moving to Pittsburgh, is tap water drinkable? (Aliquippa, Media: organic, living in)

[BrianTH]

The absence of a 20-40% reduction in tooth decay won't show up as an "epidemic", but it is nonetheless a serious public health issue. I'm not fond of "what about the children?" arguments in general, but this is one of the straightforward situations in which I believe such an argument is appropriate: we know that we are reducing tooth decay in children in the U.S. with flouridated water. IF we were willing to institute a much more comprehensive public health program for children including frequent dental care, THEN I think we could potentially revisit the flouridation issue. But unless and until we actually do that, I don't think it makes sense to oppose an existing alternative that actually works.

On the philosophical issue, just speaking personally, since flouride in the relevant concentrations occurs naturally in some places--this is how we figured out the anti-tooth-decay effects in the first place--and there are no serious side effects, I don't really see the problem. Generally, "water" in the real world has never been 100% H2O, and once you are processing the water you are automatically going to have to make choices about what concentrations of various non-H2O substances you are going to allow in the final mix. So in my view, complaining about the fact that in some cases you have to add rather than subtract subtances to get to the target mix is elevating form over substance: the important issue is whether that target mix is indeed a desirable one, not the process it took to get to that mix in any particular case.

[hazfora]

Originally Posted by ex-burgher

I've always liked the water in Pittsburgh, but then I grew up there. I think we tend to have a preference for the tap water where we grew up. Of all the places I've lived, the worst water was in Central Illinois (I think prairie farm states are known to have bad water with lots of pesticides), followed by Columbus, Charlotte (too much chlorine), and suburban Dallas. Only Boston and western Mass had good water.

People can access many local water quality reports here:
Environmental Protection Agency - Local Drinking Water Information

Gibsonia (which I believe is under the Richland Township water authority) is not listed though.

I don't drink water. I drink juice and adulterate it with seltzer water for breakfast and when I'm really thirsty. Or I adulterate water with juice. I drink wine. It's got anti-oxidants. And did you know that beer (the kind that has more hops than other ingredients) are good for ya? I'm not a beer drinker, but I'm gonna put that in my regimen, too.

[hazfora]

Originally Posted by WILWRadio

Even if your tap water tastes fine that does not mean it is truly healthy.

In the mid 1980's when I lived in West Hartford, CT we had our water tested out of the tap in our home. I learned that the copper content of the water was significantly higher than what is considered a normal level safe for human consumption. With all that copper in my body after several years of drinking it, I became a lightning rod of sorts. :-)

Now, regardless of where I live, I always use a high quality filter for my drinking water. And as someone pointed out previously, yes pharmaceutical waste is finding its way into our public watershed areas for a couple of reasons including improper disposal by manufacturers and people that flush the stuff down the toilet .

Amen and thank you for pointing this out. That's why I drink wine instead. It's potent enough to kill the germs that are lurking in the juice. And besides it's a great way to end the day. Does anyone end their day with a glass of water?

[hazfora]

Originally Posted by creepsinc

Who are these people flushing their pharmaceuticals down the toilet?

What? You're not serious. You've never heard ot it?

[creepsinc]

Originally Posted by hazfora

What? You're not serious. You've never heard ot it?

Nope, not completely serious and yes, I've heard of it.

[fleetiebelle]

Does anyone end their day with a glass of water?

I do. I rarely drink anything but water. It's bad for your body not to drink water throughout the day.

[ctoocheck]

Pittsburgh: America's most drinkable city! :-p

No, but my water at home (via the Wilkinsburg-Penn Joint Water Authority) I find really really good. It is still my choice vintage. Of other places I've been, I found Boston's and Rome's to be good too. Other places... not always. DC's was awfulllll.

[ki0eh]

Location matters on the same water system - for example, I moved from a house near the water plant, several miles further out on a dead end line, and I notice more off/musty/regrowth in a water bottle from it. But I still prefer that to the corrosive well water on our hill, a longtime resident has kidney problems from the copper it leached out.

Yinz might find this link from the PA DEP helpful, all the compliance labs have been required to report online to the state for the last few years so if you dig hard enough you will find EVERY PA regulated community water system results on here: Public Drinking Water

[MN55]

Haha! This thread seems funny to me - I'd never actually thought that there would be any kind of problem drinking straight tap water, or that it could possibly be "undrinkable"... I guess that's what living in Minnesota your whole life does to you.

[creepsinc]

Originally Posted by MN55

Haha! This thread seems funny to me - I'd never actually thought that there would be any kind of problem drinking straight tap water, or that it could possibly be "undrinkable"... I guess that's what living in Minnesota your whole life does to you.

I don't think it has anything to do with location. Some people have been trained to only drink bottled water, when clean, potable tap water on demand remains a luxury in most of the world.