Pshhaww, I'm in Chicago--our tap water is amazing! Only fools and fluorophobes filter here. I'll drink tap water pretty much anywhere, though. It's a good way to challenge my body and get used to the local bugs quickly (especially with a bottle of metronidazole ever in possession). Y'know, so long as it's not actually diseased and dangerous.
@goldenthorn And chlorophobes. Reeks of chlorine. I don't filter my cat's water but I do let it sit for a while before I put the bowl down for her, but I do filter mine. And don't forget the glorious prescription drugs, although we can't be sure whether they help or hurt the taste.
Chlorophobes? Like I said: fools! Hah, but yeah, I like the chlorine. It's very rarely overpowering, I feel, and tastes like Chicago; wherever I've lived, one of the only things for which I'd pine is Chicago water. I've never had tap water anywhere else in the world that compares to Chicago's. It gives our tap water a nicely distinctive taste, where I can separate my thirsty moods between specific desires for tap or sparkling or mineral. (And the prescription drugs are just a side benefit. When our alien harvester overlords arrive, I will be amongst the first to be culled, what with all my water-drugged fleshly sweetness, and so won't have to witness the gruesome destruction of our planet.) My cats are odd--like me, I suppose. Once upon a time I tried to switch them to filtered water, but they would ignore it and go to the toilets and sinks for their preferred tap, so I gave up. When I've got free bottled water and I've filled a bowl with it, they'll ignore it for the other bowls in the house full of tap water. I shrug.
@editorkid My mother liked the taste of our well water so much, that she had a special well water faucet put in when they connected to the municipal water system. Alas, the flavor of the well water changed when the flow was greatly reduced. So it didn't actually work. She was bummed about that for a few months. Then she got used to water without so much limestone in it.
The water is so god-fucking-awful around here, I not only don't drink it, I feel bad making the cats drink it, so we usually put filtered water in their water fountain (filters don't cut it; we drink bottled). Though, honestly, they'll drink from a running tap and out of a toilet, so I'm not really sure they care.
@joelmw I wouldn't say Dallas water is "great" but I can drink it from the tap...usually from the refrigerator filter or the water filter at work. Anything beats Phoenix water except maybe high sulpher content water like Arkansas has in some places.
@Pavlov@KDemo I remember both of those commercials! :-) I was just a kid, but I thought those Artesians were pretty damn cool. I've never really liked beer, though, even as an adult.
Oh, yeah, I subject my tap water to an extremely rigorous filtration and sanitation process to ensure potability, but well upstream of my taps at the municipal treatment facilities, pretty clever of me if I do say so
@SSteve Depending where you are and what kind of soil there is above where your well is, your natural filtration might be way better than any of the other over-priced systems folks use.
I mostly drink water from the fridge, but just so I can get cold water. The "change filter" light has been red for months now, and I'm perfectly happy drinking from the faucet any time the water's actually cold enough.
The municipal system in my area is less than consistent. Sometimes the water smells like burnt eggs. T.G. the owner installed an osmosis filtration system and a softener.
The water here is fine, but taste like a swimming pool, so we buy filtered water and got a dispenser. First we tried a couple of filters, on the faucet was easy but did not help enough (this ended up being the case for all fast filters), the Britta filter worked, but no one wanted to fill the pitcher. So we ended up the the 5 gallon jug. We found only 1 supplier of water that emulated the Britta filter taste. We got the 5 gallon jug when the kids were little and they ended up drinking more water than the juice in the fridge, so bonus!
The water here is full of crap, like 500ppm, and tastes like crap. I installed a 5 stage filtration system with a pump and a remineralization "filter" and direct plumbed the fridge and coffee maker. Now the water is about 45ppm, with minerals we want. Tastes great, no scale in the coffee maker. The RO removes EVERYTHING, so we use a fluoride rinse.
We have a well that has tapped into a spring fed, underground, river. The water is almost 100% pure. In fact local Culligan company bottles and sells water from the same source. After drinking our water, bottled water is blah.
