is your tap water drinkable ?

Published on November 4, 2004 By mignuna In Health & Medicine

Australia is lucky in that the limited amount of fresh water we do have is of good quality, and the majority of Australians can drink fresh water directly from a tap with no purification needed. I drink a lot of water (particularly in summer) and I’m grateful I don’t have to purchase or purify it, yet I know that’s not the case everywhere.

I have a friend in Indiana who tells me they never drink their tap water on the advice of the area health industry, so how do the folks living there get enough clean water to drink ?. If I had to pay for drinking water, I doubt I’d drink as much as I do (several litres a day), and I’m sure the same thing would apply if I had to purify it beforehand.

That got me to wondering who has clean tap water, and who doesn’t, and if they don’t, what do they do about it ?. So, is your tap water clean ?. If not, do you buy or purify drinking water, or do you simply drink little or no water and drink something else instead ?.

(Yes, yes, I’m worrying about all of you. You need to drink your water and eat your veggies, treasures !).

Comments

chiprj

on Nov 04, 2004

Mine's portable. That's right. I put it into little bottles and carry it wherever I go. Oh, it's potable, too! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I just had to...

Danny Bassette

on Nov 04, 2004

The tap water in my area is supposed to be safe, although not exactly clean. I noticed it tasted a bit odd shortly before the paper said it had a high algae count or some such, but the city (which owns the lake the water comes from) assures us that it is perfectly safe. needless to say, we have a water purifier type device at our house. On the other hand, I thought it was neat that the city owns a lake.

Silver_and_Jade_Tears

on Nov 04, 2004

Our water is supposedly safe, and clean, with flouride in it. That was another thing I had to vote on...should we keep flouride in the water...NONONO. The water is nasty enough as it is, why should we have that crap in it??

mignuna

on Nov 04, 2004

silver and jade tears, we are going through the same thing here at the moment. the local govt are trying to put flouride in our water and the community is going apeshit over it. flouride has no benefit when ingested by adult humans, although topical application by a dentist can have some benefits. flouride tablets can be added to water for children to brush their teeth and rinse their mouth in, but i see no reason why all of us should need to have so much of it. scary. i hope they take it out for you.

The tap water in my area is supposed to be safe, although not exactly clean

i have heard that, danny. that people sometimes see 'bits' floating in their water. ew !

needless to say, we have a water purifier type device at our house. On the other hand, I thought it was neat that the city owns a lake.

tha water purifier sounds like a wise idea considering the algae scare you mentioned. and i agree, it is funky that your city owns a lake !.

Mine's portable. That's right. I put it into little bottles and carry it wherever I go. Oh, it's potable, too! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I just had to...

my first 'BWAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA" for the day. thankyou chip !

mig XXX

chiprj

on Nov 04, 2004

my first 'BWAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA" for the day. thankyou chip !

My pleasure!

citahellion

on Nov 04, 2004

I haven't died from drinking the tap water around here yet, and I haven't heard anything else bad about it, either.

Spc Nobody Special

on Nov 04, 2004

I don't worry about that stuff. While I make no effort to ingest asbestoes with every meal, if I worried about every possible minor intake of a possible toxin or carcinogen, I would be poisoned all right, contaminated right in my enjoyment of life.

Texas water is fine, although some places it's better to filter it to take out a mineral taste, especially like in west texas, where the aquifers are getting lower every year, so it's picking up more sediment in the ground water from the bottom of them.

Ravenblack

on Nov 05, 2004

Singapore water is good out of the tap, but most people boil it before drinking anyway.

historyishere

on Nov 05, 2004

We just had a boil water advisory in a part of the city I live that included a hospital... not pretty....

Texas Wahine

on Nov 06, 2004

The water here is safe, and it tastes wonderful. We just drink our water right out of the tap.

(Yes, yes, I’m worrying about all of you. You need to drink your water and eat your veggies, treasures !).

he he he . . . very sweet of you, mig!

trina_p

on Nov 07, 2004

I think our pipes are dodgy. The water is sae to drink normally but don't drink from our bathroom tap (you know when you get a glass of water late at night) and sometimes from our kitchen. Sometimes you can leave a glass of water for 2-10minutes and it will turn yellow - it's not pretty. It doesn't always happen - it's really weird.
Generally we run our tap for a bit longer and then we freeze the water.
We're getting the landlords in to look at the pipes cause sometimes when you run water it smells (water shouldn't have an odour) and our drains are always blocking - You have a shower and end up with a bath.
Our pipes are dodgy

mignuna

on Nov 09, 2004

We're getting the landlords in to look at the pipes cause sometimes when you run water it smells (water shouldn't have an odour)

that's true, trina. that's a health matter and they have to look into it for you. make sure you insist. old pipes can do that, and the water can have all kinds of goo in it. i hope they fix it soon.

Sometimes you can leave a glass of water for 2-10minutes and it will turn yellow - it's not pretty

i had that kind of water when i lived in a certain area of sydney, too, trina. yuck.

he he he . . . very sweet of you, mig!

can't have you all getting ill and leaving me now, can i ?

The water here is safe, and it tastes wonderful. We just drink our water right out of the tap.

i'm very glad, texas. stay healthy, treasure !

Singapore water is good out of the tap, but most people boil it before drinking anyway.

i think a lot of places are the same, raven. in hong king, my sister used to just buy bottled, even though the supply of water was said to be good.

if I worried about every possible minor intake of a possible toxin or carcinogen, I would be poisoned all right, contaminated right in my enjoyment of life.

a very good point, spc nobody special

I haven't died from drinking the tap water around here yet, and I haven't heard anything else bad about it, either.

i am glad to know that, citahellion. if something were to become of you, what would i do when i get puzzled ?

mig XXX

kingbee

on Nov 09, 2004

there was a report on the national nbc evening news last nite (11/8) about a recent discovery of male fish in colorado rivers that have externally observable female tissue (dont ask me cuz i dont know how they know or what to look for either) due to huge amounts of estrogen flowing into the water supply from water treatment plants. apparently the plants are unable to remove the hormone (which also appears in much smaller amounts naturally) during the treatment process and the problem is excaberated by a commonly used chemical which mimics estrogen. the chemical (sorry i dont remember the name) is used in manufacturing paint, plastics, etc. and has been banned in europe and other places.

since the hard core moral values people take their environmental cue from biblical sources (dominion over the earth and its resources) and see no earthly need for strict environmental regulation and if this chemical causes a similiar mutation in humans, we may need to take the concept of banning same-sex marriage to a whole new level to accomodate both-sex humans.

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