[doggiebus]

Miami has some of the best tap water in the country they say.

[Straegen]

Neither the FDA or the EPA regulate bottled water quality so there is no guarantee bottled water is any better and generally speaking at best is the same thing as tap. If it says "spring water", it doesn't even have to be treated. "Purified water" only has to go through one stage of filtration. Mineral water has solids in it but "minerals" is loosely defined.

At least tap water is regularly tested. Filters can provide an improvement in taste but unless the filters are changed with great frequency they become bacterial and microbial breeding grounds. Most people are better off just pulling the filter out of a tap system because of this.

Save money and drink tap when you can. Here is a nice story from 20/20 on the subject:

Is Bottled Water Better Than Tap? - ABC News

[Phoenix737]

I moved to Brevard county(Palm Bay, right next to Melbourne) from New York about a year ago, having always had great tasting water in NY and NJ the taste of my tap water down here is horrible. I started using a Brita pitcher which helps, but I still get a chlorine taste in the water.

[froglipz]

Charlotte County water is currently very good without any home filtration needed for improving taste or odor.

[StMarysRichard]

Originally Posted by IAm_FloridaBorn

It's been my understanding, the closer you are to the ocean in Florida, the better your water. The more inland, the worst your water. (Not necessarily bad)

In my own experiences I've found this true. Although here in Orange County, I've found tap water in Apopka nasty and different from the tap water in Southern Orange County. We are apart of the South Florida Water Management District and have always had decent water!

Sorry, but I have to completely disagree with you. To be honest, not just in Florida but for pretty much the entire coastal region of the East has similar tap water it has always seemed. Even when we would go to Ocean City, MD and other similar beach areas all up and down the coast up to CT, the water always had that sulfuric smell. Also it does not seem to quench my thirst as well. Before the past 4 years the majority of my residency was inland areas of the mid-atlantic states and always noticed a huge difference when we took trips to the shore in comparison to water nearer the mountains.

[StarfishKey]

All of Florida has hard water. This is why it is hard to get truly good baked goods like Italian breads here - you need a water softener, which is expensive.

Water will vary depending on where it comes from, and the pipes it has to go through before it gets to your mouth. So no generalizations are going to be all that helpful.

My own experience is that the water in Miami-Dade was ok but had an unpleasant taste of chemicals. I put all my water through the Brita filter regardless of where I live, and it tasted fine. The thing that creeped me out is I have never in my life before seen water that STAINS! Water should be clear. But when the water dried in my Miami apartment, it would leave PINK stains everywhere - which I thought were bacteria. It meant the sink areas and tubs needed to constantly be scrubbed, and the remnant was rather slimy.

Now that I have moved to the Florida Keys, where water is pumped down some 100 miles from reservoirs in Miami through pipes that I'm really hoping are going to hold all the years I'm living here (!), the water burns my eyes like fire if it gets into them, and instead of pink stains, it leaves YELLOW stains. No clue what that is either. But again, constantly scrubbing. The hard water also leaves deposits on plumbing that can be hard to remove. There is a big yellowish rock lodged on the side of the hole at the bottom of my toilet that came with my house, and you can imagine that I was horrified at the "condition the previous owners left the place in - they didn't even clean!" and tried to clean this area repeatedly to no avail. It's not something you can clean, it's essentially a rock that has to be broken and sanded off, because its made of minerals, that just happen to be yellow on my white toilet. Meaning, I have to suffer the embarrassment with guests that it looks like the toilet is not clean until such time as I can afford to replace this toilet. Not cool at all. But once again, pour it through the Brita filter and it tastes just fine.

I drink a ton of filtered water every day, and I don't think the issue is really a health one. (At least, I hope not.) But certainly Florida water is the worst of any state I have lived in, and that included NJ!, where although it smelled like chemicals, at least it didn't stain surfaces.

NYC water is known to be the best municipal water in the world, since they're so overcautious about its safety, and the taste there was the same as filtered, it did not hurt my eyes, and it did not stain anything or have a funny smell. It was just water.


