On Demand
How Clean is our Tap Water?
Monday, July 09, 2007
Jon Coifman, director of media relations for the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), discusses the quality of NYC's tap water and the city's ad campaign promoting municipal water.
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it's not just the water to the city...what about the individual pipes that go to each apartment? don't we need to each test our water?
You have GOT to be kidding! I know Coifman is not stupid, so why does he think that the water coming out of the tap in my kitchen at 137th and Broadway tastes as good as it does at the source? It DOESN'T!!!!
It's often BROWN! I would never drink it unfiltered! I have a filter, which is the only reason I drink my tap water.
I grew up in NJ, where the water really isn't pleasant to drink, and upon moving to Manhattan was amazed at how good the tap water is. I drink the tap water and even prefer it to bottled water which, I think, tastes like sour plastic. Just another reason to prefer NY over any place else...!
Great read on Bottled Water...
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/117/features-message-in-a-bottle.html
Agreed with Jon- what about the old pipes!? What are the standards?
Try a bagel that wasn't made with NYC tap water then try one that was, there's no comparison. NYC tap water bagels rule!
I grew up in Dallas and moved to NYC in 1998. I've found the City's drinking water to be the best tasting.
Tap water in Texas is heavily chlorinated and has a very strong chemical taste. NYC water has no odor.
My office mates always think I'm odd if they catch me drinking water straight out of the tap.
So if the H20 is so clean, how come the brown water comes out of the tap on occasion? Or why does it smell sometimes?
I filter due to the chlorine aftertaste. In fact, if I leave a glass of water standing for longer than a few hours, it tastes awful and I assume that is due to the chlorine.
#1 I have a 2 stage under sink filter and filter all of the water. The water does have a slight florine taste but the charcoal filter takes it all out.
#2 Please advise what I should study for the singles event tomorrow night.
I don't like the chlorine taste in NYC water. (If it sits in the fridge 24 hours, it seems to dissapate...)
However, my friend DIED from cryptosporidium, which he got from drinking tap water. Can that be filtered out at home?
Thanks!
As a former Brooklyn resident, the water is one of the things I miss the most.
With water as a KEY ingredient in both; I am convinced that it's the NYC water that makes our pizza and bagels the best in the world.
=====
bottled water that comes in plastic bottles which leach plastics and can cause estrogen dominance - which can cause cancer.
I use a brita - hope this takes care of what's in the pipes
question though - my friends from Europe don't like our water (for showering esp., because of the chlorine, which is illegal in Germany)
I grew up believing ours was the best water but about 8 or so years ago there was a problem reported that there was cryptosporidia cysts found in water in some areas on the east side. Now I like the water and also the water that comes out of my faucet is not only cloudy but sometimes foamy and has "pipe matter" so I do support drinking our tap water but I also use a PUR filter for extra precautions. True, bottled water is from other cities' reservoirs. BTW what happened to the cryptosporidia??
Inspect our pipes? I just don't think my landlord really has the time cater to my concern over the water pipes... it does taste good, but I would never drink it unfiltered.
We keep two large glass bottles in the refrigerator that we just keep refilling with tap water as we use it. It tastes great, is ice cold, is healthy and doesn't produce extra waste.
In the mid 60's, in first day in biology lab in Bronx HS of Science: we created cultures from the air, the tap water, unopened milk container and a lip print.
Two days later, we were horrified by the reults from the lips and air. The most sterile was from the Bronx tap water.
Now, in the last few years in manhattan, there is a new smell and taste that suggests more disinfecting is being done.
According to a recent article in "Fast Company" magazine"
"if the water we use at home cost what even cheap bottled water costs, our monthly water bills would run $9,000"
My water looks fine, but I always filter it just to be on the safe side. Brita filter also takes out any chemical taste. I do brush my teeth with water directly out of the tap.
Tap water has floride. Bottled water does not. Older buildings that may have some more lead in pipes would need a filter especially if children in household. Otherwise tap water is safer because there are requirements to test periodically for contaminants but there is no requirement for bottled water.
Pratically all of NYC Orthodox Jews have installed filters over the last few years to get rid of the copoped crustaceans that we are not permitted to ingest. The City insists there is no health problem drinking this and does not mention it in the annual water report. Do you think everyone else wants to drink this stuff? Also the filter inserts we use get filthy and have to be changed more than weekly. There is plenty of dirt in the water. Just unscrew the aerator and put a large synthetic cotton ball in the faucet and look at it after a week.
NYC's water is indeed tasty.
Poland Springs was, in recent memory, sued for bottling agricultural run-off. Yum.
