filtered water for cooking (Las Cruces, Alamogordo: how much, house, buying)
Las CrucesDona Ana County
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What I'm concerned about is using the water for cooking in the crockpot...the tap water for that seeps into the food (beans, chicken, vegetables, pretty much everything cooked in the crockpot). So, should I buy an under-the-sink water filter (for cooking) in addition to buying the 5 gallon jugs (for drinking water)?
We just moved here and have been using the nasty-tasting, who-knows-what-is-inside tap water for cooking and have been buying the 1 gallon jugs for drinking. Do you all use filtered water for cooking?
What I'm concerned about is using the water for cooking in the crockpot...the tap water for that seeps into the food (beans, chicken, vegetables, pretty much everything cooked in the crockpot). So, should I buy an under-the-sink water filter (for cooking) in addition to buying the 5 gallon jugs (for drinking water)?
There are a lot of types of water filters, many do not work very well, it depends on what you are trying to filter out. The Reverse Osmosis units are generally the best, expensive, slow and waste water. Naturally occurring minerals the source water may be difficult to filter out.
I think you might find bottled water expensive in the long run, but I know people who use it.
It depends on where you get your water. City water? Well water? Where is the well? Etc...
From the city of Las Cruces Web Site, where there is additional water information:
Is bottled water better than city water?
City water is as safe as bottled water. Bottled water is water that has been treated through some type of filtration process to remove some of the naturally occurring minerals in water that may give it a distinct taste. City water is not filtered; however it is sampled and analyzed for up to 121 potential contaminants and meets or exceeds all requirements set by the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act. City of Las Cruces - Utilities - Ordinances & Resolutions
If I had to do it over again, I'd just stick with my 2-gallon jugs that I have always used to buy drinking water at 25-30 cents a gallon.
RO water is very good, but the filter is VERY expensive to replace, and once I get to that point, I probably won't even use it any longer. My kitchen tap water is on RO; the rest of the house on a water softener (Alamogordo).
What I'm concerned about is using the water for cooking in the crockpot...the tap water for that seeps into the food (beans, chicken, vegetables, pretty much everything cooked in the crockpot). So, should I buy an under-the-sink water filter (for cooking) in addition to buying the 5 gallon jugs (for drinking water)?
We just moved here and have been using the nasty-tasting, who-knows-what-is-inside tap water for cooking and have been buying the 1 gallon jugs for drinking. Do you all use filtered water for cooking?
Either the dwelling you have moved into has old and substandard plumbing that's leaching metals or whatever into your drinking water or you've bought into the myth that public sources (in this case Las Cruces water) are somehow "nasty" and polluted.
With all due respect, the latter is my guess .... and my hope, because re-doing plumbing is really expensive. This myth is the bedrock of the bottled water industry and they spend many millions of dollars convincing people that they are only safe spending huge money (and God knows how much energy for bottling and transportation) on their bottled water.
Water in New Mexico has various minerals, like almost all water anywhere. Get used to it. If you can't, find a water filter that will deal with it..but know that your taste (which will adapt) is all your reacting to.
The report linked in a prev post will show you LC water quality is fine.
I have fairly acute taste (30 years as a chef & professional wine buyer) and I don't find LC water nasty or any more objectionable than any chorinated municipal water system anywhere. We're in Mesilla, which has it's own wells, but the water is essentially the same. We use NO filters at all, nor do we spend stupid amounts of money on water just because Coca-Cola (Dasani) says we should fear the tap.
Welcome to town, by the way!
tecaptl, water in different parts of town comes from different wells that are varying ages an depths. Some of them are indeed quite nasty to taste though they're not bad for you. I've lived in just about every area of town over the years and I'm pretty malleable but some of it tastes too nasty to drink let alone all the floaties (particularly when ice melts) that look nasty. I don't go through a lot of bottled water but I do go through some and it tastes much better on balance IMO.
There are a lot of types of water filters, many do not work very well, it depends on what you are trying to filter out. The Reverse Osmosis units are generally the best, expensive, slow and waste water. Naturally occurring minerals the source water may be difficult to filter out.
I think you might find bottled water expensive in the long run, but I know people who use it.
It depends on where you get your water. City water? Well water? Where is the well? Etc...
From the city of Las Cruces Web Site, where there is additional water information:
Is bottled water better than city water?
City water is as safe as bottled water. Bottled water is water that has been treated through some type of filtration process to remove some of the naturally occurring minerals in water that may give it a distinct taste. City water is not filtered; however it is sampled and analyzed for up to 121 potential contaminants and meets or exceeds all requirements set by the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act. City of Las Cruces - Utilities - Ordinances & Resolutions
Rich
I have to strongly agree with rich here about the reverse osmosis water filtering, it's the best way to go.
Here in Elephant Butte, not too awful far from LC, we obtain our water supply from T or C, and it is heavily chlorinated.
My solution to this problem was a carbon in-line water filter, which filters out sediment, bad odor and bad taste. My method was relatively cheap, a culligan filter for 20 bucks, and it will filter something like 10,000 gallons, it works well for me.
One thing you have to bear in mind is that New Mexico water does have many impurities and minerals in it. Like rich said, depending on what you want to filter out will be the determining factor of how much you'll have to spend. Good luck.
We moved here in August and none of us will drink the tap water, though we certainly have before in Maine and Massachusetts. There is no concern about the quality of the water really, it's the smell and the taste. To me, your water should not smell. We live in a house in Sonoma Ranch that is no more than 3 years old. I do use it for cooking, though, since it's safe and we can't taste (or smell) it in foods.
I have not had good-tasting tap water since I left home 40 years ago--ever. I grew up on the best deep-well water there ever was, and have never had anything like that since, not out of the tap.
While I don't really like the tap water here, it's more drinkable than some I've had.
I lived in one place where it literally stank coming out of the faucet, and was so nasty that I wouldn't ever use it for cooking.
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