Why does water taste so bad?!

[Something]

Seriously, I can't be the only one here who thinks water tastes...bitter. Soapy. I talk to people about it and they think i'm crazy. So I seriously have to know: What the hell.

[Emily]

Taste good down here. If it taste funny then it may contaminated with... stuff or disinfectant solution from the pump.

[Strelky]

Anything healthy tastes bad. It is a rule of life

[Captain Cobra]

Might be your pipes, assuming that you're drinking from tap.

[Jerbsinator]

Tap water tastes fine to me. Filtered water is disgusting, some is ok but most of it sucks.

[myuhinny]

Each town/city has their own distinct taste and some even have their own distinct smell it all depends on the water and what the water company puts into it to kill whatever is in it. There is a town in Wyoming the peoples water tasted and smelled like methane they could actually turn the water on and light it on fire. Has to added some excitement to the term boiling water. They built a new school in the town a year later you could no longer use it as the school had sunk into the ground.

 

Are any of the pipes that bring the water new pipes. If they are new and pvc that might explain the taste as they have to use this pipe stuff so that they go to together easy. Most call it soap and I believe it does have a soap like taste. It either has to work itself out of the pipes or they have to re-flush them with foam pigs to clean them out. 

[Kamen Rider Kuuga]

Back when I was a kid, our pipes were bad so we had to boil our water to use it. It got to the point where we had a water cooler and would buy bottled water by the case, because the expense of that was less than replacing the pipes. When I finally moved, you had no idea how novel the concept of actually drinking water right from the tap was; it was as if I had joined the first world or something.

 

The water in my current place smells a little funny right out of the tap, but I can drink it and not taste anything horrible. But I still prefer to jug it in the fridge for a day before going into it, that way it's cold and the smell is mostly gone.

[polluxval]

where i live we cant drink water from the pipes, not even bolied. we need to buy purified water. but hell, no matter the taste, im grateful we have any.

[Pixie-K]

I live right next to the largest freshwater lake on the planet, and all the water in the area comes from there. Best tasting water ever, right out of the tap. It makes bottled water seem like sewage.

[AgentChicken]

 

 

the Demoman pretty much explains why i don't drink water. But all seriousness, the water here in Sydney is pretty good, Gotta love that Australian water :3

[Kamen Rider Kuuga]

I live right next to the largest freshwater lake on the planet, and all the water in the area comes from there. Best tasting water ever, right out of the tap. It makes bottled water seem like sewage.

 

 

You know, most bottled water is really just tap water...

[Pixie-K]

 

I live right next to the largest freshwater lake on the planet, and all the water in the area comes from there. Best tasting water ever, right out of the tap. It makes bottled water seem like sewage.

 

 

You know, most bottled water is really just tap water...

 

I know, but in the event that I do drink bottled water, it has to be spring water, and still doesn't taste as good as the local tap.

[LordJerle]

It's cuz I pour dishwasher soap in all your bottles when you're not looking.  I'm petty like that.

[Kamen Rider Kuuga]

 

 

I live right next to the largest freshwater lake on the planet, and all the water in the area comes from there. Best tasting water ever, right out of the tap. It makes bottled water seem like sewage.

 

 

You know, most bottled water is really just tap water...

 

I know, but in the event that I do drink bottled water, it has to be spring water, and still doesn't taste as good as the local tap.

 

 

Spring water is also mostly just tap water.

[phfor]

Water tasting like arse?  Good ol' town/city supply  The chemicals they drop in to nuke the bacteria, etc.

 

Just have an open top jug, fill with water the night before, leave open, and a bunch of the crap in it will dissipate into the air.  Should taste a bit better.

[Bonnie Lass]

Not all tap water is created equal.

 

Just buy some drink mix from the store that uses aspartame as a sweetener. And don't believe the stuff you hear about aspartame causing cancer, it's been around a very long time - it doesn't. It's practically the safest sweetener.

 

Crystal Light recently reduced the amount of flavors they have (sadly) but the Raspberry Lemonade flavor requires very little powder to get the job done and is a great solution to your hydration woes.

[Kamen Rider Kuuga]

Might not give you cancer, but it gives me one bitch of a headache.

[Bonnie Lass]

Might not give you cancer, but it gives me one bitch of a headache.

 

Huh. I have never had issues with headaches from aspartame. Raspberry Lemonade is a pretty conservative flavor, it does not need that much powder (and thus not as much aspartame) to taste good.

 

If you're worried about too much aspartame in your system, you could probably have two pitchers of water - one with sugar-reliant mix and one with sugar-free aspartame mix, and try to drink from them evenly.

 

That should keep you safe from headaches and diabetes. Though I recommend trying with just aspartame mix at first because it's easier on your teeth.

[Queen Bee]

I remember being unable to drink the tap water as a kid because of the taste. I'd complain to my mother that it tasted like toothpaste, and she explained the city put fluoride in it to help people fight cavities. I told her it was a stupid idea, since it was because of the fluoride that I was refusing to drink it and it wouldn't do me any good anyway. My mother said it was a good point, and she wished the local government was that smart.

 

Anyway, buy a filter pitcher. It works wonders for me.

[ChancellorKremlin]

I'm lucky to live near a natural reservoir in a newly built house, so our water tastes great here. I even leave it running for a few seconds so it gets icy cold... nothing like it. Having said that, I used to live in a country where it was basically ill-advised to drink tap water, so we had our own cistern which we had to have filled every once a month or so. Great idea, till frogs started getting into it and drowning in it. Trust me, you could tell when something was dead in the cistern...

[R733]

[Pixie-K]

 

 

 

I live right next to the largest freshwater lake on the planet, and all the water in the area comes from there. Best tasting water ever, right out of the tap. It makes bottled water seem like sewage.

 

 

You know, most bottled water is really just tap water...

 

I know, but in the event that I do drink bottled water, it has to be spring water, and still doesn't taste as good as the local tap.

 

 

Spring water is also mostly just tap water.

 

I've seen and tasted two local natural springs. Spring water is good, but I'm not too fond of the minerals found in it. Therefore I prefer the local tap water.

[Kamen Rider Kuuga]

You said bottled spring water; most of that is from the tap.

 

Now if you bottled it yourself from a spring...

[Pixie-K]

You said bottled spring water; most of that is from the tap.

 

Now if you bottled it yourself from a spring...

 

 

I'm sorry, I wasn't too clear on that.  

While I have collected some myself from a publicly open natural spring, there is another that a company bottles and sells.

[Emily]

Just boil your tap water first hand until it safe to drink.

 

.. Of course emily didn't say drinking the boiling water is healthy.

 

Here emily live in the middle of fallout swamp. We boil the tap water and filterize them before consuming.

 

It's taste as normal as it can be.

(Though thinking about every muck and icky on the drain will make us shivering in creeps)