Not just the bottles, but the fuel used to transport them. Water is heavy. I recently followed Alice Waters in giving up Peligrino. Apparently they now make their own sparkling water at Chez Panise. I'm looking forward to getting one of those nifty selzer things (from the 60, my parents had one) and trying.
I am a fairly recent transplant from Brooklyn and live in idylic spot miles from anything. I have well water which is not so clean and full full full of minerals. I have a filtration systme to get rid of the ecoli and a softener to get rid of all the hard hard minerals--0and it still doesn't taste so good,
I sooooooooooooooooooooooo miss NYC water--it is the best! I find it ironic that you guys get the water from my neck of the woods and my water right here is a bit nasty. Not that I begruge you the water.......I think it's great that NYC gets such perfect water.
Me, I now only drink seltzer!
You're always the best and I miss WNYC very very very much--maybe as much as I miss the water.
Randi
We were concerned about our water quality after some water and sewer work in our street a few months ago. We called 311 and they sent us a water testing kit which was easy to do, free and took only a week or two to get results. There was a small amount of lead showing up, so we use a Brita and take the other precautions they advised.
I work at the brand new "Green" Hearst building- totally state of the art- and yet every day about 3 or 4 dozen small poland spring bottles are delivered to the kitchen refrigerator on my floor. I see them littered, half drunk, all over the office! How can NYC's first "green building" be so wasteful and still get that certification?
I used to carry tap water in a refillable plastic Nalgene bottle, until I read that the plastic leaks carcinogens into the water. Is that true? Anyway around this?
The water may be charted as the cleanest, but the pipes in the old buildings are not reliable, often making the water iron laden, or other. I never drink the tap water in my building without filtering it through the PUR filter first. The tap water straight out of the tap doesn't taste good to me. The only time I drink NYC tap water is when on a run in Central Park...the water still tastes odd (hints of chlorine like flavor and metals) compared to bottled.
I agree that reducing waste of plastic bottles, and reducing CO2 emmisions for trucking water into the city is a great motivation, but the tap water just doesn't cut it without filtering.
why is there no deposit on bottled water. DId bloomberg's new green policy address this?
what about the fuel and energy required to transport the water?
this is the biggest reason not to drink bottled water.
-marcel
transportation of bottled water is the greatest issue regarding the environment. water is heavy and is being needless transported via gas powered vehicules.
I'm from New Orleans and before Katrina they were very proud of the quality of the water and bottled it. Unfortunately, they put on the bottles that it was bottled by the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans. Not very appetizing!
DEP used to offer free testing for lead in home drinking water. It is worth checking if they still offer that service (probably call 311)
Harper's magazine did a great piece some time ago on beachcombers, and what they were finding. Unsurprisingly, bottled water bottles were the #1 worst polutant of beaches and oceans around the world - we toss them away like nothing inconsiderate of the fact that they take hundereds of years to decay.
This is a huge part of this issue.
I have sold bottled and filtered water. New York City water is great. One of the largest bottled water in New York uses filtered NYC water as its product and does not hide the fact. The most efficient way to handle the so called problem is to use a commercial filter. This takes out the problem of dirty and old building pipes. If one wants to get rid of the clhorine, an additional carbon filter will clean out that chemical.
My concern is not so much the chlorine taste, but the chlorine smell that waffs from the shower.
I was listening to the Brian Lehrer show today and was wondering if anyone knows the website to find out information regarding the segment on clean wtaer, how to tell that your water is clean. I think the guest was someone from the NRDC if anyone knows th link to follow this story i would appreciate it.
A good reason not to buy bottled water has recently been raised re all the waste created by the bottles that require recycling.
Also, btw - not only bagels but pizza crust made with NYC water tastes better than any other!
We should remind ourselves that when we say NYC tap water, it's really Westchester reservoir water.
Anyone who wants to learn about the background and sometimes dirty politics behind the great reservoir system that feeds NYC clean drinking water may want to pick up a copy of "The Riverkeepers" by Bobby Kennedy Jr. and John Cronin. The system was and is an amazing feat that shouldn't be taken for granted.
I appreciate the guest's appearance on the show, but his position on the issue came across too much like propaganda. The tap water where I work in Brooklyn (old building) smells and tastes putrid. There's no chlorine odor, it's something worse.
A few blocks away the water in my apartment (an even older building) actually tastes pretty good except for days when there's a heavy chlorine odor.
In either case I wouldn't want to drink the water without filtering it. I recommend an under the sink, easy to install filter that I purchased online for $150. It comes with a three year filter!!! If you're using a Brita filter and find yourself continuously opening the fridge door to fill the container, only to use half or more of it for tea or coffee, an under the sink filter makes more sense to me.
The guest should have gone more into detail about the causes of bad tasting water. Maybe he did and I missed it?
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