I have a confession to make. I drink tap water… not even filtered tap… I mean straight from the bacteria-laden, germ-swimming, prescription drug-filled municipal water source.
When I tell people this, they make faces as if I had just told them that I eat fresh cow paddies… “you mean, you don’t even use a filter or anything?” they would say as their faces contort to show their obvious disgust.
Nope, I used to use those Brita filters, but I just got tired of waiting for my water and of the guilt for not changing the filter every two months. I hated that little sticker reminding me that I should have changed the filter back in November. I have enough people telling me what to do on a daily basis. I don’t need a guilt trip from a water pitcher.
I used to tell people that I could taste the difference, but really, if someone held a gun to my head and said that he’d shoot if I was wrong in my guess, I’d probably be dead… and a little confounded on why anyone would care about that enough to resort to firearms violence.
I mean, I can taste the difference between two different vintages of my favorite wine, but I honestly can’t taste the difference between a cold Dasani™ and tap ice water. And here’s a thought, if you ever drink anything with ice in it, guess what, they didn’t make that ice out of Pellegrino™. I can guarantee you that.
Today, in the U.S., we probably have the cleanest water in the history of mankind. People used to drink water just downstream from where their sheep went to the bathroom, and humankind did not cease to exist.
I think we’re just all buying the hype from the bottled water companies, plain and simple. Twenty years ago, when it wasn’t as fashionable to drink only bottled water, few did… and no one complained about the taste, and we didn’t have masses of people dying from “tap water poisoning.”
I also can’t justify spending hundreds of dollars a year, driving to the store to get, and wasting energy and resources on plastic bottles (recycling is not “free.” Massive amounts of energy is spent doing it) on something that is otherwise virtually free AND comes directly to my house.
I think (hope) someday in the future, people will look back at this time and laugh at us for being so duped by the bottled water companies. Back in the 70’s people bought “pet rocks,” which was basically a rock in a box, marketed as pets. I mean, how stupid was that… paying good money for something that could just be found around your house for free but was just packaged nicely and marketed shrewdly… oh, wait… nevermind…
EDIT: And in the irony of ironies, yes, I realize that because of keywords in this entry, I have a Fiji water Google ad under this entry… oh, the horror of becoming a shill for the bottled water syndicate. I guess we should all “drink the Kool-aid”… or at least “drink the insanely expensive water that travelled thousands of miles by boat to get to you.”
I don’t know you, but I know tap isn’t good for you. It will cut your lifespan. I was drinking it, too. Distilled is the only thing we should drink.
the only reason i am hesitant to drink tap is because of fluoride…it is more poisonous than lead and accumulates in our bodies because even the healthiest person alive cannot get rid of at least half of what we would consume through water (and packaged foods made from unfiltered water). the above commenter is right, we should drink distilled…i don’t though, i live in the country on a well so at least i don’t have fluoride, just other things… 🙂
HAHA! Amen that that! Yeah, I drink out of the tap, too. *gasp!* We have filtered water out of our fridge, but it takes SO long! The whole bottled water thing is just one huge marketing trap, and we Americans, just like with so many other things, have fallen right into it.
LOL! me 22222I just put my mouth underneath the water faucet…. =D
I can taste the difference. Tap, distilled, boiled… I wouldn’t recommend the tap though. Enough to send you a BRITA or something. –Another marketing scam going on is that ‘100-calorie’ packs. It’s the SAME thing in smaller quantities for a greater price because it supposedly exudes a ‘health conscious’ mentality that consumers are just eating up.
I keep hearing that NYC has the cleanest water in the country. I’m not sure how true that is but I like to think I’m stoking up a killer immune system by drinking tap 90% of the time.
I only drink tap here at school because I’m poor. At home I drink tap and from the fridge, which I think is filtered. But my parents never change the filter…so I guess there’s no difference. I don’t believe that tap will kill you faster. It’s somewhat free and tastes just fine.Yesterday I bought a water cup from school instead of buying a bottle of Aquafina (which I think tastes gross)…filled it up at the drinking fountain. Compare $1.49 for the bottle water t0 .25 for the tap…I’ll take the tap.
I only drink tap here at school because I’m poor. At home I drink tap and from the fridge, which I think is filtered. But my parents never change the filter…so I guess there’s no difference. I don’t believe that tap will kill you faster. It’s somewhat free and tastes just fine.Yesterday I bought a water cup from school instead of buying a bottle of Aquafina (which I think tastes gross)…filled it up at the drinking fountain. Compare $1.49 for the bottle water t0 .25 for the tap…I’ll take the tap.
weird…don’t know why that posted twice…and for some reason I can’t delete it although it’s only been 2 minutes.
oh, the hilarity.
i drink everything but evian.
