7 ms·

If I travel to the US (Let's say Los Angeles, Seattle and New York) how do I know if the tap water is safe to drink? In the EU I normally just ask a local. In G

If I travel to the US (Let's say Los Angeles, Seattle and New York) how do I know if the tap water is safe to drink? In the EU I normally just ask a local. In Germany it's safe to drink but in the Czech Republic you might be better off drinking bottled water (last time I checked was ~10 years ago, sorry if it's changed).

toomuchtodo 11y ago
http://ofmpub.epa.gov/apex/safewater/f?p=136:102::::: http://ofmpub.epa.gov/apex/safewater/f?p=136:102::::::
- e40 11y ago
  It seems to be broken. Every city I enter gives me no results.
  - toomuchtodo 11y ago
    Not every city makes their reports available. Might need a FOIA request to get it.
    - nommm-nommm 11y ago
      The safe drinking water act requires water supplies to not only create reports but also distribute them to their customers. My water company mails them out, thats probably par for the course. Putting them online might be optional, but they have to distribute them to their customers.
akg_67 11y ago
Default to not drinking from taps directly. I live in Seattle. We only use tap water after filtering with a Brita Filter for drinking and cooking. When we are outside home, we either bring filtered water with us or buy bottled water. At restaurants, if in doubt we ask if water is directly from tap. Since the flint lead news, I have been exploring how can I get my tap water tested on a routine.
- groby_b 11y ago
  Any results on the routine testing? Pointers?
  - toomuchtodo 11y ago
    http://www.agwt.org/node/169 http://www.agwt.org/node/169
    - groby_b 11y ago
      I'm going to go out on a limb and say that "use a laboratory" is not the most helpful piece of advice ever :)
  - akg_67 11y ago
    Actually just a low tech method. Asked my wife who is on Board of Homeowners Association (HOA) to find out if HOA has done any testing in the past or would consider sending incoming city water supply samples for testing annually.
- sanoli 11y ago
  Did you find anything acceptable, regarding the testing?
- serge2k 11y ago
  Ridiculous. First off, evidence that Seattle water is unsafe? Second, brita is useless http://www.naturalnews.com/046536_water_filters_heavy_metals_lab_results.html http://www.naturalnews.com/046536_water_filters_heavy_metals...
  - datashaman 11y ago
    you're using 'natural news' as a source? this is one of the worst sites on the internet, literally riddled with unproven BS.
    - deleted 11y ago
djrogers 11y ago
If I travel to Europe, how do I know if the local knows the water is safe to drink? Unless you're in Flint, or a paranoiac, tap water in the US is safe. Period. Flint's problem is not endemic, it was isolated. The article is really reaching - they cite 3 instances over ~15 years of problems in city water supplies. In 2 of the 3 cases it was caught and rectified quickly - Flint is the exception.
- the_mitsuhiko 11y ago
  > Unless you're in Flint, or a paranoiac, tap water in the US is safe. Period. Given the size of the United States that's a very brave statement. Water quality in Europe is typically measured on on commune level and even in countries like Austria which pride themselves for drinkable tap water there are incidents which cause tap water to not be drinkable at times.
  - snowwrestler 11y ago
    The U.S. is huge but it's also filled with a lot of people and a lot of local governments, state governments, and of course a federal government. If you want one independent source of proof that U.S. water is safe, consider that almost every U.S. child has blood work done on an annual basis. If elevated levels of lead are a problem, they would be detected at that time, as they were in Flint.
    - the_mitsuhiko 11y ago
      Lead in blood is always a problem. A few years back one in 35 children in the US had elevated lead levels.
    - nommm-nommm 11y ago
      Almost every US child has blood work done on an annual basis? For what? What are they looking for? Lead specifically?
      - officemonkey 11y ago
mturmon 11y ago
In major cities in the US like the ones you name, it would be very unusual to doubt the safety of standard municipal tap water. In my home city, this is based upon my own reading of the annual water quality reports they put out. I filter a lot of my own drinking water for taste reasons, but it's un-necessary and I do not hesitate to drink from taps anywhere. With the recent worries about BPA and other components of plastics, it's unclear if bottled water from plastic is safer than tap at the 99.9th percentile of paranoia. I don't know about exotic risks from bottled water in glass (radioactive Evian from Chernobyl?), but I assume they are there also. Nonetheless, in my circle of friends, I do know people who drink bottled water because they think it's more pure. I also know people who don't use microwave ovens because of harmful radio waves, and others who do not use plastic containers or plastic-lined metal cans because of hormone disruptors in plastics. I think they're nuts, and they compensate by thinking I'm naive and complacent.
- colordrops 11y ago
  Why would you think they are nuts? Hormone disrupters in certain plastics and can liners are a real problem, backed by science.
  - mturmon 11y ago
    A close friend was an entrepreneur and evangelist in this space. I looked into it around 2008 and could not justify a significant level of concern relative to other risks. (Although "nuts" may be too strong...should say, "excessively worried".) If you know otherwise, please post a link.
    - colordrops 11y ago
      Bisphenol-A (recently banned for some uses, removed from most drinking bottles): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A Read the intro, "Health Effects" section, and sources. Bisphenol-S (still in use): http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/archivos_pdf/bisphenol-s-disrupts-estradiol.pdf http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/archivos_pdf/bisphenol-s-d... http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150112154606.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150112154606.ht... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_S https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_S
Radim 11y ago
Re. Czech Republic -- nothing has changed, in the sense that drinking tap water was perfectly safe ten years ago, as it is now. I suppose that demonstrates the dangers of your "ask some local" approach :) Though the safety of tap water in CZ is well known, and has been well known for decades, and any local would tell you as much. So I'm not sure where that came from. Perhaps some temporary local incident? Even Google may be a safer source of information on tap water quality.
- voltagex_ 11y ago
  Odd, I'll ask my father why he thought it wasn't a good idea. Thanks.
nommm-nommm 11y ago
Locals will also tell you vaccines will give you autism and wifi is making them sick so they need homeopathic medicine. Better to go with facts over hearsay. The EPA requires yearly water quality reports (called Consumer Confidence Reports) for all municipal water supplies in the United States. Specifically they are due by July 1st each year. LA - https://dpw.lacounty.gov/wwd/web/YourWater/AnnualWaterQualityReports.aspx https://dpw.lacounty.gov/wwd/web/YourWater/AnnualWaterQualit... Seattle - http://www.seattle.gov/util/MyServices/Water/Water_Quality/WaterQualityAnnualReport/index.htm http://www.seattle.gov/util/MyServices/Water/Water_Quality/W... New York - http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/drinking_water/wsstate.shtml http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/drinking_water/wsstate.shtm... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe_Drinking_Water_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe_Drinking_Water_Act
- jschwartzi 11y ago
  Those reports don't tell me whether the water coming out of my taps is contaminated.
  - astrodust 11y ago
    Then you get your own water tested. Here they have lead testing kits to try and weed out the old problems with lead pipes and solder.
jurip 11y ago
A pretty good rule of thumb I've heard is that if there's huge multi-liter water bottles available in every supermarket, it's probably a good idea to not drink tap water. The smaller and fewer the water bottles, the better the tap water is.

