Further on the point of bottled water, around 45% of brands actually just bottle municipal tap water [0].

[0] http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/03/bottled-water...

How can one know if the water is reasonable in the US? We certainly cannot trust the local governments tasked with this job. Recent events in Flint and hundreds of other places in the US show that, if you can afford it, bottled water is at least safe compared to the local tap water (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/01/19/erin-brocko...). I guess it's either that or get out the science kits every day and test your own water. Which I'm sure takes a lot more time and money than buying bottled. Basically, drinking tap water in the US is a huge gamble and it's not worth it. You don't have to leave the country to get third world water. It's everywhere here. Then again, much of the US is third world if you judge by such criteria as clean water and healthcare access.

I recently moved to San Diego from New York, the tap water here is unbearable to drink, it tasted horrible, like you are drinking mold, filters don't help that much, still tastes horrible. I won't drink that, never mind giving it to my kids

If it's healthy and your kids don't mind you absolutely should give it to your kids. Maybe they'll develop a less sensitive, more environmentally friendly palette.

If "funny tasting water" upsets you, then sugary drinks-- which kill thousands of people through obesity-- should scare the daylights out of you.

I am free to chose not to drink sugary drinks, but I can't change my current tap water, except for paying for bottled water

You could get water delivered to your home in large 5 gallon jugs. Its not quite as bad as the small bottles.

That's exactly what I do using https://pureflo.com

Why the scare quotes? Tap water in many places does taste funny. I don't drink it for the same reasons; instead, I get Ozarka (Nestle) water delivery. Also, you present a false dichotomy; I don't have to choose between sugary drinks and funny-tasting water. I can, and do, avoid both.

I have a feeling that "funny tasting" is all what you're used to. I'd bet that if you drink it exclusively for a month anyways, it will taste normal again.

You've obviously never drank Phoenix tap water.

I was under the impression that Nestlé's water mining practices were unethical (among their other practices). Any particular reason you advocate this product?

In LA the water often tastes bad. I use a Brita filter which makes thing a little better but it still isn't great.

I miss the water in Munich...

Just get a high quality filter. I bought an RO and love it but there are other high quality filters out there.

I've heard RO water is not that good for your health, it removes a lot of good salts and other stuff from it.

Unless you are buying spring water, all bottled water and soda water is just RO water with something added back. RO water is as pure as it gets. There are many discussions about RO but if you think about it, the quantity of salts is so miniscule in water that you would get it back from food anyway. Anyway I use a remineralizer as the last step after RO just for the taste. The RO taste is a bit sharp for me.

You can go all out and get a reverse osmosis system installed under your sink that also has a re-mineralizer. Adding the right minerals back in is important for flavour.

as a native san diego, i drink tap water and dont notice anything wrong, but my girl and her dad (non natives) think its nasty. just anecdotal.

This is really and truly sad that USA can't provide drinkable water.

"Drinkable" and "Tastes like the water tasted where I grew up" are very different things. There is not one flavor of water any more than there is one shade of white. There's no evidence that the water OP refers to is actually not drinkable.

To be exact - It smells like water from a swamp. Hard to satisfy your thirst by drinking that nasty smell

If your water is literally smelly than it is either something wrong with your pipes or psychosomatic. I can't imagine that the entire city of San Diego is distributing water that has an odor. I have never had this problem in San Diego. I would suggest calling the city if this is truly a problem.

Smell is not an indication of danger.

Municipal water in Florida often has the smell of sulfur, due to the presence of sulfur -- and if I'm remembering correctly, a relative who works at the state equivalent of the EPA told me that it's common in coastal areas due to byproducts of bacteria in the water table. But it's completely harmless.

I can only speak for Florida, though.

I like drinking tap water back home in Orlando. The smell/taste is different but, well, it reminds me of home.

Water in Orlando, FL is pretty terrible. It has a sulfuric and metallic taste and smell. It's perfectly safe to drink and bathe in, the smell doesn't stay on your skin, but it's gross. Do a quick google search for water quality in orlando, or sulfur or smelly water in Orlando. You'll find tons of results on travel forums from people visiting Disney ask if it's safe to drink the tap water at parks or in their hotels because of it.

I'm guessing that water in San Diego is the absolute stalest you can get in the US. The water San Diego receives is either piped over the mountains from Arizona or comes from way upstate...after Los Angeles has their pick.

There is no doubt that it is not good water. It is so high in salt content that the avocado growers complain about using it. If all you're doing is trying to stay alive then by all means, drink up.

Yes. That would be sad if it were true.

The fact that GP is in the black while this post is downvoted is puzzling to me.

