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January 8, 2006 6:28 PM

NYC: Should I drink the water?

I grew up in a rural setting where tapwater was (presumably) safe and clean. I live in NYC now and routinely shock people when I help myself to their tap. In some specific cases I have accepted their filtered water when told that they have specifically been warned about lead pipes in their building. But in all other cases, I've always been adventurous about the water I drink; I like how it tastes different everywhere you go, and I like learning why (variations in mineral deposit, etc.)

I am cynical about bottled water and filter companies profiting off of people's fears, which I assume to be exaggerated. Also, I drink a lot of water, and so bottled water and filters could wind up being a real expense for me if I am to cave in. On the other hand, I've been living here for 3 years now and am starting to think I should learn more.
Googling turns up an unbelievable and useless amount of info.

So is tap water in NYC "safe" or isn't it? I'd like to hear some real facts, but will settle for suspicions (though I get plenty of those from everyone around me). Do YOU drink the water?

posted by hermitosis to health & fitness (39 comments total)

NYC tap water comes from upstate. It's clean. It's fine. (Sometimes in Brooklyn it is aerated, and then I let it sit so the funny tasting bubbles go away.) Just check on the lead pipes problem maybe.
posted by dame at 6:32 PM on January 8, 2006

I drink the tap water... but, only when I run out of bottled water... which happens just before groceries every other sunday. I do let the water run for a few seconds and I boil tap water before drinking, although not that that affects the lead content.

As a kid, I drank nothing but NYC tap water, and, I had my blood tested for lead a few years back, and, it was insignficantly low.
posted by yeoz at 6:33 PM on January 8, 2006

Everyone I ever hear talk about NYC water says that it is excellent quality water, safe and great tasting. I drank NYC water this past summer and it was delicious from the tap. I don't live in NY, I live in Orlando, where, while the water is technically "safe", it tastes very, very nasty. I buy bottled water to drink and soon we will have filtered water in our new home.
posted by Jazz Hands at 6:35 PM on January 8, 2006

NYC tap water is perfectly safe and is the most delicious tap water around. It is entirely possible to have bad pipes (and brown water from those bad pipes), but if the plumbing in your building is ok, the water is pristine. That's my opinion.

Here is the DEP's 2004 Annual Water Quality Report. I would point you elsewhere, but that's really all you need.
posted by kosem at 6:35 PM on January 8, 2006

In my experience, the problem isn't with the city's pipes (which seem fine), but with the specific building's pipes (which may or may not be). If the building's pipes are fine, your water will be fine. If not, you'll have problems.

How do you check out your building's water? You can get it tested, or you can guess based on the maintenance/age of the rest of the building. You can obviously ask your landlord, but he may not be strictly accurate.
posted by booksandlibretti at 6:39 PM on January 8, 2006

NYC tap water is supposed to be some of the best in the country. I never drink it. I just have this strong psychological aversion to it and all tap water. Plus when the terrorists inevitably poison the water supply you'll be able to write off all the money you spend on bottled water.
posted by nixerman at 6:40 PM on January 8, 2006

Though not NYC specific, This page from the FDA has some interesting commentary on the matter. The three biggest points I noticed were:

• "Generally, over the years, the FDA has adopted EPA standards for tap water as standards for bottled water," Kim says. As a result, standards for contaminants in tap water and bottled water are very similar.
• However, in some instances, standards for bottled water are different than for tap water. Kim cites lead as an example. Because lead can leach from pipes as water travels from water utilities to home faucets, the EPA set an action level of 15 parts per billion (ppb) in tap water. This means that when lead levels are above 15 ppb in tap water that reaches home faucets, water utilities must treat the water to reduce the lead levels to below 15 ppb. In bottled water, where lead pipes are not used, the lead limit is set at 5 ppb
• Ophaug says bottled water often does not have fluoride added to it. Or, if it has been purified through reverse osmosis or distillation, the fluoride may have been removed. People who drink mostly bottled water, especially those who have children, need to be aware of this, he says. They may need to use supplemental fluoride that is available by prescription from dentists or doctors.

posted by Popular Ethics at 6:41 PM on January 8, 2006

NY long ago set aside huge swathes of upstate NY as a watershed area - areas where development is largely forbidden because to develop there might contaminate the water supply for New York City. NYC's water is excellent.

