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Well, for microplastics. If you live e.g. in the Bay Area, your tap water instead has a good chance of having a good helping of hexavalent chromium[1], which..
by groby_b 7y ago
Well, for microplastics.
If you live e.g. in the Bay Area, your tap water instead has a good chance of having a good helping of hexavalent chromium[1], which... not too healthy. (Neither are arsenic, bromium, etc.)
Pick your poison. Literally.
[1] https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Tap-water-Bay-Area-database-contaminants-study-11510434.php https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Tap-water-Bay-Area-datab...
- 4ntonius8lock 7y agoIs this something that would be removed with common cheap consumer filters? (such as Britta) I drink a lot of tap water, but always put it through a filter of some sort.
- groby_b 7y agoI honestly don't know. IIRC, you need an ion exchange filter (but they're bad for other reasons) or a reverse osmosis one certified for Cr(VI). https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/ https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/ has a pretty decent guide.
- _0ffh 7y agoIf you don't mind a bit of work (weekly rinsing) and discarding part of the water, I'd recommend a reverse osmosis filter. They're reasonably cheap and beat the crap out of all the alternatives for non-professional users. You'll essentially have to add back some salts after the filtration process to turn it into something that won't demineralise you.
- mdorazio 7y agoTook some poking around to piece together a real answer, but the ion exchange component in a standard Brita filter (or similar pour-through) isn't the right kind to trap chromium (mostly just zinc, copper, and cadmium). You either need a higher-grade ion exchange filter (you can search for "Chromium 6 Water Filter" on Amazon) or a reverse osmosis system.
- 4ntonius8lock 7y agoThanks. Reverse osmosis removes minerals, which isn't something I want. Personally (this is just my perspective) I operate under the theory we don't fully understand the human body, so don't mess with things too much, removing minerals and then selectively adding some back in is not something I think we are well informed enough to do without possible negative consequences. I looked for Chromium 6 Water Filter and found plenty of good options. Truly thank you for the recommendation.
- zaroth 7y agoIs that what’s responsible for it smelling like swamp water? I always heard that somehow “algae bloom” was to blame, but there were certain days the San Jose tap water would be pungent.
- jacobolus 7y agoSan Francisco water mostly comes from the Tuolumne River (Hetch Hetchy reservoir).
- mc32 7y agoI don’t think SJC gets if from Hetchhechy nor east bay mud, but I may be misinformed. Upon searching looks like SJC gets if from aquifers, recharge areas and also a bit from sfpuc (hetchhechy). EB MUD gets it from the Sierra snowmelt.
- outworlder 7y ago> If you live e.g. in the Bay Area, your tap water instead has a good chance of having a good helping of hexavalent chromium And tastes like crap across the bay. I don't care, but my wife is pretty picky about it. I've tried multiple filters, to no avail.
- ChuckMcM 7y agoI think that is overly alarmist. These guys: https://torrentlab.com/drinking-and-storm-water-quality-test-kit/ https://torrentlab.com/drinking-and-storm-water-quality-test... make it easy to get a water test done. If you're worried about chromium 6 (hexavalent chromium) install a reverse osmosis filter.
- _jal 7y agoIf you want to actually look up your local results from the source of that article, https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/ https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/