It is a temporary condition that usually clears up in a couple of hours. Your local water department should know what is happening at that particular time, and how long the condition should last. If possible, you should refrain from using water -- for laundry, dishes, cooking and drinking -- until the condition clears up. The hot and cold water from our kitchen sink sometimes comes out very cloudy. If we leave the water in the container, it then clears up quickly and the cloudiness disappears.
Should we be using this water, even after it turns clear? Cloudy water, also known as white water, is caused by air bubbles in the water. It usually happens when it is very cold outside and air gets mixed in with the water supply. It is completely harmless. The best thing to do is let it sit in an open container until the bubbles naturally disappear.
I have installed a filter for my water, and it is getting clogged at a quicker rate than is expected — is this is a problem? Many filters will have lower flow as they near the end of their lifespan, indicating that they need to be replaced.
This is due to the natural organic matter that is in the water supply. This organic matter is not a health concern. Also, in the late winter and early spring, there are natural increases in algae levels that can clog filters.
Some years are higher than others, depending on weather conditions. Also, if you have older iron pipes, corrosion particulates may cause your filter to clog prematurely. Do I need to filter my drinking water? MWRA delivers high quality water that meets or exceeds all state and federal drinking water regulations. Filtration is typically not required, however, you may have a taste preference, health condition, or a water quality issue caused by your home plumbing that filtration can address.
How do water filters work? Many filtration systems use carbon, charcoal, or a blend of filter media to remove contaminants when water flows through the filter media.
For Reverse Osmosis RO systems, the water is usually treated with a pre-filter, a carbon filter, an RO membrane, and a post-filter. What should I know before purchasing a home water filter or treatment device?
Determine what you want a treatment device to do, such as remove tastes and odors, or remove contaminants, such as lead. When selecting a filter, it is important to know that not all filters are the same. Read the packaging carefully and only purchase certified filters. Visit www. Make sure the packaging specifically lists the contaminant you wish to reduce.
A variety of filters exist to meet your needs. What is the difference between a point-of-use filter and a point-of-entry filter?
POU filters are often more economical, but if you wish to treat water at multiple locations in the home, you will need to buy a filter for each location. POU filters are a good choice when you want to remove contaminants that originate in your home plumbing, such as lead.
Point-of-entry POE filters treat all water that enters the home, including toilet water, bath water, laundry water, and in some cases water at outside spigots. POE filters may be more expensive, and will not address issues in the plumbing that are located after the filter, such as lead solder.
If you have a POE filter that removes chlorine and sodium hydroxide, you are removing the disinfectant and pH adjustment in the water. This could lead to bacterial growth and corrosion of home plumbing. Do showerhead filters remove chloramine? Some certified showerheads on the market with granular activated carbon claim to also reduce chloramine.
Customers may have success with vitamin C showerhead filters, but these are not certified. Do filters require maintenance? Unmaintained filters can also harbor bacteria. Many filters have a device that indicates when to change the filter. A re there alternatives to filtration? If you have lead in your plumbing, you should try to have it removed. You should also check with your local water department about lead service lines.
Flushing your faucet will also address taste and odor issues if you have older iron pipes. To remove chlorine taste and odor, add slices of lemon to a pitcher of water, as the ascorbic acid vitamin C will help dechlorinate the water.
Boiling water can also reduce chlorine levels, however you should not boil water to remove lead. MWRA's drinking water is soft. If you are an MWRA customer, you probably don't need to use special water softeners for your clothes - or dishwashing machines.
You do not need a water softener. Water's "hardness" and "softness" is due to its concentration of minerals —calcium and magnesium. The lower the mineral concentration, the softer the water is. MWRA's drinking water has a hardness of approximately 16 milligrams per liter, or 1 grain per gallon. When using water that is considered soft you do not need to use as much dishwashing soap, laundry detergent, or other soaps. Many new dishwashers allow you to set the hardness of the water so that you do not need to use as much soap in comparison to areas that have hard water.
MWRA treats its drinking water so that it has a pH of approximately 9. This pH level helps to reduce the potential that water will leach metal that might be in your household plumbing. Viewed 36k times. Improve this question. I lived there for a long time and would have thought anybody paying for bottled water was loony as a box of frogs. The water on Martha's Vineyard can be funny tasting sometimes, but it's certainly potable!
