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Comment by ak39 | Hacker News Reader

That's disturbing indeed.

What's the best approach to replacing drinking water to avoid all of this?

I think the best you can do in regards to tap water is some kind of filter. Effectiveness probably improves with cost.

I have recently switched to getting 5 gallon water jugs delivered. Costs me about $60 per month. Not an optimal solution but I have no other real cure.

How do to test and validate the quality of the delivered bottled water?

My understanding – and it's a shallow understanding – was that bottled water was less regulated and monitored than tap water. Is there a source you can use to get the testing done on the bottled water you're having delivered?

The vendor I use is Zephyrhills. They have a report online.

https://www.nestle-watersna.com/asset-library/Documents/ZH_B...

Cool, thanks!

This sounds like living in a Third World country.

It is. People who have to resort to drinking bottled water because the tap water is unsafe do live in a third world country.

Draw whatever conclusion from that that you like.

What first world country is free of this type of water contamination?

Antarctica. You drill down into some millions-of-years-old chunk of ice and drink that.

Draw whatever conclusion from that you like.

To be fair even in a first world system it's a good idea to filter drinking water again before consuming it. A countertop filtration system is much less expensive than one month of OP's bottled water. $80-200 for the initial setup, $30 every six months to replace the filters... cheaper than $60/mo, probably produces cleaner water in most cases.

That is due to coliform contamination, though. Those countries have feces in their water supply directly and in huge amounts.

Install a reverse osmosis system in your house. However, not sure what to do about the pex piping though... Maybe run copper? Maybe there is an inert plastic?

Reverse osmosis can be also problematic cause it removes chemicals from water that are also useful. Maybe a less aggressive filtering method will do.

What chemicals could you possibly need in your water? There aren't any; the only thing you'd reasonably want in there are some minerals to make it taste good (totally pure water tastes pretty nasty actually). If you're talking about fluoride, the answer is simple: brush your teeth regularly and use dental rinse. You don't need it in your water. The only reason they ever did that was because too many people had terrible oral hygiene habits decades ago; people are a lot better about this these days, with quality toothpastes, motorized toothbrushes, flossing every day, fluoride rinses, etc.

There are inline units you can buy that add minerals back into the water, if thats what you mean by helpful chemicals.

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