toomuchtodo 11y ago

http://ofmpub.epa.gov/apex/safewater/f?p=136:102::::: http://ofmpub.epa.gov/apex/safewater/f?p=136:102::::::

e40 11y ago
It seems to be broken. Every city I enter gives me no results.
- toomuchtodo 11y ago
  Not every city makes their reports available. Might need a FOIA request to get it.
  - nommm-nommm 11y ago
    The safe drinking water act requires water supplies to not only create reports but also distribute them to their customers. My water company mails them out, thats probably par for the course. Putting them online might be optional, but they have to distribute them to their customers.

akg_67 11y ago

Default to not drinking from taps directly. I live in Seattle. We only use tap water after filtering with a Brita Filter for drinking and cooking. When we are outside home, we either bring filtered water with us or buy bottled water. At restaurants, if in doubt we ask if water is directly from tap. Since the flint lead news, I have been exploring how can I get my tap water tested on a routine.

groby_b 11y ago
Any results on the routine testing? Pointers?
- toomuchtodo 11y ago
  http://www.agwt.org/node/169 http://www.agwt.org/node/169
  - groby_b 11y ago
    I'm going to go out on a limb and say that "use a laboratory" is not the most helpful piece of advice ever :)
- akg_67 11y ago
  Actually just a low tech method. Asked my wife who is on Board of Homeowners Association (HOA) to find out if HOA has done any testing in the past or would consider sending incoming city water supply samples for testing annually.
sanoli 11y ago
Did you find anything acceptable, regarding the testing?
serge2k 11y ago
Ridiculous. First off, evidence that Seattle water is unsafe? Second, brita is useless http://www.naturalnews.com/046536_water_filters_heavy_metals_lab_results.html http://www.naturalnews.com/046536_water_filters_heavy_metals...
- datashaman 11y ago
  you're using 'natural news' as a source? this is one of the worst sites on the internet, literally riddled with unproven BS.
  - deleted 11y ago

djrogers 11y ago

If I travel to Europe, how do I know if the local knows the water is safe to drink? Unless you're in Flint, or a paranoiac, tap water in the US is safe. Period. Flint's problem is not endemic, it was isolated. The article is really reaching - they cite 3 instances over ~15 years of problems in city water supplies. In 2 of the 3 cases it was caught and rectified quickly - Flint is the exception.

