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Comment by fsloth | Hacker News Reader

I'm curious - is water that tastes like water actually an issue?

For me it is. I was raised on soda, especially coca-cola, and plain water just doesn't have that good taste. I guess it's kind of like an addiction.

My kids are used to drinking water, and I don't have any soda in the house (too bad for me :().

Raised on soda. Wow. Just stick to plain water for a few weeks and your tastes will adjust.

Maybe you didn't notice the part where they don't keep soda in the house? Seems like a strong indication that they do not regularly drink soda any more, even though water doesn't taste good.

Try a reverse osmosis system. APEC (sold on Amazon and other places) has great reviews and makes counter-top screw-on types which take only a few minutes to install. It makes a huge difference in water quality. The under-the-sink models with a tank are nicer because it has a buffer for the filtered water, which gives you water faster until the buffer is depleted. The tankless ones take about 30 seconds to fill up a glass (based on water pressure). I use mine to fill up a 10 liter fusti once a week (takes ~an hour) which I keep in the fridge, since I live in an apartment with no option to install a real fridge with a water dispenser.

It makes water taste so good that I prefer it over almost anything.

Depends on where you live. There is a lot of variation in water quality in the US.

The water in the US is chlorinated (at least where I was in Washington, DC). It smells and tastes really terrible.

"Water in the US" varies greatly from place to place. You see, the United States is a very large and varied place.

Amazing tasting well water pumped directly from old glaciers turned into underground reservoirs is "water in the US."

Water so brown and contaminated you can't even drink it is "water in the US."

Using fluoride, chlorine, chloramine, is "water in the US." Desalinated water along coastlines that tastes as such. Streams and springs that are safe to drink from.

Having lived in the area for years I can say even througout the D.C. Metro area, you have different tasting water as well.

Something a simple filter takes care of easily.

I never needed to bother with a filter where I live. So everybody uses them where the water is chlorinated?

It depends on how chlorinated the water tastes. I usually use the filtered water that comes out of the tap on the fridge but if that is taking too long to fill a bottle, I just use the regular tap water. Our water tastes fine. It doesn't have a strong scent or flavor and the water is very clear. Checking out the water quality reports for my county, we meet or exceed all EPA regulations regarding certain materials in the water. Some people in my county still rely on well water because they were too far from the water main when their house was built. Well water tastes gross and you pretty much have to filter it unless you just hate yourself. As for the quality of the well water in my county, I can't find this information as I'm guessing everyone's well water is different and no one is going around testing homeowners' wells. Chlorinated water is used in many places around US as it's cheap and effective. It reduces things like microbes and bacteria in the water supply. It can produce some nasty by products but the risk from consuming chlorinated water is much lower than consuming water that is potentially swimming in microbes and bacteria.

Depends where you are. It doesn't need to be at tasteable levels; the US apparently uses rather a lot and has poor quality control (Flint passim)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2242094/Chlorine-t... (apologies for poor source)

I use it in London, Not because the water is too chlorinated, but it really improves the taste.

Well, people who don't want to taste chlorine, yes.

Unfortunately we have a whole generation that was raised on soda since we were kids. It's a hard habit to kick. But I don't think things like this product are the solution.

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