A Controversial Discovery!

My parents have AWFUL tap water in Michigan as well as any of my family members that live in Florida... Florida water is THE WORST! You may want to look at getting a water dispenser. They aren't bad and you can refill the huge containers of water at the grocery store for like $5.

Rockford water is horrible, I even hate to shower in it! I'll cook and wash with our water, but for drinking we go through cases and cases of Dasani.

Ours isnt bad... but I use a water filter for our fridge for drinking and cooking.

I grew up with well water - i never realized how horrible it was until I moved away, and then went back home Nothing I've ever had after that was as bad, not even WDW water!

Like Mase, we use the water filter on the fridge vs. the tap for all drinking water. Even for the dogs

I keep meaning to put a filter on our sink for our animals... heh

I think you get used to it..unfortunately.

Three words..Brita. Water. Filter.

I agree, Brita filter is the way to go! When I was working/living at Disney, the first thing they told us in a big meeting our first night was "DON'T DRINK THE WATER!" they urged us to get water filters or bottled water because they told us that if we weren't used to the water in FL, it could make us really sick. I never took my chances.

Here in south western ontario the water isn't bad however if we have a really hot summer we notice a musty odour and it appears to be a yellow colour and then you notice a bleachy smell and it tastes terrible (probably to counteract the alge they up the chlorine). We have a water dispenser and buy those big bottles to sit on top of it. I know our water is suppose to be safe BUT would rather take precaution then to get sick.

Where I live, we have notoriously hard water and the taste wasn't great either , so we had a whole house water softener, conditioner and filter installed, and it really took care of the problem.

Yep that is what it smells like "moldy and musty" Who wants to drink that yuck!!!

We used to live on a farm and had a well. The water was hard , but tasted great. I could never drink "City " water. But over the years, with developments being put in and all the changes, the water table was disturbed and the water started getting a sulfur smell and and orange color to it. Just think "rotten eggs" coming out of your faucet. Got to the point they were testing it every week and said we couldn't drink it anymore, just wash with it, and that was not an enjoyable thing. We now have "City" water and its rather good. We have the filter on the fridge too like others, but still drink bottled water alot. I drink the water right from the tap alot and don't really notice a difference.

The small rural town we live in has it's own water system. I tested our water for chlorine residual in the lab and it was 1.8%. That's pretty high. It only has to be at 0.2% at the last customer on the line. I believe chlorine is only toxic if you inhale it. So is dihydrogen monoxide (water), LOL.

As for the taste you don't really notice it unless you let it sit in a bottle for a while. We noticed the same thing with the Disney World water fountains. If you could find one that produced cold water, it was not that bad when first dispensed, but when we filled our water bottle, the taste was a lot worse later on.

Ha, I think the FL folks were overreacting just a wee bit. The water in Florida is not universally bad, or bad for you. While I do use a Brita filter for drinking water for taste, we use tap water for concentrated juices and in cooking. I promise, it won't kill you any faster than water in other places

Good luck, Brad. It may just be a matter of getting used to the difference to some extent. What about a fridge with a water filter? Or water delivery? My mom just ended her water delivery and got a Brita filter to save $$ though, and she's very happy with it.

Okay, I just had to add my thoughts on this.
I am not usually that picky about water. We do have a filter on our fridge and we do sometimes buy bottled water but I will drink it right out of the tap. However....I can not do that in Disney. I can taste it even in iced tea and even in soda if it has ice cubes in it. I am getting use to it to some degree though. When we first started going I would not even use it to brush my teeth. I also bring my own soaps and shampoos that I know have enough fragrance to cover up the smell. I do drink coffee while we are there. Sometimes I can taste it in it and sometimes I can not. Other than that I mostly drink bottled water or adult type drinks. I am not afraid of it making me sick, I just do not like it.

Scrappy, I wrote about this recently in a couple of other threads, but I am loving my little Brita personal water bottle with filter. I think it's the perfect solution for a trip to FL, or anywhere that you'd find the water unsavory. At least, for drinking, or brushing teeth, etc.

It's funny, but when I was growing up, and we'd make our way to FL every summer for vacay, you could track the trip by the taste of the water, long before you get to FL. It usually changed the closer we got to the coast, so somewhere in SC. Even though it tasted kinda bad, it was like, "Woot! We're on vacation! Vacation water!"

Same here with the well water