apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

We use refillable 5-gallon bottles and RO water. Our municipal water supply is safe, but we don't like the taste (although admittedly it's not as bad now that we've moved; I was always sure that the old pipes in our apartment were part of the problem, and it looks like I was right).

I'm not entirely happy with this solution; it requires us to take the bottles to the grocery store for refilling, which isn't convenient, and I know that the RO process uses a lot of water. Sometimes we talk about whole-house filters, but I'm not sure if they'd have the result we want--certainly my inlaws' faucet filter doesn't seem to do the trick.

Straight from the tap well water.

I drink straight from the tap, my fiance uses a brita filter. So do the kittens; they refuse to drink un-filtered water, and instead come try to steal from our drinking glasses.

Reverse osmosis system with its own special tap.

I buy my water at the store when I grocery shop with reusable jugs. I grew up with excellent well water that tasted more pure than most bottled waters so my taste buds are spoiled into thinking water shouldn't taste like anything. Not sulfer or iron or chloride. So Reverse Osmosis it is.

Filtered by the fridge.

My parents distill their water (boil into steam and condense back into another container). Their water comes straight from a well in a river valley, and it contains a lot of nitrates and other dissolved particulates from agriculture, which aren't removed by regular filters. It takes quite a bit of energy, but personally I think it's worth it to have non-toxic water. I grew up with distilled water, which was so pure it didn't taste like anything, and I've never been a fan of city water. I have a filter pitcher now, but it's still not that appetizing to me, especially now that the drought here in Austin is making the water taste weird.

I just put tap water in a glass jug to sit so the chlorine dissipates.

We boil tap water.

boil tap water

I live in San Francisco, and our tap water is pretty darn tasty, so that's what I drink. I am also lazy, which may have something to do with it.

I'm in Melbourne, Australia, and drink straight from the tap - the water's great (I used to have a filter jug when I lived in the UK). Best water in Australia is in Tasmania; worst (in my opinion) is in South Australia, both Adelaide and Coonawarra have awful water. Fortunately Coonawarra is a fantastic wine region :-)

tap, then sodastream to make it all bubbly and awesome.