Several people must have read GP "yuck @ tap water" and nodded along, and then down-voted this comment.

However, if you think the USA can provide drinkable water, you'd have downvoted the "yuck" comment, because it is incorrect, and then this one as well.

Or, If you agree with the "yuck" comment, then this poster is correct, and you shouldn't have downvoted them.

Unless some people are really elitist about their drinking water but also really patriotic? idk, it's confusing.

> However, if you think the USA can provide drinkable water, you'd have downvoted the "yuck" comment, because it is incorrect, and then this one as well.

Brussels sprouts are "Yuck". However, they're also perfectly edible and healthy for you. If the US started a national food program that delivered incredibly cheap and healthy food straight to your kitchen, but San Diego was stuck with brussels sprouts as their food option, I would not find that "really and truly sad".

Drinkable does not mean tasty. The comments are making two completely different points.

> but San Diego was stuck with brussels sprouts as their food option, I would not find that "really and truly sad"

why not? wouldn't you feel bad for the people in San Diego?

All Brussels sprouts are "Yuck", however not all water is "Yuck", the question is - why if they can make water in one place be not "Yuck" - what prevents them from having a good tasting water in other places?

Different water sources, and getting the minerals/ions that cause the taste out is expensive. Mixing different sources can help diluting it, but that only works if there are different profiles in local sources.

And if water supply is done by quite localized organizations (I think that is the case in the US?) it's often politically difficult to pipe in water from other areas, even where it would be affordable.

There's another good reason to buy bottled water: water is heavy. If you're walking or cycling somewhere you might not want to carry water when you can buy some at your destination. If you remove this option you might do more environmental harm than good by encouraging use of motor vehicles.

Indeed water is heavy. So get it to your home in the most efficient way - through pipes. I'm happy to do it just to avoid having to carry home everything I drink.

As soon as distributed rooftop solar takes off, I see a large industry in condensing drinking water directly out of the air with surplus energy.

https://github.com/openawg/openawg/tree/master/blueice

When I cycle somewhere, I fill up my bottle when I get there (or along the way). I know where all of the water fountains are on my regular cycling routes.

Likewise, when I go for a long walk or a hike, I carry a bottle along and fill it as needed.

If you find a bottle of water to be that great an encumbrance, then you were never really going to walk or cycle anywhere. There are plenty of good reasons to drive somewhere, but cupholders isn't one of them.

the beverage industry has done a great job marketing the idea that the US water supply isnt clean, at a 1000% markup of course.

I'm always bemused that bottled water costs more than gasoline.

It's about convenience and also distribution costs. It simply isn't very efficient putting water into a bunch of tiny bottles and selling them individually.

If you want cheap "bottled" water, find a place that has a reverse-osmosis vending machine. Basically, you bring your own bottles (it's better if you get the big 3 or 5-gallon jugs), put them in, put in some money, press a button, and it refills the bottle using the RO equipment in the machine. The cost is generally pretty cheap: $0.25-50 per gallon (I pay $0.37 locally). It's not as cheap as tap obviously, but it's a lot cheaper than gasoline, or pre-packaged bottled water, and a whole lot cheaper than overpriced fancy brands like Evian.

I never did understand this especially for distilled water

bottled water and printer ink, the most expensive liquids on the planet.

The most expensive liquid is actually bull semen. Yes, that's a real product. Dairy/cattle farmers often need it.

In the US if taste is your problem put a filter on it. If you don't live in Flint, MI, this should be good enough.

My tap water (Omaha, NE) is ok for most things including drinking, although in the spring the chlorine content goes way up. For drinking, my wife likes the pur filter in the fridge, but I use a special hot filtration process to improve the flavor.

For making beer, I will typically use RO water purchased from the grocery in 5 gallon refillable jugs and build back the mineral profile I want for the particular beer style I'm brewing that day.

Even in Flint you can buy filters with lead reduction. I recommend the KX Matrikx 06-250-125-975, it costs about half a cent ($.005) a gallon.

Mine comes from my well! 110 ft down

Tap water is crap. It tastes bad, it has chlorine in it, and sometimes the treatment plant screws up and it becomes contaminated. Anyone in Flint, MI will tell you that advocating tap water is a terrible idea.

Reverse-osmosis treated water is almost dirt cheap. I get mine from the local Walmart, in heavy-duty refillable 3 or 5-gallon jugs. It costs me $0.37 per gallon to refill one of my jugs. At that price, there's no reason to suffer with tap water, for either drinking or cooking. I recommend the 3-gallon jugs though; it's easier to carry them and to pour them into smaller 1-gallon jugs or water bottles at home.

