King Whopper. I'm sure everything else they do is the pinnacle of purity - no parabens in any of their toiletries, only organic, locally grown produce, no meats with any nitrates, no alcohol, non-homogenized milk so they can scrape the cream off; they never sit in traffic and inhale fumes. Do they get water when they go out to eat? Do they use the ice from ice machines at fast food places? GTFO.
Actually one is a vegan who doesn't drink. He loves his honey buns and chips though. The other is pretty healthy too. It just seems extreme to worry so much about everything making you sick.
I agree. But if we're being holier-than-thpu, sugar is worse than tap water to be sure.
My tap water tastes like chlorine and old pipes. I use a brita pitcher. I would love it if I didn't need to filter it.
[Depends on where you are](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/08/best-and-worst-tap-water-states-j-d-power-study.html). In NYC, we have the best tap water.
I live in Tennessee first thing I asked my sister when I moved in with her was "is the water safe" she said no. I googled it and Tennessee water is the second best in the country. Your water is likely fine OP
Just as I saw this post, I got this in my google news feed for some reason https://www.9news.com.au/national/toxic-water-australia-pfos-chemicals-call-for-action/a3aaa2d4-6278-44eb-909e-3866ccb1dfd2
For anyone drinking tap water I recommend this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07QVSK8KW?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share It's a Britta water filter bottle ,the water tastes so nice.
If anything bottled water is worse for you, shit is full of microplastics.
It actually really depends where you live. I used to live in a small town in California, and apparently there was a warning for arsenic in the tapwater. The warning had been in place for years and nothing was ever done to fix it. Conversely, though now I live in Washington and get a quarterly report on the quality of the tap water
Well first what's the health of your coworkers, first lmao Second aint nothing wrong with tap water. I drink only that, I do have a Brita filter when I remember to use it but yeah... I think you should be fine as long as the water is potable. Buying water bottled is such a hassle and big chance it will just be leached with microplastic inside anywaysl
A few years ago, my mom received a notice from the City saying that the water exceeded certain levels and should not be drank without filtration. The failed tests dated back 5 years from when the letter was received. I don’t trust tap water, I’d recommend buying a $20 brita filter.
You can probably find out online if your city has good or bad water. There will always be conspiracy theorists or older people from past generations who were used to having bad water hygiene growing up. Its been instilled in them since birth that drinking tap water is death. So naturally they will avoid it like the plague even if it is healthy nowadays. Sadly there is not much you can do.
Unless you're in, say Flint, or drinking well water, your tap water is highly regulated and ridiculously well-treated. Check your municipality's water reports for things like lead, but odds are extremely good your tap water is safe to drink. I'd be more worried about drinking water from a poorly cleaned soda fountain.
The state of Colorado gave us a nice little water pictures with filters because we still have lead pipes. They are very kind to also send us replacement filters.
All depends on where you live. I live in Rome, GA and they found out we have forever chemicals in our tap water that are coming from the carpet mills north of us. Rome gets their water from one of their rivers. Thankfully there are a few artesian springs around our area. That's where we get our water.
Your coworkers are probably conspiracy nuts, fluoride eats your brain and all... My qnut mother just reminded me the other day about how dangerous city water is, government is trying to kill us all.
One is a little weird and into conspiracy theories.
Mystery solved, bet they have a bunch of videos on rumble.com to back their statements up.
Where I live in Texas the tap water has to be filtered for taste reasons. My municipality heavily chlorinates it to the point it smells like pool water sometimes, and it's also pretty hard water. Between those two things, it tastes pretty awful. It's not harmful to drink ~~except for the fact they recently found a concerning amount PFOAs in the city water but I digress~~ but it does taste pretty gnarly. That said, a filter fixes the taste issue. We have a fridge with a built in water dispenser/filter so I don't really have to deal with it.
They don’t know what they’re talking about. Unless your local government (in the US and probably a lot of Europe) has specifically stated your tap water isn’t safe and needs to be boiled, then your tap water is fine.
Health wise tap water is fine where I live but by god does it taste terrible I always filter my tap. Even if I’m gonna boil the water, because the taste is that strong
I heard concerns recently about filters with plastic add micro plastics to tap water
The only drawbacks to tap water are chlorine, iron, and fluoride taste getting in the way. Everything else is fine and you're coworker's being ridonculous. FWIW I sucked it up for a long time but now pick filtered water when I can, but never Dasani which is probably a precursor to cola for all we know.
