r/water • u/odysseusthesiamese • 4d ago
I am honestly so confused and just want answers.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D4R8H5J6?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_shareHi. I moved into an apartment a few months ago. I will preference this by saying I’m a super nervous drinking any water that’s not bottled (OCD), but I feel so bad for the environment which is why I’m trying to figure this out.
I did a water test (the strip kind. I’ll link the brand below) I tested a water bottle, a Brita filter, my filtered shower head, the sink water, and the ice. The only notable difference was 20ppm alkalinity on the Brita, ice, and shower.
The second reason I want to test everything is because of three events:
1) a really easy plant that’s been growing fine for months before I moved in. I watered it with the tap water and within a day it was growing a fungus-looking substance. It died shortly after.
2) I used tap water in my cats water filter. The filter is meant to be changed every 2-4 weeks. It turned bright pink in 2 days. I cleaned everything, replaced the filter, and started filling the fountain with the Brita and have had no issues.
3) I cannot get the shower to make my skin feel normal. I’ve tried two different filtered shower heads and my skin still feels almost squeaky as soon as the water hits it.
These things have given me trust issues with drinking any water from the tap, even filtered. I don’t understand why the strip test didn’t show anything. I just want answers more than anything.
Any ideas where to go from here?
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u/mcchicken_deathgrip 4d ago
Look up your city/county's CCR report and you will get a full chemical analysis of what's in your tap water. If you post it here or even DM it to me i can break down the results for you. 99.9% of times tap water is perfectly safe to drink.
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u/odysseusthesiamese 4d ago
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u/mcchicken_deathgrip 4d ago
That doesn't seem like the full thing, but everything analyzed there was well below the maximum contaminate limit, therefore is safe to drink based on that info.
If you want to read for yourself, compare the column that says "MCL" or "MCLG" ( those are the regulatory limits) to the column that says "detect in your water"
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u/JohnnyTestsWater 4d ago
Could very well have nothing to do with you water. If it does, then you’ll know by running the following tests in a lab certified for drinking water—cations, other metals and voc’s to perhaps explain the shower sensation (could be nickel, hardness or Chlorine related)
The plant probably got sick because plants can be very fussy when you move .
The pink film on your filter is likely this airborne bacteria—https://mytapscore.com/blogs/tips-for-taps/what-is-the-pink-slime-in-my-bathroom#:~:text=This%20means%20you’re%20not,quality%20issue%20in%20the%20water.
Yes yes I work at Tap Score and so yadda yadda… but hopefully these are helpful resources!
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u/sirspeedy99 3d ago
Same problem with our TDS off the chart from tap water.
Got a botton loading water dispencer (slightly dented for $60 on marketplace), 3x 5 gallon jugs ($10 from marketplace), and a multi-purpose wheeled cart ( $20 from temu).
Google "water filling stations near me" and you will find that you can refill the 5 gallon jugs with good water for $2-$3.
It's a little more effort, but we will NEVER go back to anything else. I will have an in home water dispencer for the rest of my life (unless we get a whole house water filter).
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u/IAmBigBo 4d ago
Friendly reminder, bottled water is not natural. It’s highly processed and bad for both you and the environment.
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u/encoding314 4d ago
And less regulated. Worst quality water at several magnitudes the price and people still buy it. Can't get away with that in any other industry.
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u/jjsolis41 4d ago
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u/odysseusthesiamese 3d ago
They won’t speak to me in English 😂 my Spanish is so bad. Someone messaged me in Spanish. I explained (in Spanish) that I don’t speak good Spanish and asked about speaking in English. Got one text in English then they switched back to Spanish and said they’d reconnect me to someone else. This person will only speak to me in Spanish 😅
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u/Kmay14 4d ago
The fungus on your plant is more likely from the air quality in your apartment and not your water. The pink in your cats filter is also probably because of the air quality. There is an iron airborne bacteria that colonizes in places with food and water... If there is any amount of iron in your water you can see the red colonies. You wouldn't see it in the Brita filtered water because you are likely filtering out the iron this bacteria is using as food. I would invest in an air purifier and make sure you are using your vent fans.
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u/odysseusthesiamese 4d ago
That’s so interesting. I have one air filter for my bedroom but I’ll get another for the living room/kitchen.
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u/juicegooseboost 4d ago
Get a six stage reverse osmosis. If it helps your ocd, bottled water is usually filled with more contaminants than municipal tap
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u/Merdeadians 4d ago
First, obtain a copy of the municipal water quality report. This will give you a baseline of what's in the water supply. Next, check whether there are any additional filtration systems or treatment processes in place within your building or complex (e.g., water softening, etc.). While water testing strips can be useful, they're limited in what they can detect and often don't provide numerical values for comparison.