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View Poll Results: What are your water drinking habits?
I drink tap water (use it for making coffee, etc.). It's fine. 29 25.44%
I drink tap water but I use an in-home water filtration device. 50 43.86%
I wouldn't let my dog drink the water here. I buy bottled water by the case. 35 30.70%
Voters: 114. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 07-08-2010, 10:00 AM
 
Location: Verde Valley AZ
8,775 posts, read 11,907,443 times
Reputation: 11485

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Master Shake View Post
If you live in the greater Phoenix area, you should really consider a water softener system due to the incredible hardness in our local water. Soft water is much better for your plumbing and for washing your clothes, dishes, etc.

However, most people find that soft water does not taste good so they add an RO system under the sink (which can also connect to the fridge).

I have this setup and drink the RO water. RO water is basically what you find in most bottled water, but at a fraction of the cost. I personally don't mind the taste of our tap water, but the only unfiltered water in my house is on the outside hose spigots.

As a side note, I have a titration type pool test kit that I have used to test the unfiltered tap water. A few times it had chlorine readings of 2.5 (mg/L), which would be considered a low (but not critical) reading for my pool!
That's what I have and I give that water to my cats too. I think it helps to prevent kidney stones. We have very hard water up here in Cottonwood too with tons of lime in it. My mom has a water softener in her house and the RO under the sink.

When I was a kid, in Phoenix, we NEVER drank tap water. It tasted like a combo of salt and chlorine! I grew up on bottled water and store bought ice cubes. Ice cubes from the freezer tasted like pure salt! I'm sure glad they've improved it over the years and don't know how people stood it before that.
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Old 07-08-2010, 10:19 AM
 
3,886 posts, read 10,081,159 times
Reputation: 1486
I didn't realize how bad our water tasted until I went somewhere else. lol I always use a filter because of what trace amounts of pesticides and prescription meds you find in the water though, just to give it an extra cleaning.
Wow, I didn't realize hard water gave you kidney stones, my husband has tons and drinks tons of AZ water from the tap. hm, I'll have to let him know this. Poor guy!
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Old 07-08-2010, 02:06 PM
 
4,624 posts, read 9,278,272 times
Reputation: 4983
I have a water softener too, but I'm not sure it's enough to be safer from kidney stones. I still only drink bottled water.
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Old 07-08-2010, 02:22 PM
 
Location: La Jolla, CA
7,284 posts, read 16,684,958 times
Reputation: 11675
I don't think the tap water is too bad, but it's not that great either. In Scottsdale, I had a lot of weird tasting water. It wasn't awful, just inconsistent. One day it was swamp water, the next it tasted like something else. Strange, but I drank it anyway.

I live in the Great Lakes region part of the year, and Lake the water drawn from Lake Michigan is much better than we have in the Valley. Once in a while it can get a slightly fishy odor, though.
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Old 07-08-2010, 03:45 PM
YAZ
 
Location: Phoenix,AZ
7,708 posts, read 14,086,783 times
Reputation: 7044
That's why I don't drink water, 43North.

Fish have sex in it.

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Old 07-08-2010, 05:02 PM
 
Location: Phoenix, AZ
19 posts, read 52,780 times
Reputation: 39
The City of Scottsdale provides water bottles from tap to events. Whenever I hear someone tell an obvious non-native that they are drinking tap water, they no longer like the taste. Placebo effect maybe?
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Old 07-08-2010, 05:04 PM
 
Location: Verde Valley AZ
8,775 posts, read 11,907,443 times
Reputation: 11485
Quote:
Originally Posted by twiggy View Post
I didn't realize how bad our water tasted until I went somewhere else. lol I always use a filter because of what trace amounts of pesticides and prescription meds you find in the water though, just to give it an extra cleaning.
Wow, I didn't realize hard water gave you kidney stones, my husband has tons and drinks tons of AZ water from the tap. hm, I'll have to let him know this. Poor guy!
I don't know how it affects humans but my vet told me that it can cause them in cats and dogs. And I really don't want to take any chances although they HAVE had plenty of tap water over the years.

I reread my post and it does sound like I meant humans. Sorry. I meant my cats.

Last edited by AZDesertBrat; 07-08-2010 at 05:09 PM.. Reason: To clarify...
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Old 07-08-2010, 05:08 PM
 
Location: Verde Valley AZ
8,775 posts, read 11,907,443 times
Reputation: 11485
Quote:
Originally Posted by YAZ View Post
That's why I don't drink water, 43North.

Fish have sex in it.

...you're not supposed to drink from your aquarium!! I use that water on my houseplants. And I only have one very large goldfish so I know it's not having sex but I named it Sir Poopsalot because he sure does!!
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Old 07-08-2010, 05:22 PM
 
Location: Phoenix, AZ
19 posts, read 52,780 times
Reputation: 39
Quote:
Originally Posted by AZDesertBrat View Post
I use that water on my houseplants. ...I have one very large goldfish... [and] I named it Sir Poopsalot because he sure does!!
I don't think that's any better...
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Old 07-08-2010, 08:13 PM
 
268 posts, read 1,159,982 times
Reputation: 113
Quote:
Originally Posted by Master Shake View Post
If you live in the greater Phoenix area, you should really consider a water softener system due to the incredible hardness in our local water. Soft water is much better for your plumbing and for washing your clothes, dishes, etc.

However, most people find that soft water does not taste good so they add an RO system under the sink (which can also connect to the fridge).

I have this setup and drink the RO water. RO water is basically what you find in most bottled water, but at a fraction of the cost. I personally don't mind the taste of our tap water, but the only unfiltered water in my house is on the outside hose spigots.
This is what I have too in my house....a water softner for all the water in the house and an additional RO system under the sink for drinking water and ice in the freezer.

And you are right, a lot of bottled water is tap water that has been run through an RO system. By having my own RO system at home, I'm saving money and helping the planet by not buying all those extra plastic bottles!
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