the_mitsuhiko 11y ago
> Unless you're in Flint, or a paranoiac, tap water in the US is safe. Period. Given the size of the United States that's a very brave statement. Water quality in Europe is typically measured on on commune level and even in countries like Austria which pride themselves for drinkable tap water there are incidents which cause tap water to not be drinkable at times.
- snowwrestler 11y ago
  The U.S. is huge but it's also filled with a lot of people and a lot of local governments, state governments, and of course a federal government. If you want one independent source of proof that U.S. water is safe, consider that almost every U.S. child has blood work done on an annual basis. If elevated levels of lead are a problem, they would be detected at that time, as they were in Flint.
  - the_mitsuhiko 11y ago
    Lead in blood is always a problem. A few years back one in 35 children in the US had elevated lead levels.
  - nommm-nommm 11y ago
    Almost every US child has blood work done on an annual basis? For what? What are they looking for? Lead specifically?
    - officemonkey 11y ago

mturmon 11y ago

In major cities in the US like the ones you name, it would be very unusual to doubt the safety of standard municipal tap water. In my home city, this is based upon my own reading of the annual water quality reports they put out. I filter a lot of my own drinking water for taste reasons, but it's un-necessary and I do not hesitate to drink from taps anywhere. With the recent worries about BPA and other components of plastics, it's unclear if bottled water from plastic is safer than tap at the 99.9th percentile of paranoia. I don't know about exotic risks from bottled water in glass (radioactive Evian from Chernobyl?), but I assume they are there also. Nonetheless, in my circle of friends, I do know people who drink bottled water because they think it's more pure. I also know people who don't use microwave ovens because of harmful radio waves, and others who do not use plastic containers or plastic-lined metal cans because of hormone disruptors in plastics. I think they're nuts, and they compensate by thinking I'm naive and complacent.

colordrops 11y ago
Why would you think they are nuts? Hormone disrupters in certain plastics and can liners are a real problem, backed by science.
- mturmon 11y ago
  A close friend was an entrepreneur and evangelist in this space. I looked into it around 2008 and could not justify a significant level of concern relative to other risks. (Although "nuts" may be too strong...should say, "excessively worried".) If you know otherwise, please post a link.
  - colordrops 11y ago
    Bisphenol-A (recently banned for some uses, removed from most drinking bottles): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A Read the intro, "Health Effects" section, and sources. Bisphenol-S (still in use): http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/archivos_pdf/bisphenol-s-disrupts-estradiol.pdf http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/archivos_pdf/bisphenol-s-d... http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150112154606.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150112154606.ht... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_S https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_S

Radim 11y ago

Re. Czech Republic -- nothing has changed, in the sense that drinking tap water was perfectly safe ten years ago, as it is now. I suppose that demonstrates the dangers of your "ask some local" approach :) Though the safety of tap water in CZ is well known, and has been well known for decades, and any local would tell you as much. So I'm not sure where that came from. Perhaps some temporary local incident? Even Google may be a safer source of information on tap water quality.

voltagex_ 11y ago
Odd, I'll ask my father why he thought it wasn't a good idea. Thanks.

nommm-nommm 11y ago

Locals will also tell you vaccines will give you autism and wifi is making them sick so they need homeopathic medicine. Better to go with facts over hearsay. The EPA requires yearly water quality reports (called Consumer Confidence Reports) for all municipal water supplies in the United States. Specifically they are due by July 1st each year. LA - https://dpw.lacounty.gov/wwd/web/YourWater/AnnualWaterQualityReports.aspx https://dpw.lacounty.gov/wwd/web/YourWater/AnnualWaterQualit... Seattle - http://www.seattle.gov/util/MyServices/Water/Water_Quality/WaterQualityAnnualReport/index.htm http://www.seattle.gov/util/MyServices/Water/Water_Quality/W... New York - http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/drinking_water/wsstate.shtml http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/drinking_water/wsstate.shtm... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe_Drinking_Water_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe_Drinking_Water_Act

jschwartzi 11y ago
Those reports don't tell me whether the water coming out of my taps is contaminated.
- astrodust 11y ago
  Then you get your own water tested. Here they have lead testing kits to try and weed out the old problems with lead pipes and solder.

jurip 11y ago

A pretty good rule of thumb I've heard is that if there's huge multi-liter water bottles available in every supermarket, it's probably a good idea to not drink tap water. The smaller and fewer the water bottles, the better the tap water is.