This question is obviously intended for those that live in places where tap water is “safe to drink.”
I live in Southern California, where I’m at the end of a long chain of cities. Occasionally, the tap smells of sulfur, hardness changes, or it tastes… odd. I’m curious about the perspective of people that are directly involved and their reasoning.
why trust or not? Just get it tested if you’re worried. Mentioned elsewhere in this thread, you can take a sample and send it out to find if everything is in safe levels. (Just remember all water is going to have impurity, the key words are safe levels)
How much does it generally cost to get it tested? I make very little money.
Not expensive but it depends on what you want to test. Most of the available tests can be gotten from aquarium supply stores. Got to keep fish healthy after all. Others can be gotten from pool supply companies.
Thank you. :)
depending on how much want to do, I have seen kits for ~$30. Pretty sure I’ve seen some small kits taken for camping, so they can’t be too pricy. And if you can’t afford it, just start bringing it up around town! Maybe somebody will get excited and do it for you.
Thanks. :)
Probably less than you’d spend on bottled water over two or three months, worthwhile investment if tests show it’s drinkable.
I don’t buy bottled water. I buy gallon jugs that I then refill at a filling station. Where I’m at, the filling station is typically about 0.40 USD/gallon.
Still, I get your point. It would, of course, still be cheaper by far to use tap water.
Personally, I would trust those filling stations a whole lot less than my tap water. Tap water is constantly purified and being tested, and strictly regulated my multiple agencies, and the press is ready to jump on it the second it’s unsafe.
One of those filling stations? Well for one the water I’m 90% sure is the same tap water anyway, and for 2, do they produce reports every month showing how safe they are like our city water does?
But unlike a lot of the filling station water, tap water is often not purified with UV or reverse osmosis. (I looked it up and mine isn’t anyway.) So some dangerous byproducts from mining and the like get through.
Honestly, this is an excellent point I hadn’t thought of.
It is, I believe, but with UV & reverse-osmosis so it’s more strongly filtered than tap water in the end.
Fair point.
(Also, please be aware that I fully admit I am not knowledgeable on this stuff; I’m just trying my best. So, if I am spouting any misconceptions, I welcome correction as long as it is kindly done.)
Sounds like UV and reverse osmosis are better, but if your city is already purifying it’s probably overkill. From my very quick research it sounds like it’s a good option only if your local tapwater is currently failing, which honestly some american towns and cities are. In that case - go for it, but if you’re city is passing, then it sounds like you’re purifying already perfectly safe to drink water.
https://www.forbes.com/home-improvement/home/reverse-osmosis-water-pros-cons/
Municipal drinking water is tested multiple times per day in Toronto, as it should be. Testing once and assuming the complex machinery and chemical levels are the same a week later is pure folly.
Note that this is different from testing well water, which shouldn’t change much. Testing well water once a year is a good idea though.
Oh for sure, I’m not worried at all, but if other people are I don’t see why they don’t just get it tested rather than buying hundreds of dollars in bottled water