I'm Wirecutter's water-quality expert. I don't filter my water

Post by Barrin92 » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 6:54 PM UTC

porphyra wrote: post #20

cypherpunks01 wrote: post #13

A surprising amount of Americans refuse to drink tap water entirely, in their own suburban homes with quality municipal water, or anywhere else they travel, holding the opinion that plastic bottled water is safer and better. Of course bottled water is regulated far less than tap water, and contains an ungodly amount of microplastics from manufacturing and storage. Under-sink RO systems seem pretty great to me, anywhe…

Even if safe, municipal water where I live (San Jose, California) contains a ton of chlorine and is super hard, making it unpleasant to drink. In contrast, bottled water consistently tastes fine.

Post by donnachangstein » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 7:00 PM UTC

Barrin92 wrote: post #42

porphyra wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if safe, municipal water where I live (San Jose, California) contains a ton of chlorine and is super hard, making it unpleasant to drink. In contrast, bottled water consistently tastes fine.

sorry if this is a stupid question because we don't have chlorinated water in Germany, but do people brew green tea or good coffee with tap water? Doesn't it taste god awful? One of the things which I remember from my holidays in Spain as a kid, which is one of the few countries which adds it here, is that the water tasted like pool water.

Post by donnachangstein » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 7:07 PM UTC

BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #11

Money quote: > readings of PFAS that exceed EPA limits have been found in just 8% of small public water systems (those that serve fewer than 10,000 people) and 15% of large ones 15%! Anyone who trusts their municipal water supply because of *handwave* regulations and reports needs to read that again. Even if my water were 100% pristine as the author's apparently is, which they only know for their own homes because th…

Post by mometsi » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 7:15 PM UTC

unyttigfjelltol wrote: post #33

darth_avocado wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One side effect of RO is vitamin B12 deficiency. And there is some debate around whether that is true or not, but anecdotally, I had developed a severe B12 deficiency to the point that one day out of the blue, I couldn’t move one of my legs. I freaked out and went to the ER, and it turns out, 1 B12 shot later, I went back to normal within minutes. The doctor hypothesized that I had developed a severe B12 deficiency b…

Similar risks regarding removal of sulfate from public water supply, or via filtration.[1] Who knew! Some of us were relying on actual nutrients from the water all along. Pristine water was, and is, a challenge for this cohort. [1] https://biomedres.us/fulltexts/BJSTR.MS.ID.006372.php

Post by BugsJustFindMe » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 7:21 PM UTC

donnachangstein wrote: post #46

BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #11

Money quote: > readings of PFAS that exceed EPA limits have been found in just 8% of small public water systems (those that serve fewer than 10,000 people) and 15% of large ones 15%! Anyone who trusts their municipal water supply because of *handwave* regulations and reports needs to read that again. Even if my water were 100% pristine as the author's apparently is, which they only know for their own homes because th…

> and maintaining a dedicated three stage filter spout next to my kitchen faucet costs me approximately nothing Calling bullshit on this one. I have one, it's positively wonderful, but the filters are expensive and per the manufacturer's recommendation you're supposed to change them all simultaneously. So when one times out, they all time out. This runs approximately $150 a year minimum depending on usage.