Why are people so paranoid about tap water?

[Kreon]

The water that comes from my tap is amazingly good.

The only tap water I won't drink is the Boston city water here at college. ugh. I filter that as well.

Bottled water costs way to much, and most of it is bottled city water. (there was a plant across the street from me that bottled the city water, and sold it in Connecticut.

 

[spidey07]

Funny thing is tap water is actually better for you than bottled.

But agree that people are just stupid.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: shocksyde

Originally posted by: dainthomas

Originally posted by: Kelvrick
I trust the tap at home. Still put it through a brita though, but won't get squirmish about drinking out of the sink. Its just not cold enough.

I don't trust the faucets that the water is coming out of in public places.

Unless the building has lead pipes or something, I honestly cannot comprehend what is scary about public faucets. I've been drinking out of the fountain at my gym for YEARS and have yet to die of ebola or mad cow disease or whatever else the OCD types get freaked out about. If anything, I'd be more worried about chemicals leaching from the plastic in a bottle.

If people knew how high the FDA acceptable level of rat hair/feces and bug parts in their food was, then water would be the least of their worries. It is marketing, pure and simple.

I watched a news story about bug parts in chocolate. Every single manufacturer (Godiva, Russel Stover, etc.) had bugs in their chocolate. Mmmmm, buggy goodness!

dude choc covered ants and grasshoppers are AWESOME

FWIW i never drank anything other then tap water

 

[Modelworks]

I'm not worried about health issues from my tap water. The biggest issue I have is with taste. Some days the chlorine is really strong, smells of bleach.

 

[alkemyst]

same way people believe you HAVE to change your oil at 3k miles.

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog

Originally posted by: PingSpike
Some tap water can have a funny taste...but I really don't believe its less likely to be dirty then that crap that comes in bottles. Water has to pass potability standards.

Why do they always show a mountain stream in bottled water commercials? Bears shit in there.

I have it on good authority that bears, in fact, shit in the woods.

The stream is typically pictured running through a mountain forest, so technically we are both right.

 

[shocksyde]

Originally posted by: Modelworks
I'm not worried about health issues from my tap water. The biggest issue I have is with taste. Some days the chlorine is really strong, smells of bleach.

Well I can understand that. If it tastes like a YMCA smells, I wouldn't drink it either.

 

[SirStev0]

our species last this long and bottled purified water is only like 100 years old at most. I never really got it.

I do acknowledge there are some creepy facts you find out about water every so often. Pharmacological levels and such.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Originally posted by: alkemyst
same way people believe you HAVE to change your oil at 3k miles.

So true, guess who gave the idea to change oil every 3k? I am sure you can figure it out. 😀

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: shocksyde

Originally posted by: dainthomas

Originally posted by: Kelvrick
I trust the tap at home. Still put it through a brita though, but won't get squirmish about drinking out of the sink. Its just not cold enough.

I don't trust the faucets that the water is coming out of in public places.

Unless the building has lead pipes or something, I honestly cannot comprehend what is scary about public faucets. I've been drinking out of the fountain at my gym for YEARS and have yet to die of ebola or mad cow disease or whatever else the OCD types get freaked out about. If anything, I'd be more worried about chemicals leaching from the plastic in a bottle.

If people knew how high the FDA acceptable level of rat hair/feces and bug parts in their food was, then water would be the least of their worries. It is marketing, pure and simple.

I watched a news story about bug parts in chocolate. Every single manufacturer (Godiva, Russel Stover, etc.) had bugs in their chocolate. Mmmmm, buggy goodness!

Its not even a big deal...its not like its arsenic, bugs are just protein.

 

[SirStev0]

Originally posted by: Baked
Do you drink outta the toilet too? 'Cause it's the same water coming outta the water fountain.

Have you tried putting water on the crops?

What like out of the toilet?

 

[PingSpike]

If Bear Grylls can drink his own urine out of a snake skin I think I'll survive drinking tap water.

 

[ZzZGuy]

IIRC, when living in Medicine Hat (Canada) they got their drinking water form the main river, that river water did not look very appetizing despite knowledge that it has been treated. Also the fact a city or two upriver dump treated sewage water back in to the river didn't help.

There is also Fort McMurray (Canada) which is at the heart of the oil sands. I have worked at the Suncor mining and refinery sites, the river where (I believe) they get their drinking water from runs DIRECTLY through the middle of this site. Download google earth and have a look for yourselves (it's the first mine site directly north of the city), the "coke" piles (solid byproducts of refining bitumen into synthetic crude oil) are within 50 feet of the river with visible black clouds drifting over the river if the wind is right (and dry). Then there is the 8 or so flame stacks pumping god knows what into the air. They also have one of the highest rates of cancer in that city.

Basically, what used to be acceptable exposure levels to various chemicals in the past are not acceptable today with better knowledge (or lack of people trying to make everyone believe it's not bad).

 

[shocksyde]

Originally posted by: PingSpike

Originally posted by: shocksyde


I watched a news story about bug parts in chocolate. Every single manufacturer (Godiva, Russel Stover, etc.) had bugs in their chocolate. Mmmmm, buggy goodness!

