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What's in your tap (city rankings for tap water)

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S

SolsticeZero

Banned
We have our own water well, so ours is clean as fuck. It comes straight through the earth, into a filter, then out of the faucet with all of its deliciousness into my stomach.
 
B

B.K.

Member
Solstice said:
We have our own water well, so ours is clean as fuck. It comes straight through the earth, into a filter, then out of the faucet with all of its deliciousness into my stomach.
Click to expand...

My grandmother used to have a well. When I was born, the doctor told my parents not to let me drink from it. If that isn't a bad sign about the water quality, I don't know what is.
 
Â

∀ Narayan

Member
Strange that Denver, CO isn't on that list. Then again, the water over here comes straight from the Rocky Mountains, so maybe it really isn't tap water.
 
W

water_wendi

Water is not wet!
Woohoo! We're #98! :lol

The water here tastes awful. The only way i can drink it is with cupped hands (makes the water seem colder than it actually is.. i have no idea why).

As far as bottled water goes, its too expensive for something i already pay for. i do get filtered water from the vending machines.. its like 25c/gallon so its not too bad.
 
P

PflargBlarg

Member
If Vancouver was on this list it would be #1. Best water I've ever tasted and it's pretty much pure glacier water.

Also, bottled water is the biggest scam I have ever seen. I can't believe some of you people buy it. If you don't want straight tap water throw a filter on there, but a ton of bottled water is just tap water put into a bottle.
 
P

Pachinko

Member
Wickerman said:
2q8a55j.jpg

It's tap water
Click to expand...

no no, this is a misconception to some degree. I work in a bottled water plant and while the water we use STARTS as tap water, by the time it gets into the bottle it's way more filtered. A better representation would be if you had a brita in your house and then boiled what came through the brita then put it through the brita a second time before you drank it.

Basically my work takes city water , runs it through a boatload of water softening salts , it's then filtered to take the salt away as well and run through a reverse osmosis machine that leaches out whatever minerals it can. Finally at the end of the process the "clean water" is stored in a tank which is then kept microbe free with ozone. The ozone basically prevents the growth of any germs but doesn't have as much flavour as chlorination does... at least as long as the water sits for a period of at least 24 hours. By then the ozone in the bottle has dissipated.

Tap water has 30-100 parts per million of dissolved minerals and chlorine as well as fluoride. The process that creates my works bottled water brings that down to between 5 and 10 parts per million. If you then tested the water you can find minute traces of fluoride in it still proving it WAS tap water.

Some places actually use full unfiltered spring water but it's far more expensive for an arguable difference in taste. The spring water we get at my work doesn't taste that great , it has a huge mineral count but it's never in contact with city water so there's 0 chlorination or fluoridation. The only thing done to it is the ozone that gets added.

To find out what it is you're actually drinking look at the total dissolved count on the side of the bottle, if it's above 200 then chances are it's actually spring water, if it's anything less then 10 it's highly purifed tap water. Also note that the lower count will likely say there's a trace amount of sodium leftover from the water softener.

......

All that said though I'm aware of the idiocy involved in my line of work. It only exists because people buy it and honestly I don't notice a huge difference. As long as water is cold and I'm thirsty I can drink it. That image linked to above , I'm not sure how much it applies to canada , we seem to have stricter health standards so who knows. With any production facility though there are certainly plenty of ways for things to get contaminated no matter how strict the standards are. This applies to any mass produced product though, alcohol, pop, puddings , hell even a chocolate bar.
 
C

Cooter

Lacks the power of instantaneous movement
Number 2 said:
Woohoo! We're #98! :lol

The water here tastes awful. The only way i can drink it is with cupped hands (makes the water seem colder than it actually is.. i have no idea why).

As far as bottled water goes, its too expensive for something i already pay for. i do get filtered water from the vending machines.. its like 25c/gallon so its not too bad.
Click to expand...


We're at #96 because northern Nevada is superior.
 
D

demon

I don't mean to alarm you but you have dogs on your face
Question about water for the water experts out there - is it true that entirely filtered, pure water tastes different than what we're used to? I worked as a temp doing data entry at this water treatment place (Hellenbrand) and I occasionally tasted what they produced, which was filtered through these giant contraptions that looked a lot more elaborate than anything I've ever seen. They told me it was a lot more "pure" than any typical filtered/distilled water, but it had a funny taste to it.
 
A

AMUSIX

Member
Pachinko said:
no no, this is a misconception to some degree. I work in a bottled water plant and while the water we use STARTS as tap water, by the time it gets into the bottle it's way more filtered. A better representation would be if you had a brita in your house and then boiled what came through the brita then put it through the brita a second time before you drank it.