It really depends on the location. I happily drink the tap water here in NYC. We call it the “Bloomberg” and it tastes great. When I lived in NJ, I couldn’t stand the tap water. It definitely tasted funny, and I disliked the restaurants in NJ that gave you straight tap water instead of filtered. I would always have to order a drink in those places. When I lived in CA, the tap also tasted nasty since the water had more deposits of something in it. It was hard water and if you left a glass to dry on its own, there were always white spots left on it. I’ve forgotten what Maryland water tastes like, but I believe I grew up drinking tap so it must have been okay.
Fiji company just owned you.
eh. we use a reverse osmosis filter thing. lasts quite a while. (:
fiji! hahaha!ok aside from that…I would have to agree that buying expensive water is stupid. The regulations on bottled water is a lot less strict than on tap water so there’s probably more bugs swimming around it than we think. The one thing that is concerning are the prescription drugs, why do people flush their drugs down the toilet without thinking twice? ugh even worse is that pharmacists tell them to do it. And I bet downstream from the hospitals, all the sewer rats are happy and high! =)
I’ll make it a point to visit Fiji one day and drink from its tap.
I think it’s Nestle that bottles their water here in STL. From our tap water… STL has the cleanest tap water in the US and yet people areound the country are paying to get it in a plastic bottle. Suckers! I get it here for free! Oh, and sometimes I Britta filter it, sometimes not and it tastes the same to me.
tap water is cleaner than restaurant ice. toilet seats are cleaner than restaurant ice.
i drink tap water too, and i dont really care about the misinformation people disseminate about its hazards.
I drink tap water sometimes. I don’t really care either way!
i drink tap water because I’m cheap … i wish i knew if it was really “killing me softly,” like Roberta Flack and the lady at the top of this comments section says. I’d kind of a nutrition nut, so I’d probably spend some money to save my life through my intake. so is it killing me or isn’t it?!? i need an incentive if I’m going to start spending lot’s of money and raping the earth!
P.S. WHAT’S UP WITH FILTER LIFESPAN? I drink tap water at work and from the fridge with a filter at home, but I rarely change the filter. Is that another marketing ploy or do you really need to change your fridge filter every time the light goes from green to yellow to red? Would someone please explain why the filter filters only so long and then one days decides not to filter anymore? I certainly notice a difference between the filtered water and the water straight from the tap, whether the filter is 2 months or 2 years old. I need a reason if I’m going to start rushing to the store the minute the filter changer indicator turns red!
@SkyL1ght – HAHA! Do you have a frickin’ GE too? That sucker takes over a minute to get a glass of water. If you want to fill up a coffee pot, you’d better have a good little chunk of time on your hands. What’s up with that? It’s the 21st century, people! We can put a man on the moon, or at least we used to be able to, if you can believe what you see. How about making a fridge that will dispense my filtered water faster than a pee stream, would ya?!? It’s like waiting in line at Walmart or something every time I just want to get a glass of water!!! Maybe that helps explains why GE is going bankrupt?
@artworkjanalee – OK, I’m off to research whether my tap water is killing me … unless you’ve got some good links that’ll save me some time! Keep in mind that my time is very limited thanks to drinking all that tap water up until now!!
@rrozz – I’ve read so much about it – but you could google “drugs in our drinking water” for a start, heavy metals, bacteria – you keep yourself clean and your house, you don’t eat spoiled food….all that is how to avoid disease.
And here is a link, C:\Users\Owner\Desktop\The Anti-Inflammation Diet Anti-Inflammatory Foods to Eat & Avoid, Supplements to Take & How Much to Exercise.mht
which, in about the 4th paragraph down makes sense to me.
Granted, distilled is $1 or so a gallon, so you can boil your water, which I’ve started again.
@rrozz – Granted, distilled is $1 or so a gallon, so you can boil your water, which I’ve started again – also to wash my hair and rinse off after a shower in. I dither because the affordable bottled water is in plastic, which leaches into the water over time.
@rrozz – LOL! No, we have a Kenmore. I don’t know if it actually takes a minutes or not, but it sure feels like it does!
Good stuff, I refuse to buy bottled water if I can help it. It’s a #1 money saver. People dont understand that you pay for for a gallon of bottle water then you do for a gallon of gas.
i drink tap water too, unless im in boston/new york. heavily populated cities tend to have “dirtier” tap water. and besides, tap water is so convenient!
Actually, municipal water is much more regulated than bottled water…..
I’ve been drinking tap water for years and I’ve never become sick from it. Sometimes it helps *not* to worry about things, when they don’t actually matter.
ah yes, the great filter vs bottle vs tap debate… really, you can find research on just about every type of water that’ll scare the pants off you if you’re inclined to wear loose pants… distilled causes heart problems (something about not having electrolytes/minerals, etc), tap water has drugs (birth control–lol), and bottled is nothing more than glorified tap water. Oh, and I’m afraid I’m going to have to disagree with you about how mankind didn’t die because of their poor planning re: drinking water in relationship to bathing/”bathroom” areas… maybe not all of them, but a whole heck of a lot of them did.Anyway, I drink all varieties of water with equal abandon, thus enjoying the benefits of them all!