Its not even a big deal...its not like its arsenic, bugs are just protein.

You're completely right. But I guarantee some people who didn't know that would flip their shit when you told them.

 

[cronos]

to me it's bottled water that tastes funny

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: PingSpike

Originally posted by: shocksyde

Originally posted by: dainthomas

Originally posted by: Kelvrick
I trust the tap at home. Still put it through a brita though, but won't get squirmish about drinking out of the sink. Its just not cold enough.

I don't trust the faucets that the water is coming out of in public places.

Unless the building has lead pipes or something, I honestly cannot comprehend what is scary about public faucets. I've been drinking out of the fountain at my gym for YEARS and have yet to die of ebola or mad cow disease or whatever else the OCD types get freaked out about. If anything, I'd be more worried about chemicals leaching from the plastic in a bottle.

If people knew how high the FDA acceptable level of rat hair/feces and bug parts in their food was, then water would be the least of their worries. It is marketing, pure and simple.

I watched a news story about bug parts in chocolate. Every single manufacturer (Godiva, Russel Stover, etc.) had bugs in their chocolate. Mmmmm, buggy goodness!

Its not even a big deal...its not like its arsenic, bugs are just protein.

arsenic removal is mandatory, even where there are barely recordable levels. UV systems are pretty widely used as well, which kills pretty much everything in the water. worst part of public drinking water is the pipes between the city owned valve and your sink.


edit:

Originally posted by: Baked
Do you drink outta the toilet too? 'Cause it's the same water coming outta the water fountain.

a lot of cities/ areas are using grey reclaimed water for large building waste systems. different water than the potable sources youre likely to drink from.

 

[BassBomb]

I drink tapwater, im more afraid of what the plastic bottle does to the water for bottled water. Thats why I never use bottled water, or re-use the bottle.

 

[Crono]

Originally posted by: cronos
to me it's bottled water that tastes funny

We meet again, evil twin brother.

I prefer taste of bottled water to tap where I live, which has horrible tasting tap water. It's safe to drink, though, and it's regularly tested. I trust it.

I have no problem drinking NYC tap water. Tastes fine, and I regularly drink from fountain in school.

 

[evident]

sometimes it tastes really bad. whe n i was in a hotel, i could either pay $5 for a bottle of water or drink from the tap. i tried the tap and it had this really awful taste to it. i had to go to the wawa across the street and get a 1 gallon jug. at home, mine tastes fine though

 

[Gooberlx2]

Oh noes! Yer gonna get the crypto! (Milwaukee reference)

Though, I did work in a very old building once and the water that came out of the non-filtered fountains there definitely smelled and tasted weird.

 

[Kwatt]

Originally posted by: dainthomas

Originally posted by: Kelvrick
I trust the tap at home. Still put it through a brita though, but won't get squirmish about drinking out of the sink. Its just not cold enough.

I don't trust the faucets that the water is coming out of in public places.

Unless the building has lead pipes or something, I honestly cannot comprehend what is scary about public faucets. I've been drinking out of the fountain at my gym for YEARS and have yet to die of ebola or mad cow disease or whatever else the OCD types get freaked out about. If anything, I'd be more worried about chemicals leaching from the plastic in a bottle.

If people knew how high the FDA acceptable level of rat hair/feces and bug parts in their food was, then water would be the least of their worries. It is marketing, pure and simple.

The reason water bottled in plastic has an expiration date. After the date the breakdown of the plastic has put the ppm count too high. Let it sit outside in the sun and it gets worse.


.

 

[imported_Imp]

The only reason I avoid drinking tap water is cause of the taste of chlorine and the questionable quality of any building's pipes. At home, the only reason is the chlorine taste and smell. My dad goes crazy if he sees me doing it though cause of the e-coli or whatever paranoia.

I did an entire design project in college on potable water purification. The shit is safe, tested multiple times daily, and heavilly regulated in North America sans Mexico. Unfortunately, shit does happen.

 

[nobody554]

Meh, tap is fine. It's water fountains I don't trust anymore. I got really paranoid this year drinking out of water fountains when several friends of mine all came down with mono. And I'm pretty positive it was because they weren't makin' out or anything.

If the bottled water is free, I'll drink it... Otherwise, it'll probably be tap.

 

[ZzZGuy]

Originally posted by: shocksyde

I watched a news story about bug parts in chocolate. Every single manufacturer (Godiva, Russel Stover, etc.) had bugs in their chocolate. Mmmmm, buggy goodness!

LOL.

Where I live we have a lot of wild blueberry patches that you can fill bucket after bucket (clean ones). I love telling people (especially girls) how over they years of eating blueberries they have consumed a good pound or two of bugs in the process (I've learned to be weary of stink bugs). Watching the odd persons face go slightly pale when they realize this is priceless, despite how evil I'm being.

 

[sutahz]

Originally posted by: msi1337

Originally posted by: Baked
Do you drink outta the toilet too? 'Cause it's the same water coming outta the water fountain.

you poop in the fountain?

ewww

I'm sure he does.

It's all advertising/marketing. If water is bottled and sold in the same state it's not regulated.