There are, however, a larger-than-average number of fancy people in NYC who would like to be seen drinking fancy water, and thus don't drink NYC tap water.

(If you like large engineering projects, read about the construction of the third water tunnel to NYC.)
posted by jellicle at 6:43 PM on January 8, 2006

Tap water is generally a lot safer and better regulated than bottled water- you also don't have the issues of disposing of all the plastic bottles, whish is huge when you look at an entire city of 10 millions drinking bottled water. Something like a Brita filter is probably the best solution if your buildings pipes are bad.
posted by fshgrl at 6:45 PM on January 8, 2006

one of my favorite episodes of Penn and Teller's Bullshit is the bottled water episode. They substitute NYC water from a water hose for the "fancy" bottled water. The comments about how wonderful the "fancy" water tastes are awesome!
posted by nimsey lou at 6:47 PM on January 8, 2006

Drink it. You're lucky to have it. It is some of the best drinking water around.
posted by caddis at 6:52 PM on January 8, 2006

I sigh every day when I think of the lovely Queens tap water I could be drinking... Drink it, it's good for you!
posted by greatgefilte at 7:03 PM on January 8, 2006

21 years of drinking the tap water out here in Brooklyn, no concerns. Accept no substitutes.
posted by thejoshu at 7:05 PM on January 8, 2006

Tell your fancy-pants friends that they're full of it and enjoy a nice glass of water without the guilt of having used a couple of gallons of petroleum to manufacture, transport, and dispose of that stupid fancy plastic bottle.
posted by Rhomboid at 7:22 PM on January 8, 2006

I drink it every day. It tastes good.
posted by gaspode at 7:24 PM on January 8, 2006

I was arrested, while nude, for swimming, while nude, in the NYC watershed when I was a teenager, and nude. I can personally vouch for it. Bottoms up!
posted by TimeFactor at 7:24 PM on January 8, 2006

Mmm. NYC tap water is delicious stuff. Enjoy it!
posted by cmyk at 7:31 PM on January 8, 2006

Thanks guys, I feel much more at ease and will continue to drink hearty! Roger on the not contributing to the excess plastic bottles in the city.
posted by hermitosis at 7:33 PM on January 8, 2006

NYC tapwater is amazing. It runs through miles and miles of aquifers. It's the reason the pizza, bagels, and coffee taste so good. It's shipped to other parts of the country!
posted by xammerboy at 7:49 PM on January 8, 2006

Here's a nice map of the NY watershed. Follow the aqueducts from upstate down to Staten Island...
posted by jellicle at 7:58 PM on January 8, 2006

We use the Brita filter to filter out stuff from the tap water. It tastes better after Brita.
posted by riffola at 8:13 PM on January 8, 2006

I just mentioned this feedback to a friend who came over and he said it's not true that it all comes from upstate. He says it used to, but now a significant amount comes from New Jersey, but that most people still seem to think that it comes from pure sources upstate.

Although he specializes in an authoritative tone of voice, it is not the same as being right. So I will still act on y'all's counsel.
posted by hermitosis at 8:30 PM on January 8, 2006

NYC tapwater is the only tapwater I enjoy drinking. Up in Boston, it's a little more mineraly and chlorinated, and we use a Brita. A lot of other places in the country... I dunno how you guys deal with that stuff.
posted by rxrfrx at 8:31 PM on January 8, 2006

Does Brita filter out lead? Anyway, I refuse to buy or drink any bottled water for a myriad of reasons.

First and foremost is because I am very uneasy with a primary staple of life becoming a commodity that adds high profits to a corporation's bottom line. The more water becomes a product the more value there is in keeping free water contaminated. As we speak there are major corporations - corporations you all know and love like Coca Cola, Nestle and Pepsi - trying to buy up all the free water in many third world countries - so the citizens will have to buy it from them. When they figure it out there, they'll do it here too.

