After seeing a blurb in the news mega about the US needing nearly half a trillion dollars for drinking water infrastructure, I wonder about my own family's water safety.
I have up to now been under the impression that tap water is safe to drink, eschewing borrowed water for environmental purposes but maybe I should be thinking about a filtration system.
We live in an apartment with old bones in a city that has had lead in its school pipes in the past.
How do the netizens of Hexbear filter and enjoy their drinking water?
if you live in the states and have municipal water (not a well) you can or should be able to get test report data. if that is hard to find via your water utility's website (i.e. they don't have recent testing results), it's kind of a red flag.
however, the municipal test is only for their post-treatment water quality in the main service lines. your unit/structure's connection to the service line may have lead too, as could the pipes within structure you are inside. lead soldiering at connections inside the house are a thing to look for too, as the pipes may be OK but they may have used lead to connect them.
under the sink filters can be good for drinking water. reverse osmosis is the gold standard, but it wastes a lot of water if that's a concern of yours. in the ultra short term, something you can do is to let water run for 30 seconds to a minute before putting your glass under.
here's an epa guide for checking for lead pipes, verifying service info, and testing resources: https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/protect-your-tap-quick-check-lead-0
We’ve got under sink 3-stage (not reverse osmosis) and it seems pretty decent. I’ve been meaning to get the regular tap vs filtered tap tested at a home improvement store, but it just hasn’t happened yet
I’ll also say that tapping a supply line for a water filter was my introduction to basic “around the house” casual plumbing, which is mostly fucking with shutoffs. I’d definitely recommend it for anyone interested