tap water, locations

[wispfox]

One of the things I really noticed during our recent road trip is that tap water in the south is usually _nasty_. No wonder no one wants to drink water!

I don't, however, understand why. Sometimes it's absurd amounts of chlorine. Other times it just tastes like mold and mildew. Other times, it's nothing that I can point to other than unpleasant.

Even with a filter, the water in Orlando, FL is just yucky.

Seems ill-advised to me, but given that I don't know why it's the case, I could be assuming that it's a lot easier to fix than it is. Or something.

Comments

[dsrtao]

The FDA sets minimum safety standards that have to be followed, but the taste, smell and color standards are voluntary.

If you look at MA's website, they're all about how wonderful the system is and how high we score.

If you look at FL's website, you get a PDF brochure in Comic Sans that has a FAQ:

“Are there any contaminants left in my water
after it’s treated?”

Yes, but they are present in amounts that have been determined by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over several years of toxicological studies to pose minimal risk to human health.

[hfcougar.livejournal.com]

Comic. Sans.

*facepalm*

[xuth.livejournal.com]

Also remember that each water supplier does its own thing and typically has separate contracts with each city it does business with.

So in MA, for instance, The cities of Boston and Cambridge each have their own self contained water utilities with their own reservoirs, filtration plants, distribution systems etc and there's also the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority which provides water to a large percentage of the rest of eastern MA with separate contracts for each municipality that it does business with.

[blk]

Huh. I grew up on Florida water (Tampa), and never noticed anything bad, but maybe that's because I grew up on it? I wonder how much it varies between counties. OTOH, I was just out camping in Seattle on a small island and the water there was really quite disgusting to drink straight.

[hfcougar.livejournal.com]

I wonder if the time of year has an effect. Our water was fairly decent in Minnesota (St. Paul, specifically) but there was always a time each summer when our water would taste and smell fishy for a few weeks. I always presumed it was from algae bloom or something.

Though I also wonder if people become less aware of their local water's nastinesses, being accustomed to those, but the differing nastinesses in other regions jump out immediately.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Florida has the second-worst water quality in the United States, after Nevada. I usually buy bottled water in order to brush my teeth -- I've tried travel Brita pitchers, and they help, but they don't get the water all the way to drinkable.

The problem with Florida water is that they have a very weird groundwater situation. Florida is incredibly flat and low, which means that the groundwater is infiltrated by seawater far inland, making it brackish, and the state is basically on a floating limestone slab, so that the aquifers are all incredibly mineralized. Plus, the state is also generally swamp, so the water is infiltrated by decaying biomass.

This means that the water has to be chlorinated to an incredible degree for safety -- water in Clearwater is LITERALLY more heavily chlorinated than the swimming pool at my local Y. I also strongly suspect cross-contamination with their wastewater treatment, judging from the sulphur dioxide content.

Yeah, the water quality is the PRIMARY reason I can't stand Florida.

Houston, TX

[missdimple.livejournal.com]

OMG YUCK! ;)

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

::sympathetic skritches::

[elusiveat.livejournal.com]

Don't know about Orlando, but I believe that Florida water in general comes from natural limestone aquifers, so you might be reacting badly to some of the resulting mineral conent. I friggin' love the tap water from Gainesville Florida, but I grew up on it and I think familiarity makes a big difference. I find water from anywhere that uses a water-softener to taste foul, and yet the people who live there seem happy enough. Probably my most unpleasant tap water experiences have been in Europe. No idea why, and it's been a long time (like, since I was 11), so it's hard to analyze or figure out context.

Over-chlorination is a thing, I'm sure. Another factor might be iron content, which certainly varies wildly.