Basically my work takes city water , runs it through a boatload of water softening salts , it's then filtered to take the salt away as well and run through a reverse osmosis machine that leaches out whatever minerals it can. Finally at the end of the process the "clean water" is stored in a tank which is then kept microbe free with ozone. The ozone basically prevents the growth of any germs but doesn't have as much flavour as chlorination does... at least as long as the water sits for a period of at least 24 hours. By then the ozone in the bottle has dissipated.

Tap water has 30-100 parts per million of dissolved minerals and chlorine as well as fluoride. The process that creates my works bottled water brings that down to between 5 and 10 parts per million. If you then tested the water you can find minute traces of fluoride in it still proving it WAS tap water.

Some places actually use full unfiltered spring water but it's far more expensive for an arguable difference in taste. The spring water we get at my work doesn't taste that great , it has a huge mineral count but it's never in contact with city water so there's 0 chlorination or fluoridation. The only thing done to it is the ozone that gets added.

To find out what it is you're actually drinking look at the total dissolved count on the side of the bottle, if it's above 200 then chances are it's actually spring water, if it's anything less then 10 it's highly purifed tap water. Also note that the lower count will likely say there's a trace amount of sodium leftover from the water softener.

......

All that said though I'm aware of the idiocy involved in my line of work. It only exists because people buy it and honestly I don't notice a huge difference. As long as water is cold and I'm thirsty I can drink it. That image linked to above , I'm not sure how much it applies to canada , we seem to have stricter health standards so who knows. With any production facility though there are certainly plenty of ways for things to get contaminated no matter how strict the standards are. This applies to any mass produced product though, alcohol, pop, puddings , hell even a chocolate bar.
Click to expand...
I predict this informative post from a knowledgeable source will go largely ignored and/or contested by anecdotal arguments.
 
E

Enkidu

Member
I'm used to drinking tap water but I'm form Sweden and I think that's pretty common here. When I was in New York a while ago I couldn't stand the tap water. Tasted rather horrible in comparison. Of course, I don't know whether the water is bad or anything but I certainly didn't like the taste.
 
Z

ZephyrFate

Banned
whitehawk said:
I laugh at people who buy bottled water instead of drinking from the tap.

You have a clean, endless source of WATER! Oh, but let's not use that, let's drive to the store and buy some water!!
Click to expand...
...
 
P

parrotbeak

Member
Living in #6 and I stopped bothering with a filter. I wasn't changing the filter at the recommended intervals (once a year if that) and figured the gunk building up in it was probably more a hazard than drinking it straight.

Can't taste a difference anyway.

Also I've never tasted chlorination here. Chlorination is very noticeable when I travel.
 
K

Koshiba

Member
Phobophile said:
Why WOULDN'T you? Brita/Pur filters are cheap and usually just make the water taste better.
Click to expand...

When water is really cold (pretty much only way I'll drink it anyway) it all tastes the same to me.
 
C

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
I've been spoiled by our tapwater..

I dont recall the specific year BUT Sweden was ranked to have the best water in the world AND Karlstad ( the town I grew up in / live in ) has the best water in Sweden.


*cracks open a bottle of freshly tapped....er....tapwater...*
 
E

Evlar

Banned
:lol Wondered if my town was big enough to make the list, and sure enough there it is... at #100. The water here sucks.
 
N

NomarTyme

Member
Corran Horn said:
Sweet I think?

What does water from refrigerator count as? Filtered?
Click to expand...
Should be Filter. Read the manual and find out when you'll have to replace it.... which I think you haven't done for a while now.
 
C

Corran Horn

May the Schwartz be with you
NomarTyme said:
Should be Filter. Read the manual and find out when you'll have to replace it.... which I think you haven't done for a while now.
Click to expand...
We are renting this house. Don't have a manual or anything for it. Oh well still tastes okay.
 
S

Shiggie

Member
Pachinko said:
no no, this is a misconception to some degree. I work in a bottled water plant and while the water we use STARTS as tap water, by the time it gets into the bottle it's way more filtered. A better representation would be if you had a brita in your house and then boiled what came through the brita then put it through the brita a second time before you drank it.

Basically my work takes city water , runs it through a boatload of water softening salts , it's then filtered to take the salt away as well and run through a reverse osmosis machine that leaches out whatever minerals it can. Finally at the end of the process the "clean water" is stored in a tank which is then kept microbe free with ozone. The ozone basically prevents the growth of any germs but doesn't have as much flavour as chlorination does... at least as long as the water sits for a period of at least 24 hours. By then the ozone in the bottle has dissipated.

