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.