Most bottled water sold in the US is just filtered treated tap water.

Plastic - You probably get more toxins for the plastic the water is bottled in than from any positive effect from the water. Also the plastic bottles are an incredible waste.
posted by any major dude at 8:33 PM on January 8, 2006

Rural water is usually well water and can be much worse in taste and contaminants than city water, especially if it comes from a private well. I should be wary of the rural=clean, urban=dirty assumption, at least as far as tap water goes.

Some bottled water, especially the fancy, expensive type, may come from an extra pure spring somewhere, but much of the rest is just filtered and bottled city water supply (with maybe the mineral levels adjusted). Coca-Cola had problems a couple of years ago in the UK when Dasani, their brand of bottled water, turned up with high bromate levels. At first they just recalled the affected bottles, but later withdrew the brand entirely when people found out that it was just re-branded tap-water, with extra added impurities!
posted by Quinbus Flestrin at 9:38 PM on January 8, 2006

My experience is that "big city" water is usually better then "country" water, mostly because of agricultural runoff and inadequate treatment.

The only city water that I've ever refused to drink was the stuff in Fort Lauderdale, FL, which smelled like a sewer for some reason.

But yeah, I live in NYC, and I drink the water. Sometimes it smells a little chlorinated, but it hasn't killed me yet :)
posted by Afroblanco at 10:03 PM on January 8, 2006

The worst water I've tasted is right where I live, in Gilbert, Arizona. (See also: Mesa, Tempe, Chandler, Phoenix.) The water table is not in the best of shape as we're in the desert, and it was quite a shock to move to a place where the tap water is simply not palatable. It's just not drinkable, unless absolutely necessary.

But I never had trouble with New Jersey or New York tap water. Good stuff, comparatively.
posted by disillusioned at 10:39 PM on January 8, 2006

I just mentioned this feedback to a friend who came over and he said it's not true that it all comes from upstate. He says it used to, but now a significant amount comes from New Jersey, but that most people still seem to think that it comes from pure sources upstate.

He's wrong. As other have noted, a significant amount of resources upstate go to brining NYC its water supply. See New York City's Water Supply System.

In order to get water from NJ, the city would have needed to build the infrastructure to get water across the Hudson from NJ. A third water tunnel connecting the city with its upstate water supplies is the largest capital construction project in NYC history has been under construction since 1970 (with completion expected in 2020.) Switching the city's water supply to a new source would require capital construction on this scale-- not something that is easy to hide.

NYC drinking water is excellent-- I find that it tastes better than most bottled water.
posted by andrewraff at 10:59 PM on January 8, 2006

hermitosis, yeah, your friend is whack. What, did they suddenly build a new pipe to Hackensack or something? Not only is that extremely unlikely (why would Jersey just give NYC its water?), it would cost billions and take decades.

The city is, in fact, greatly concerned that they could have a disastrous interruption in their water supply. The existing system is a century or more old and many of the junctions and valves are ageing rapidly. Some are permanently fused open to the pipes. Before the third tunnel opens, 14 years from now, anything that damages the interconnected first or second tunnels -- say, a collapse -- could potentially cut off the city's entire water supply.

I'm amazed that hermitosis routinely "shocks" people by drinking their tap water. I will say that as a onetime resident, I suspect that non-natives to New York are more likely to believe that the water comes from the Hudson Estuary or (horrors!) the East River, which is ridiculous (both are too salty, never mind the industrial pollution). But I really suspect that your friends have just become accustomed to bottled and believe the hype.

I used a Brita filter in Chicago (Evanston, actually), whose water comes from Lake Michigan, but that's because the taste has declined in quality due to zebra mussels infesting the lake and eating the vegetation, which has resulted in cleaner water -- which ironically results in more algae on the lake bottom, where the intakes are. They plan to put the intakes farther out in the lake to fix this.
posted by dhartung at 11:42 PM on January 8, 2006

You need a filter which removes harmful things such as heavy metals, flouride and chlorine.