Tap water has 30-100 parts per million of dissolved minerals and chlorine as well as fluoride. The process that creates my works bottled water brings that down to between 5 and 10 parts per million. If you then tested the water you can find minute traces of fluoride in it still proving it WAS tap water.

Some places actually use full unfiltered spring water but it's far more expensive for an arguable difference in taste. The spring water we get at my work doesn't taste that great , it has a huge mineral count but it's never in contact with city water so there's 0 chlorination or fluoridation. The only thing done to it is the ozone that gets added.

To find out what it is you're actually drinking look at the total dissolved count on the side of the bottle, if it's above 200 then chances are it's actually spring water, if it's anything less then 10 it's highly purifed tap water. Also note that the lower count will likely say there's a trace amount of sodium leftover from the water softener.

......

All that said though I'm aware of the idiocy involved in my line of work. It only exists because people buy it and honestly I don't notice a huge difference. As long as water is cold and I'm thirsty I can drink it. That image linked to above , I'm not sure how much it applies to canada , we seem to have stricter health standards so who knows. With any production facility though there are certainly plenty of ways for things to get contaminated no matter how strict the standards are. This applies to any mass produced product though, alcohol, pop, puddings , hell even a chocolate bar.
Click to expand...
wow, Gaf is everywhere.
 
A

Agnostic

but believes in Chael
I use reverse osmosis when I'm at home. I haven't used straight tap/bottled water for cooking or drinking in years.
 
J

Javaman

Member
whitehawk said:
I laugh at people who buy bottled water instead of drinking from the tap.

You have a clean, endless source of WATER! Oh, but let's not use that, let's drive to the store and buy some water!!
Click to expand...

That and people ranting and raving about how good "mineral" water is when in reality it's considered hard water, that most people try to get rid of in their homes.
 
G

grumble

Member
I live in Toronto, which has fantastic tap water. That being said, there's not really a difference. Chlorine and fluoride in the levels you get in tap water are not bad for you. In fact, they help to clean the water and keep it from making you sick, and the minute amounts of fluoride help harden your teeth. That is part of the reason why bottled water has a higher contamination rate than tap water. Filtering the water with a Brita filter is also completely unnecessary, though good for you if you like the taste more.

There are stupider things than buying bottled water, but it's definitely up there.
 
T

TriangularDuck

Member
Haha, apparently the sleepy town of West Milford I grew up in is a "city with a population of over 250,000." Maybe if you dropped a zero. And our tap water was awesome, thank you very much.
 
P

Phobophile

A scientist and gentleman in the manner of Batman.
numble said:
Do you read the side of the Aquafina bottle? I know some brands just bottle what comes out of the tap, but Aquafina doesn't.
Click to expand...

If it's spring water, then it must legally say SPRING WATER on the side. These are "purified waters" which are just from municipal sources (i.e. tap). Aquafina and Dasani are just Pepsi and Coke without the sugar and carbonation.
 
N

numble

Member
Phobophile said:
If it's spring water, then it must legally say SPRING WATER on the side. These are "purified waters" which are just from municipal sources (i.e. tap). Aquafina and Dasani are just Pepsi and Coke without the sugar and carbonation.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but we're talking about drinking straight from the tap, with people saying "Brita it first" or "filter it first." Saying or implying that Aquafina is the same as drinking water straight from the tap is disingenuous.
 
E

Evlar

Banned
Holy crap, we have 21 chemicals in excess of health guidelines! Including MTBE, benzene (fucking benzene), two types of radium, some other radioactive shit they don't identify, heptachlor peroxide... God damn.

We drink water from a Pur filter at home (because it tastes like suck if we don't). Occasionally the water actually turns pink... unmistakably pale pink when poured in a white bowl... and it can stain toilets and showers pink.
 
J

JBuccCP

Member
I just rig up a coffee filter with a rubber band to filter mine. I have to poke holes in it though to make the water come through faster. Tastes ok, but it is a bit weird seeing "unhealthy" levels of arsenic found in your water.
 
N

numble

Member
Evlar said:
Holy crap, we have 21 chemicals in excess of health guidelines! Including MTBE, benzene (fucking benzene), two types of radium, some other radioactive shit they don't identify, heptochlor peroxide... God damn.

We drink water from a Pur filter at home (because it tastes like suck if we don't). Occasionally the water actually turns pink... unmistakably pale pink when poured in a white bowl... and it can stain toilets and showers pink.
Click to expand...
I'm in Manhattan and wherever they get water from for my place, it turns porcelain stuff pink.
 
J

JKTrix

Member
Hell yeah Providence. I remember when I got here last year they were advertising the hell out of drinking tap water.
 
D

dejay

Banned
My friends who mostly drink bottled water tend to have more fillings than people like myself who drinks tap water regularly.
 
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