Its safe as noted below in the answers, but some regions may have odd smells which affect taste not safety. In Rochester, NY I got a filter because I found the smell of the tap water there terrible, and in Florida it seems to have an ocean water smell.
Depends on where in Forida I may have had a small sample size but some US Americans confirmed that this was perfectly normal and did not even notice this anymore. I cannot say anything about the health impact though. Unfortunately, the bottled water started tasting weird after a few days too, which I put to the bottle material. Wrzlprmft it really depends where you are. Burlington VT does not add anything to the water it pulls from the lake, its the closest to well water I've found.
Show 6 more comments. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. TankorSmash 4 4 bronze badges. Here in Germany it is often the case that tap water is of higher quality than bottled water. Because it is controlled extensively. In the USA, most of the water supply is very potable except for some of the large cities. It works really well and yes in some places such as around the continental divide tap better is actually better than bottled water.
And no matter what, being environmentally conscious, I must protest against bottled water. Most cities share water sources with surrounding areas; the size of the city has no direct relation to its water quality, but bigger cities tend to be older, and suffer from degradation of pipes in buildings.
The water in California not just Los Angeles and San Francisco is often bad-tasting because it is a combination of heavily mineraled groundwater and aqueduct water imported from hundreds of miles away. FixedPoint What evidence do you have that Boston water tastes worse than elsewhere? That is contrary to my impression. Show 3 more comments.
Note that "drinkable" is not the same thing as "tastes good". There are some decidedly foul-tasting water supplies out there. Most of Massachusetts water is pretty good, most of the time. There are a few towns whose reservoirs occasionally experience algae blooms, which are generally harmless but can make the water taste "fishy" for a few weeks. As Mark says, drinkable and tasting good are different.
Note that tasting good varies on a smaller scale than by state; it depends on the source of the water as well as the kind of pipes used to transport it. It's possible to have different tasting water in different parts of the same city, if the city is large enough! Usually bad taste in municipal water is because of plumbing issues; water plants tend to have very high standards. Show 1 more comment.
Schwern Schwern 3 3 silver badges 6 6 bronze badges. This might be counter-productive. Storing water in a container for too long can cause it to become stagnant. Philipp I also use it for camping, it gets rotated. Additionally, the stored bottled water may absorb volatiles from the plastic. That is the reason that bottled water has an expiration date. There's no FDA limit on the shelf life of bottled water. But if it sits around too long it might taste bad, so the manufacturers voluntarily put an expiration date on it.
Then the consumer won't blame them for stinky water. The FDA says it's safe. The EFSA says its not sure so don't expose infants. They're both keeping an eye on it. For the FDA, something has to be proven to be harmful. For the EFSA, the suggestion that it's harmful is enough. Vince Add a comment. Jasper Jasper 2 2 silver badges 11 11 bronze badges. Its been standard for a while now to use copper pipes and lead free solder.
Actually, the modern standard is to use PEx plastic pipes. The MWRA tests over 1, water quality samples per month, from the reservoirs all the way to household taps. Annual and monthly test results are posted by the MWRA on its website.
BWSC is concerned about lead in drinking water. Lead in drinking water is rarely the sole cause lead poisoning. However, it can increase a person's total lead exposure, particularly the exposure to infants who drink baby formulas and concentrated juices that are mixed with water.
Lead enters drinking water primarily as a result of the corrosion, or wearing away, of materials containing lead in the water distribution system and household plumbing.
However, lead can get into tap water through home service piping, lead solder, and some brass fixtures. The corrosion or wearing away of these lead-based materials can add lead to tap water, particularly if water sits for a long time in the pipes before use. Press Release. Lead in drinking water, although rarely the sole cause of lead poisoning, can significantly increase a person's total lead exposure, particularly the exposure to infants who drink baby formulas and concentrated juices that are mixed with water.
Lead is unusual among drinking water contaminants in that it seldom occurs naturally in water supplies like rivers and lakes. These materials include lead-based solder used to join copper pipe, brass and chrome-plated brass faucets, and in some cases, pipes made of lead that connect your house to the water main, also known as a service line.
In , Congress banned the use of lead solder containing greater than 0. When water stands in lead pipes or plumbing systems containing lead for several hours or more, the lead may dissolve into your drinking water.
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