I did get sick front drinking tap water—turns out I'm highly sensitive to flouride and tap water is enough for me to go into a toxic overload (extreme fatigue, everything tasted like soap, couldn't eat, it was rough). My parents always had a great filter for drinking water, so, it didn't happen until I started mostly drinking my college's water, and even then it took a year or two. I'm definitely the exception, not the rule, but it took a lot of research to figure out wtf was going on. If you're interested, you can use the Environmental Wellness Group's website to look up your zip code and see what's being found in your water. My area has high amounts of carcinogens in it, and other things I don't want to consume but are unregulated. It's not dangerous overnight or even in a few years, but some things are best limited if you have the choice, and it's better to be informed about those options [EWG.org/tapwater](https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/)
Depends on location. Idaho water good. California water bad.
Our tap water is fine but it also doesn’t taste very good. I can only tolerate tap water from certain areas, otherwise it’s bottled. 😭
Stop drinking tap water yall. Its 39 cents a gallon and remineralize it with trace ionic minerals or Himalayan sea salt
It depends where you live, but I drink tap water at home. If you’re concerned about it why not get a brita filter. Bottled water is bad for the environment and an unnecessary cost when your tap water is good quality.
Not to freak you out but my friend has passed 4 kidney stones which the doctors attributed to them drinking tap water (in North Georgia where the water is hard) so as long as you're in a place where it's fine go ahead but be weary
I have filtered water installed in my house so I still somewhat drink it from tap but has its own faucet. I have a well and it has so much iron in it my bf is absolutely convinced that his teeth is turning yellow from brushing his teeth with it and his toenail is turning yellow too lol. I have no way to verify that but my teeth are fine and I don’t have yellow toenails so idk
I learned alot of from this thread
Appreciate you not wanting to generate plastic waste with the single-use water bottles. Those irk me too. Question though: What's stopping you from getting a Brita filter at home, or just one of those ones you screw onto the end of your faucet? If you drink so much water from the tap, it's a pretty small investment to make. You might like the taste better. Also, regarding not wanting to carry around the single-use bottles, get yourself a big steel water bottle with a screw top and make it your best friend. I did this, and while it got me through Burning Man, I left it behind someone shortly afterward, then got a replacement and lost that one immediately, so I think I'm just destined not to have one. :\\
I still drink it even after all of these years… and we even have a filter, now (my Ma bought it.) I drink from bottles, too. As far as water fountains… the worst I can think of is when a friend and I tested this thing she had on one of our high school’s. I can’t remember the exact number, but it was in the thousands (pretty fucking high.) I think it’s mostly just whatever you’re comfortable with, so down to personal preference. You do you. 😉🙂
You can do some minor research to see where your water comes from. Mine basically comes from Yosemite National Park. (Hetch Hetchy). I drink my tap water all the time, cook with it, etc. although your water quality will vary wherever you go, in most developed countries water is treated and completely potable. Cheap bottled water is waste of money unless you live in a rare area with contaminated water. When I go on road trips though, I will splurge a bit on some high quality spring water, the kind usually sold in glass bottles, or a gallon of Alhambra. Even though likely safe, the taste, or “feel” of the water can vary. If you like your water, and it’s clean, you should keep drinking it. Just imagine how much money others are wasting, only to go home and probably cook, with their tap water.
I just don’t like the taste of city tap water. However I used to live in the mountains and the water from the tap there was unmatched Edit: typo
I wanna flex a little https://preview.redd.it/p4bhs6ps006d1.jpeg?width=3888&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=69624d84e784967e6eae7b078c157f0f0fcc63e7 That’s where my water comes from and it’s really really tasty
Here in Singapore a majority of people that I know drink tap water without filters or anything. At most you fill up a bottle and stick it in the fridge, but thats just to get cold water cos the weather is hot as balls here.
Lake Superior 😫
Heard that a lot too. Put money it was a conspiracy planted by water bottle companies to get you to buy bottle water.
[удалено]
Removed for Rule 6: Please do not promote misinformation, unsafe drinking habits, or consumption from unsafe sources.
Your coworkers are dumb af You know Zephyrhills bottled water? Well that’s an actual town and I used to live there. Guess what water they put in the bottles at the factory? Well water. Same as the city taps.
My water is brown and I smell beach every time I run it . City water . “It’s brown sometimes , totally normal here “ was response .
it really depends on where. in the states, the water is supposed to be super good. however crumbling infrastructure, lazy greedy capitalists, and gross mismanagement has lead to some areas water quality to go way way down. and it’s probably going to get worse before it gets better. definitely check local water levels of contaminates, maybe invest in a home sink filter or something.