I think people are way too worried about this, I never mind drinking tap water and it tastes fine to me. My roommate when I first moved to Texas was a big conspiracy theory guy that was convinced the fluoride in our drinking water was calcifying the pineal gland in our brains which was preventing us from reaching the next step of evolution and developing powers like telekinesis. He had some fancy and expensive reverse osmosis filter installed and the water tasted pretty much the same to me, and I did not develop any psychokinetic powers.
@JonT I'm less worried about conspiracies and ill effects than I am deeply bothered by the shitty taste. I grew up around the kind of water @Teripie talks about (in Montana) and don't like the water most places--especially Texas (but also Missouri, where I went to school).
@joelmw I live in Bay County, Florida, home of Panama City and a bunch of little bergs. There is never a week gone by when there is a "Biol Water" notice for one neighborhood or another. It's crazy! I'm so happy with our little well!
@JonT yeah, the only time I was convinced to get a filter was at college. The school had a private well that the state said did not have to meet the purity standards. It also tasted like soapy grease. The filter definitely made a difference in flavor. Of course, my roommate ended up being a major germephobe, so I decided it "wasn't worth the cost" after a couple, and he paid for the rest of the year.
I use a Brita filter in a pitcher, but I only change it about once a year. If I can't taste the difference between an old and new filter, I don't care.
Buhl, MN. Our tap water is sold in store to the spring water nuts. Though I do miss the taste of arsenic heavy water of further south in the state, they tell me this stuff is healthier.
I have a dispenser and fill up at one of the ten million filter-stations around town. Waco water is so bad that restaurants will advertise that the water used for their soda is filtered.
Through my left and right kidney.
@Pavlov
Pshhaww, I'm in Chicago--our tap water is amazing! Only fools and fluorophobes filter here.
I'll drink tap water pretty much anywhere, though. It's a good way to challenge my body and get used to the local bugs quickly (especially with a bottle of metronidazole ever in possession). Y'know, so long as it's not actually diseased and dangerous.
@goldenthorn And chlorophobes. Reeks of chlorine. I don't filter my cat's water but I do let it sit for a while before I put the bowl down for her, but I do filter mine. And don't forget the glorious prescription drugs, although we can't be sure whether they help or hurt the taste.
Chlorophobes? Like I said: fools!
Hah, but yeah, I like the chlorine. It's very rarely overpowering, I feel, and tastes like Chicago; wherever I've lived, one of the only things for which I'd pine is Chicago water. I've never had tap water anywhere else in the world that compares to Chicago's. It gives our tap water a nicely distinctive taste, where I can separate my thirsty moods between specific desires for tap or sparkling or mineral. (And the prescription drugs are just a side benefit. When our alien harvester overlords arrive, I will be amongst the first to be culled, what with all my water-drugged fleshly sweetness, and so won't have to witness the gruesome destruction of our planet.)
My cats are odd--like me, I suppose. Once upon a time I tried to switch them to filtered water, but they would ignore it and go to the toilets and sinks for their preferred tap, so I gave up. When I've got free bottled water and I've filled a bowl with it, they'll ignore it for the other bowls in the house full of tap water. I shrug.
@goldenthorn I think water's like pizza -- whatever you grew up with is how it should be.
@editorkid My mother liked the taste of our well water so much, that she had a special well water faucet put in when they connected to the municipal water system. Alas, the flavor of the well water changed when the flow was greatly reduced. So it didn't actually work. She was bummed about that for a few months. Then she got used to water without so much limestone in it.
I'm going with "the refrigerator" as my filtration system.
@jqubed That's pretty much what I was going to say. I drink a lot of the stuff too.
The water is hard where I live, so I use this countertop filter from Woot. It's no RO, but I didn't feel that such was necessary either.
The water is so god-fucking-awful around here, I not only don't drink it, I feel bad making the cats drink it, so we usually put filtered water in their water fountain (filters don't cut it; we drink bottled). Though, honestly, they'll drink from a running tap and out of a toilet, so I'm not really sure they care.
@joelmw I wouldn't say Dallas water is "great" but I can drink it from the tap...usually from the refrigerator filter or the water filter at work. Anything beats Phoenix water except maybe high sulpher content water like Arkansas has in some places.
