What happens if i drink tap water

From an environmental perspective choose a local brand served on refillable glass bottles if you can. Many public places also provide water fountains and just like with restaurants you can safely drink the water if the water is generally safe in the city. Read more about the importance of public water fountains or find the closest fountain next to you using the MyTAPP app.

This is a complicated question as it depends on your circumstances. Read more about how water filters work and how to select the best one for you.

Although trust in public tap water is at its lowest in years tap water has most likely gotten much safer. Pollution from industries and other wastewater has bee drastically reduced, water quality testing frequency has improved, regulation and guidelines have become much stricter and filter technologies have improved. Final note: There are a lot of uncertainties about the health impact of tap water content just like there are with food and nutrition. Therefore we have to be cautious about headlines around health impact from hormones, pharma, low levels of chromium or nitrates.

Your email address will not be published. About us. Privacy policy. Skip to content. Plastic Bottles Avoided. No products in the cart. Can I drink the US tap water? October 20, , am. Is US tap water safe to drink? Do you need a water filter in the US? How do I know if my local tap water in the US is safe to drink? What about bottled water in the US? What about public places and restaurants?

What is the best water filter for the US? That's why we came up with an easy and convenient solution. Our rOcean One device allows you to flavor and carbonize your water to your taste, using a micro-dosing system. Our flavor pods are eco-friendly and dishwasher safe, so you can reuse them instead of throwing them away like with most pods. Over one million plastic bottles are consumed every minute of every day.

Drinking filtered tap water instead of buying bottles means less plastic consumed, and less pollution in our oceans! Use a reusable eco-friendly bottle and fill it up at home before leaving your house through our rOcean One, and lower your carbon footprint. Our planet is drowning in plastic, and small things such as ditching plastic bottles can make a huge difference.

Previous Next. Since the CWS is lesser in price and is convenient for hundreds of connections, it is then used by most people. The safety and the standards of the Public Water Systems are defined by the U. On the other hand, the water at schools, factories, campgrounds, and restaurants, is being regulated by the U. This Environmental Protection Agency administers the Safe Drinking Water Act and makes sure that their water supply is being tested regularly.

The amount of contaminated water increases as our modern society develops. Activities such as the disposal of human, animal, and chemical wastes could create chemical, lead, and microbial contaminations that cause high probabilities of polluting the water. Because of this, the EPA makes sure that the waters flowing in the pipes have undergone proper treatment and disinfection to lessen the health risk. To know more about the waters in your home, better to ask for information or contact your water supplier.

It is also better to ask them for regular reports so that you, too, will be updated on how your water is being regulated. There are two sources where we could get our drinking water: surface water and groundwater. Surface waters include reservoirs, lakes, and rivers, while the wells and other geological formations that contain water are the groundwaters.

Most people get their water from the surface since it is easier to attain. Unfortunately, since the surface water is exposed directly to the atmosphere and runoffs from the snow and rain, treating it takes more time. On the other hand, large water suppliers get water from the ground since the amount of clean water there is greater.

Also, groundwater is less contaminated than surface water because some minor pollutants are filtered as the water seeps into the ground.

But no matter where these waters came from, these suppliers still follow various treatment processes to delete their contaminants. Plants, animals, and humans all need fresh water to survive. Though small in numerical value, freshwater is also essential to life. Because of the growing population, we are then faced with the threat of water scarcity. Problems are caused by the excessive water supply usage and the decreasing quantity of clean water due to pollution.

Governments are trying to find ways to lengthen each countries water supply. They are finding alternatives and better solutions to help lessen the increasing contamination of our lands and waters. And as a citizen, we must also do our part to have clean water in the future still. We can help by getting involved in every activity concerning the protection of the water, being informed of the updates coming from the local water supplier, being observant regarding the happenings in the surroundings, and causing no more damage to the water sources.

We can also start changing our lifestyles and try to be more natural and organic. We can try not to use pesticides and other cleaning products because it could cause contamination in the water underground. Reducing the amount of garbage by recycling and reusing it could also help not just in our waters but also in our environment. Always remember that everything has its limits.

Generally, tap water is considered safe if it comes from a public water system in the United States, such as one run and maintained by a municipality. The Environmental Protection Agency EPA is the authorizing body that sets enforceable health standards regarding the contaminants in drinking water and monitors all public water systems. In the United States, there is a nearly one-in-four chance your tap water is either unsafe to drink or has not been properly monitored for contaminants by federal law; one example is the water crisis that happened in Flint, Michigan.

Sky-high levels of lead in tap water were widely publicized in , which was not led by the E. The main problem with tap water in America is the pipes in the houses. Many homes and schools have galvanized steel water pipes for drinking, and these galvanized steel pipes rust on the inside, causing the drinking water to have a yellow, red, or brown tint, where lead solder can leach into the water. In houses with discolored tap water, a water filter is worth paying for and using during this predicament.

Another problem with tap water is that much of the country has hard water , making it harder to clean sinks, tubs, and showers. Some people choose to "soften" their water, but this usually adds sodium to the water. When residents of Flint, Michigan, turned on their taps back in , they encountered an unpleasant brown sludge that tasted like metal. The discolored liquid was an early sign that something was amiss with the city's water supply, which had recently been switched from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to the Flint River.

The new water source had corroded the city's aging pipes, allowing toxic levels of lead to seep into residents' drinking water. What followed was one of the worst health disasters in US history, wherein around 10, residents were effectively poisoned in their own homes. Read more: California's contaminated drinking water could lead to nearly 15, cancer cases over the course of a lifetime.

Here's how worried you should be. The crisis, though an extreme example of water contamination, wasn't a one-off occurrence. Every year, millions of Americans get their drinking water from a source that violates the standards of the Environmental Protection Agency EPA.

The best way to tell exactly what's in our water is to have it professionally tested, but there are a few ways to screen for contaminants using our senses. Water that's safe to drink should ideally be clear with no odor or funny taste. One way to tell if water is contaminated is to look for turbidity, or cloudiness. While cloudy water isn't necessarily dangerous to your health, it could signal the presence of unsafe pathogens or chemicals.

When Flint residents first detected signs that their drinking water was contaminated, they noticed it was "harder" than the water they usually drank. Hard water is often characterized by a buildup of substances like calcium or magnesium, which can leave deposits on your sink, faucet, or drinking glass.

It might also be the reason why your hands feel slimy after washing them with soap and water, or you have to use more laundry detergent to clean your clothes. Hard water isn't a sure-fire sign that your water source is contaminated — in some cases, it's caused by an excess of calcium or magnesium, which shouldn't pose any harm — but it might be an indicator of metals like aluminium, manganese, and lead.

Yellow water could signal the presence of chromium -6, the cancer-causing chemical that resulted in a lawsuit filed by clean water advocate Erin Brockovich.