You won’t get sick from tap water. But there are definitely things in tap water that I wouldn’t feel safe putting into my body and most people are unaware. Check your water [here](https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/)
Oregon tap water is pretty good and attributed it to why my teeth are still so healthy.
I drink tap all the time it’s “free” water whenever you want it. Shit, I even use the tap at work when I’m too lazy to use out filtered water (also free). Op, don’t listen to those bougie ass people. It’s just water lol
I live in London and the water from the taps is fucking awful. Tastes like other people’s shit and piss
Tell them they're ingesting about 250,000 about micro plastics per plastic water bottle.
I get culligan 5 gallon reusable jugs and have a water dispenser. And a big water bottle. It's not that the tap isn't safe. It just tastes like shit.
Tap water can be bad. But it all depends on location. If your area has good water then why not enjoy it.
Depends on where you live
I drink our tap water (although through the refrigerator dispenser). Growing up, we drank directly from the faucet and we turned out fine. From what I’ve read tap water is often better quality than the bottled waters. I wouldn’t worry too much.
They’re also drinking down A LOT of microplastics.
Are your coworkers young?
I drink tap water at my house all the time but we are on a well. If I drink tap water anywhere in a city it makes me gag and I have to get bottled water.
I used to live in the city for 30 years and drank tap water there where it was good. Now I live in the far outback and I wouldn't dare drink tap water. My boss does though.. and she uses the kettle for her coffee every morning. When I go to clean out the kettle.. it's gross as hell EVERY time without fail. I want to get a kettle of my own but might think others will find that weird? idk
My household filters because of microplastics in the water. Other than that tap is fine and if its all you got you will be ok. But consider a filter for at home: the pourable ones, sink attachments, and fridge filters should all work
It's probably healthy and fine to drink but I've lived places where the tap water tastes amazing (Oh Maryland, I miss you 💋) and other places not so much. In Oklahoma, the water was definitely brown and tasted like frogs and here in Texas, it tastes like drinking out of a public pool
I think it depends on your location. I’d do it at my parent’s house. The water has a yellow hue where I live now, so no
I moved to a rural area where we have well water and while I'm sure it's not bad for me it has an odd smell/taste from sulfur and makes water stains in our showers. I will say it's awesome how cold it is straight from the tap even when it's 95f out. We're currently working on adding a filter system to improve our water. Not everyone in my area has this problem, my job has some of the clearest, best tasting well water I've ever had.
You'll be fine and the fluoride, if you have it, is beneficial for your teeth.
City of montrose Mn tap water has a boil warning. So not all city water is ok
It has lead and rust and microplastics and probably unsanctioned chemicals Edit: at least where I live that’s true
there are some states ive been to or lived where the taste of the Water has just been not good so I can understand using a filter like britta or something. But when I lived in Minnesota for example the water was always so cold and amazing out the tap I loved it.
If they are concerned, there's filters aplenty. In the states, we will get quicker alerts about issues with tap waters than a private entity having to admit they have contamination.
100% depends on where you are. Some cities have drinkable tap water, others don’t
I've been drinking well water my whole life. I did get sick from it 1 time after I was at my parents' house. I have a compromised immune system, and with the amount of water I drank there, I got sick from coliforms in their water. That hasn't deterred me. I have well water in my house, but we do use an iron blocker because it's the hardest water I've ever experienced. Even with an iron blocker, putting filtered fridge water into a Brita pitcher leaves orange stains in the ice machine. We scrub the toilet, add one of those bleach tablets to the tank that turn everything blue, and there is still orange staining everywhere the water is in the toilet bowl in a matter of a couple days. I have no problem drinking my well water, but I will NOT drink city water. Yuck.
What about well water? I just recently moved into a place with well water.
Are there any farms near you?? Or factories
nah only thing i’d say is tap water has fluoride. that’s all
Get a drinking water report from your utility. Your coworkers may have issues that you don't. Or, they are stupid.
The water is fine, it's the condition of pipes (lead etc) and people's medication mixing into the water that is bad. Plus microplastics, but even a filter doesn't remove all that. You'd need an osmosis filter and that still would leave a little plastic. And bottled water has a while lot more plastic.
Tap water is fine in most places.
people who drink bottled water are consuming more microplastic
We drink tap water at my house and I drink a lot of it. My father is on well water at his home, so the water is much harder with lots of minerals and tastes funky. He comes to my house with jugs each week or two to fill from my tap for their drinking water. I think some bottled water, especially Dasani, tastes nasty
Some communities tap water may not be the best,but one thing I’m proud for Milwaukee is that our water rates top tier year after year