How do I know NYC tap water is full of metal?

When I clean my water filter. I clean the red rusty colored slime off the inside.
posted by merlin17 at 12:41 AM on January 9, 2006

I suggest a Gary Null brand water filter, personally.
posted by merlin17 at 12:41 AM on January 9, 2006

Consumer Reports tested tap water in a bunch of cities a few years ago. NYC water was the cleanest and best-tasting of those they sampled. They did not address the question of plumbing in buildings degrading the water IIRC.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:09 AM on January 9, 2006

I'm drinking some right now. YUM! They're not kidding when they call it the champagne of tap water.

I do admit to also loving the taste of Poland Spring. Take that as you will.
posted by lampoil at 6:57 AM on January 9, 2006

a significant amount of resources upstate go to brining NYC its water supply.

What a bad place for a typo!

Everyone I knew growing up in NYC drank tap water.
posted by Aknaton at 9:28 AM on January 9, 2006

This thread is making me thirsty for NYC tap water. I've been drinking it happily for 5 years and am on my way to the sink right now.
posted by eighth_excerpt at 10:17 AM on January 9, 2006

dhartung: I used a Brita filter in Chicago (Evanston, actually), whose water comes from Lake Michigan, but that's because the taste has declined in quality due to zebra mussels infesting the lake and eating the vegetation, which has resulted in cleaner water -- which ironically results in more algae on the lake bottom, where the intakes are. They plan to put the intakes farther out in the lake to fix this.

This was a significant seasonal problem in Evanston a few years ago, less so in Chicago proper as the water intake http://www.gapersblock.com/airbags/archives/the_lake_michigan_cribs/">cribs have always been further out. Especially in the fall, the tap water would gain a distinct odor of rotting vegetation -- apparently harmless, but extremely distasteful. They have become much better at dealing with the problem, by whatever combination of moving intakes and treatment, and I haven't noticed the odor for the last few years. Lake Michigan water is fine though it may not be quite up to NY standards; everybody I know drinks it, but that may be because we are rugged Midwesterners who don't do effete things like drink bottled water when we have a perfectly good tap.
posted by Quinbus Flestrin at 10:38 AM on January 9, 2006

As others have said NYC tap water is second to none. I can't recall a municipal water system that has better water.

There is a danger of lead leaching from pipes in old buildings however, and not to derail the thread, but the CDC recommends that you run your tap on cold for at least a minute or two before you use the water if you suspect you have lead pipes. The lead, if any, will be leached out from the tap.
posted by xetere at 10:56 AM on January 9, 2006

Merlin,

First off, the metal would come from the pipes in your building. Secondly, there is rust in many building pipes, but this actually is not harmful at all. I had a VERY hard time believing this but after doing some research found it was true. Of course, if you are worried test your building's water for lead, but I find it hard to believe any building owner would be so negligent.
posted by xammerboy at 11:49 AM on January 9, 2006

Columbia School of Public Health performed a study comparing NYC tap water to various brands of bottled water with regard to nasty contaminants such as lead, arsenic, other heavies, benzene derivatives, long-chain hydrocarbons, dioxins, and bacterial load.

NYC tap was measured at various testing spots around the city; several bottles of each brand were tested randomly.

NYC tap water beat every bottled water in every category every time. Some of the heavy metals and bacterial loads were several orders of magnitude higher in the bottled waters than in NYC tap water. I don't know whether these results were published; they were presented to me in a class I took.

One issue is that a lot of pipes in the NYC area are made of lead. NYC adds something harmless to the water supply, some kind of phosphate, I think, which reacts with the inside of lead pipes to form an insoluble, adherent coating that prevents the lead from getting into the water.

When I lived in NYC, I used a Brita filter because I preferred to remove that NYC tap water flavor, and felt pretty confident that I was getting the best of all possible waters.
posted by ikkyu2 at 12:15 PM on January 9, 2006