I grew up in a village that has a canal (where the septic systems drain) at one end of the street, and the water well (that our tap water came from) about fifty yards beyond it. Yeah, think about that one for a while. It’s the equivelant of drinking the water in a third world nation. So yeah… I now live in the city of Houston, where the water supply at least pretends to be monitored by the gov’t, and drink the tap water without fear. Though I did notice it seems to have picked up an odd odor after Hurricane Ike, that hasn’t left yet.
Our old water pipes were made with asbestos cement, and the city is replacing them because they could start to break down. They’re replacing them with plastic pipes which could leach chemicals into our water. On top of all that, the chlorine level is so high that you might as well drink from the neighbours’ pool.You can go filterless if you like, but I’d rather do without asbestos fibres in my drinking water, thanks.
ugh, you have never drank Lynchburg, VA water. The worst I ever tasted. I remember after I joined the no-more-water-bottles movement, I started refilling from the fountains and sinks, but when I opened the container, it smelled like when I was a kid and we walked into the YMCA for swimming lessons. It is so heavily chlorinated, I stopped drinking water by itself. I just couldn’t do it. It smelled so bad. I don’t even know what else was in it that was bad for me and all that crap, I just couldn’t get past the special edition chemical flavor L-burg had to offer.I eventually bought a Pur water pitcher. I go by taste – those filters last about 4 months (ha, not 2). When it starts to taste “dry”, I change it. It’s not gonna kill me, all it does is not filter any more. It didn’t kill me before I got the stupid thing, its not gonna hurt me now. I avoid the sticker-guilt by chucking the sticker.
@queenofstyrofoamhearts – Then you haven’t had NYC tap. NYC is known for having some of the best tap in the country. The only caveat would be if you live in a building with old rusty pipes. Otherwise, it’s the best!
More proof that NYC tap is great. I wish I had thought of this idea!! http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-tapwater25-2009feb25,0,6720560,full.story
aw! I want a pet rock! lol.
<3
you are correct this is the cleanest water in history and people that cry about it are spoiled. If they went to Mexico or Guatemala they would die. Americans have become so soft in the last 30 yrs or so that they can’t even drink tap water. With that said when I moved to New York in 2001 the tap water came out gray (a dark gray) so there was no way I was drinking that.
I prefer spring water from a natural spring, but since I rarely get to visit one I usually drink “Crystal Springs” water, its good, but tastes like industry still.. Its the closest “Bottled” water to a real spring though.
True story. Awhile back, a city (Chicago, I believe) decided to test the bottled water craze, so they came out with their own bottled water brand naming it _____________ City Water”. The bottles were filled, from the city reservoir, with the same water that could be gotten out of any tap in the city. Their slogan, printed on the bottle, was “Tastes like water”. It was a big seller in the stores.
I don’t drink tap water because of the fluoride like quiet_strength had said, it is actually a poison and is more poisonous than lead (Sodium Fluoride)…I have head that people actually have to wear special suits to put this poison in to the water…
Lol people are already complaining, I drink it right from a well connected to the tap so all thats filtering it is the ground… And thats all I need!
i drink tap water… you can’t be serious when you say it’s poisonous.
Yeah I heard about this too, that buying bottled water is a big waste of money and energy. However…I live in a dorm right now, and I get very dehydrated if I don’t have a constant water source next to me at all times. I only go to the dining center about 3/4 times a day, and I do not like bringing back several cups of water that I know I can’t recycle and will just throw away into the waste. I would rather at least recycle the bottled water. However, when I get my apartment next year, I definitely am going to stick to tap water again!!
Why go bu something hen you can get it at home for free? Besides. The plastic inside the bottle ends up corroding into the water, and then you have whatever chemicals were in that plastic, floating around in your water. ITS ALL THE SAME!
i’ve always been hugely against the bottled water scene (what’s next? bottled ‘air’…? YES!), but finally broke down and got me one of those pitchers (yeah, the one with the dreaded sticker) that you mention, after having the water main in the trailer park break twice this year, which, upon repair, would sputter sandy crud water for a the longest time. *gack!*. i always thought how ridiculous it is, that we pay our water bill, and then rush out and pay for “better” water at the store? i wish i could pay my gas and electric bill twice, as well /sarcasm/! anyway…that’s my 2 cents
I never saw a problem with tap water either, although I have a filter in my Maytag Frig. I havent changed it in about a year. Thanks for reminding me.
i totally agree with you. i think people are crazy when they’re like “omg tap waters gonna kill you.” Ok, if you live near like a nuclear reactor site, than yes, clearly, you might die a little bit from drinking the water, but for normal areas? No, i’m pretty sure you’re safe. I drink tap water every day, like at least a gallon, and i’m perfectly fine.