"there's no good reason to buy bottled water if your water supply is reasonable"

You pretty much explained why many of us drink bottled water, since our supply is not reasonable. :)

> You pretty much explained why many of us drink bottled water, since our supply is not reasonable. :)

Citation needed. Some choice quotes from Wikipedia[1]:

'The Environmental Protection Agency regulations for tap water are "actually stricter than the Food and Drug Administration regulations for bottled water."'

'A study of drinking water in Cincinnati, Ohio, discovered that bacterial counts in bottled water were often higher than those in tap water and fluoride concentration was inconsistent.'

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottled_water#Perceptions_abou...

People buy bottled water for the taste, not for the cleanliness.

If you have bad tap water, it's not like you can just shop around for another provider. But bottled water does actually compete on taste; I do prefer some brands over others when given the choice.

But I've gotten lucky with fine-tasting tap water, anyway.

My tap water does not taste good. I drink it most of the time but there's no fooling my taste buds; the bottled water tastes better.

Ok. While I am not going to give out my city, their water report says that their average chlorine level is 0.5 mg/L. The bottled water I drink has a full water report that simply says "not detected" for chlorine.

Perhaps I am just "sensitive" but something in the tap water gives me headaches.

Possible, but it's worth noting that some people are sensitive to chlorine. Public swimming pools often give me a headache and make my nose run, while the people around me don't seem to have a problem. In fairness I haven't isolated chlorine as the cause, but I've never had issues with natural bodies of water.

I agree with your gist, but also Cincinnati has a really good water system:

http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/water/news/platinum-award-for-u...

I don't think they take into account that chlorinated water tastes like shit.

Unless you filter it at home with some effort.

> Unless you filter it at home with some effort.

It's not that much effort. If all you care about is taste they sell kits for under $100, and then you don't need the effort of lugging water.

Las Vegas has water that meets the standard of 'very hard' [1], so when I go there and stay with friends it's a challenge to take a nice shower (soap doesn't want to lather), and water from the tap tastes noticeably chalkier than in other places. But my friend has thyroid issues and avoids the tap water due to perchlorates [2], which were produced industrially in Henderson and leeched into the groundwater. Though the levels are considered safe, her particular health issue makes it more of a concern. So bottled water is everywhere at their house, but also at the houses of other people I know in the area. I'm guessing some of it is because it's always hot so it's nice to have a ready-made bottle of water on-hand whenever you need it, and possibly because in Las Vegas, tap water is perceived as expensive (even though this isn't actually true [3])

On the east coast in a metro that ranks as having one of the best municipal water systems, buying large amounts of bottled water is foreign to me, and only crosses my mind if I'm preparing for inclement weather or an extended road-trip. Though I wish our 'best municipal water' tasted more to my liking, a Brita filter adds a pleasant blend of minerals that tastes close to non-store-brand bottled water.

[1] https://www.lvvwd.com/wq/facts_hard.html

[2] https://www.lvvwd.com/wq/facts_perchlorate.html

[3] http://www.circleofblue.org/2015/world/price-of-water-2015-u...

Could always filter it yourself.

This is the best answer. Even in a place like Flint, it would be so much cheaper to put a top of the line whole house filter in each house rather than some of the crazy things they were doing like bringing in bottled water.

There's a lot of pseudoscience in water filtering devices.

They do noticably improve the taste in my experience. There's also a lot of psuedoscience in bottled water as well.

So don't buy those? Buy an actual, normal, carbon filter?

Maybe the fact that you have accepted having to buy drinking water in a bottle is now at least partly to blame for the tap water quality not improving?

Are people demanding that their tap water be as good as the best bottled water? If not, why?

Maybe true. May also be a nocebo issue. Heard many people claiming that "tap water in XY is terrible" while every study shows that it's not true. Often tap water quality is better than bottled water.

I doubt it's a nocebo effect when you can even smell the difference. I have a reusable metal bottle and can tell when I've refilled it straight from the tap vs. a filtered water source.

My wife is a good example. She absolutely refuses to drink water from the tap -- and we live in Portland, Oregon, which arguably has some of the purest water in the USA.

The point has been made several times in this thread, but some of this may be a matter of what you expect water to taste like. I grew up in a small town where the water had a kind of "mineral-y" flavor to it, and tap water in most places tastes a little off to me by comparison. I know that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it, though.

it's even bought WITH reasonable supply... humans are strange

In my city the water comes straight from a natural reserve, it often actually tastes better than bottled water! A large company gets its water there as well.

My main issue with tap waster isn't the waste treatment facilities. It's the pipes in my neighbourhood and in my old apartment building.