PLEASE DO NOT BUY BOTTLED WATER! I notice that many of the posts here, although this thread is 2 years old, talk about buying bottled water, which is a total waste of your money and time since they're generally filled with tap water regardless of their stupid name, and these companies are also harming our environment both with the huge amounts of plastic, and draining the reservoirs that local people need to get tap water from. Nestle for instance is draining all of Florida, which is a serious issue because Florida is one of those states where fresh water is in limited supply and will not always keep up with the needs of an ever-growing population. We can't afford to let corporations drain our water for their profit, while the rest of the state grows in thirst, all for no reason reason! You buy bottled water, you just paid a premium on the very same tap water you could have gotten for free, perhaps from your very own state!

Here's a video that, if you don't mind the swearing, gives some good info about how the bottled water industry works.


Penn & Teller Bull**** On Water - YouTube

There is also a movie on Netflix streaming called "Bottled Life," that discusses Nestle's bottled water scam and the way it harms states like Florida. They take our water for free and then sell it under names like "Deer Park" and "Zephyrhills." I haven't seen this movie yet, so can't vouch for whether it's good or not. But according to reviews it is at least somewhat informative.

There's also a website I found while looking around the internet: Florida | Stop Nestle Waters
It has a lot of local articles from papers like the Miami Herald about how the bottled water industry is harming Florida environment's and economy. I haven't read much of it, but it does talk about local effects and seems to cite multiple papers around the state.


Even for hurricane preparedness, buying bottled water is far more expensive, and yet generally speaking absolutely no safer, than bottling your own tap water prior to the storm. Best thing you can do is keep BPA-free bottles and reuse them, storing as much of the the water in the freezer as you can to help keep the freezer and fridge cold through power outages. You can also store water in ziploc pouches and freeze, for better space usage. If you feel unsure about that water if it's been stored at room temperature for a few weeks, you can just boil it before using. But it's no less safe that using the bottled water from the store, and it's far cheaper.

Filtering the water is far cheaper over time, and is more effective to ensure the taste of the water is a little better, than buying bottled, if you don't like the tap water.

The water is not great in Florida, but to my knowledge is better than in many of the poorer countries I have traveled to.

[whw234]

I go to Sarasota often. When I stick to bottled water I am fine. When I drink the tap water I have stomach problems. This has consistently been the case over 10 years and 30+ trips to the area.

[Fl1150]

Tap water is ok here didn't know states could have better water than others but ok whatever you say.

[dive77mmwet]

To me Florida water is great you do need a decent water filter system not expensive if you know what to look at,
That said water in Florida will be the death of Florida if not by flooding to come soon,, it will be by poising it with pesticides used by the massive agriculture trade or pest management company's that filters thru the soils to the Florida aquifer, sewage treatment, lastly happening right now with such massive use of fresh water and Florida has one of the Greatest underwater systems that reach far north To Georgia and runs the entire state thru the Everglades to the Start of The Keys is salt water intrusion mix this with chemicals Florida will destroy this natural resource way too soon its a shame as we all take it for granted.
To see the natural resource Florida has and you can see this in Spring country NW just Google Florida springs divers dive it and video the beautiful Florida's springs ,Florida springs contain Florida's drinking water just amazing!

[sware2cod]

Originally Posted by whw234

I go to Sarasota often. When I stick to bottled water I am fine. When I drink the tap water I have stomach problems. This has consistently been the case over 10 years and 30+ trips to the area.

This could be because your body is used to water from the location where you live. It could just required some gradual adjustment. Here is why I say this:

A good friend of mine is very involved in traveling with show dogs. She is very connected with others that do the same and have been doing this for many years.

She told me they always fill containers of water from 'home' tap water before they leave on a trip with the dogs. When at a new location that gradually introduce the tap water from the new location for the dog drinking water. They do a gradual mix of 'home water' from the container with 'new location's water' for a couple days. This avoids the dogs from getting sick due to the sudden difference in water. Then when they leave one location, they fill up the water containers with water from that area. And when they arrive elsewhere they do the gradual water mix for a few days again.

The sudden change from 1 water to another seems to make some of the dogs sick. So maybe this same thing is occurring to you when you travel to Sarasota.