I do, the Artesians have been slacking lately.
@KDemo
@Pavlov @KDemo I remember both of those commercials! :-) I was just a kid, but I thought those Artesians were pretty damn cool. I've never really liked beer, though, even as an adult.
God, no! I have my servants do it.
my water smells bad. plus it has this heavy metal taste. the city keeps saying its the terrain, but wtv, I think its poison.
Oh, yeah, I subject my tap water to an extremely rigorous filtration and sanitation process to ensure potability, but well upstream of my taps at the municipal treatment facilities, pretty clever of me if I do say so
We drink the water that comes out of a hole in the ground in front of our house. I try not to think too much about it.
@SSteve And then it eventually returns to that hole?
@jqubed Well, it's a hole on the other side of the property but basically, yeah.
@SSteve Depending where you are and what kind of soil there is above where your well is, your natural filtration might be way better than any of the other over-priced systems folks use.
I mostly drink water from the fridge, but just so I can get cold water. The "change filter" light has been red for months now, and I'm perfectly happy drinking from the faucet any time the water's actually cold enough.
The municipal system in my area is less than consistent. Sometimes the water smells like burnt eggs. T.G. the owner installed an osmosis filtration system and a softener.
The water here is fine, but taste like a swimming pool, so we buy filtered water and got a dispenser. First we tried a couple of filters, on the faucet was easy but did not help enough (this ended up being the case for all fast filters), the Britta filter worked, but no one wanted to fill the pitcher. So we ended up the the 5 gallon jug. We found only 1 supplier of water that emulated the Britta filter taste. We got the 5 gallon jug when the kids were little and they ended up drinking more water than the juice in the fridge, so bonus!
Tap water is good for me. The fridge has a filter in it for ice and chilled water but I change it very infrequently.
The water here is full of crap, like 500ppm, and tastes like crap. I installed a 5 stage filtration system with a pump and a remineralization "filter" and direct plumbed the fridge and coffee maker. Now the water is about 45ppm, with minerals we want. Tastes great, no scale in the coffee maker. The RO removes EVERYTHING, so we use a fluoride rinse.
We have a well that has tapped into a spring fed, underground, river. The water is almost 100% pure. In fact local Culligan company bottles and sells water from the same source.
After drinking our water, bottled water is blah.
I think people are way too worried about this, I never mind drinking tap water and it tastes fine to me. My roommate when I first moved to Texas was a big conspiracy theory guy that was convinced the fluoride in our drinking water was calcifying the pineal gland in our brains which was preventing us from reaching the next step of evolution and developing powers like telekinesis. He had some fancy and expensive reverse osmosis filter installed and the water tasted pretty much the same to me, and I did not develop any psychokinetic powers.
@JonT Are you sure?
@JonT I'm less worried about conspiracies and ill effects than I am deeply bothered by the shitty taste. I grew up around the kind of water @Teripie talks about (in Montana) and don't like the water most places--especially Texas (but also Missouri, where I went to school).
@Headly Scanners! Nice job continuing to reference my cultural universe, man. You get me.
@joelmw I live in Bay County, Florida, home of Panama City and a bunch of little bergs. There is never a week gone by when there is a "Biol Water" notice for one neighborhood or another. It's crazy! I'm so happy with our little well!
@JonT yeah, the only time I was convinced to get a filter was at college. The school had a private well that the state said did not have to meet the purity standards. It also tasted like soapy grease. The filter definitely made a difference in flavor. Of course, my roommate ended up being a major germephobe, so I decided it "wasn't worth the cost" after a couple, and he paid for the rest of the year.
I use a Brita filter in a pitcher, but I only change it about once a year. If I can't taste the difference between an old and new filter, I don't care.
Buhl, MN. Our tap water is sold in store to the spring water nuts. Though I do miss the taste of arsenic heavy water of further south in the state, they tell me this stuff is healthier.
I have a dispenser and fill up at one of the ten million filter-stations around town. Waco water is so bad that restaurants will advertise that the water used for their soda is filtered.