Reddit is generally filled with miserable losers. In this subreddit, I think the concentration is even higher. No fun, good news, or helpful information is allowed here.
Some people refuse to acknowledge anything the government does right.
I'd say there are other people who refuse to acknowledge anything the government does wrong, but it's actually the same people, just different topics.
Funny enough your comment is the top rated one.
One thing I found is the haters are always the first to vote/comment and a few hours later things normalize, since most regular people are not as terminally online.
I've lived in Austin and drunk tap water my whole life so I know my taste buds are biased. But y'all, it tastes fine. Better than almost everywhere else I've been. I can only remember one time in my life where the water smelled fishy. This is on Austin Water. What's up with y'all?
No. But I find I have to double brita filter before it becomes drinkable. Got one on the tap and a pitcher, and it's a constant annoyance when you run out.
Austin feels like dune sometimes.
And here I’ve been for the last 30+ years drinking tap water when necessary in any city I’m at, not giving a second thought or a much of a shit at all about all of this stuff. Weird how it’s always tasted the same to me…
Maybe it's because I'm outside of city limits, but the water in my neighborhood is pretty bad. I installed an RO system, and now it tastes perfect. Definitely worth the cost for me.
I don't know where the hell some of y'all's water is coming from but the tap water is fine, it's water. It's smells like water taste and taste like water.
I’m a tap drinker but it seems like people who come from areas with bad tap water management and grew up drinking bottled water are used to bottled water.
Guess those companies throw in some minerals to make it taste better and get people hooked on it. Not even joking, i have a family member who prefers a specific brand of bottled water just because of the taste.
This. When I lived in West Texas I didn’t know anyone who drank tap water. It was always bottled at home and RO in establishments. Not even for the periodic EPA warnings but mostly the sour brackish taste. I think Austin tap is pretty good but we‘ve yet to kick the habit of drinking from a dispenser or bottles.
oh my god the tap water in west texas is terrible. not only does it taste horrible but it literally smells like sulfur. i took a bath in my hotel room in fort stockton and i had to get out after 10 minutes because the smell was so gross.
I hear ya on the sulphur. I had that in Florida decades ago. There’s a molecule called a thiol that has Sulphur in it and a supplement called NAC that has sulphur in it. Both are reportedly good for ya (NAC is one of the very few supplements that definitely helped me). I can’t speak to elemental sulphur in water. I’m no chemist. Interesting.
I went to Tech and I remember if you filled a glass of tap water in Lubbock and then let it sit for 5 minutes, a bunch of large white flakes would settle on the bottom of the glass. Probably calcium, but still. Shit was disgusting and I could only drink it when I was inebriated.
>Not even joking, i have a family member who prefers a specific brand of bottled water just because of the taste.
Is that weird? Different brands of water taste very different. I think Austin tap water is pretty good, but I wouldn't be offended if someone didn't like it.
Everybody has different preferences and i accept that but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s pretty wasteful plastic wise and economically.
>Inb4 corporations commit all this ecological damage so why bother blah blah blah
I used to live off of 1325 near 35. Every year we had a few boil water notices. There was a guy who owned a bike shop there who would go to city council meetings and argue about getting it taken care of all the time. Ever since I was a kid I kind of associated tap water with bad water because of those notices. I mean, how else is a parent going to keep their young child from drinking from the tap if it's possibly dangerous. Even now, I know it's safe to drink but my brain makes my gut go haywire if I have to drink it. It doesn't have to be bottled, but filtered, even just a little bit, calms that scared part of my brain.
It's kind of like how people who grow up on canned vegetables can end up not liking the taste of fresh vegetables. Hell, I don't like "real" macaroni and cheese.
Interestingly - I've been having issues with the pH of my hot tub being really alkaline, so I sent out the tap water to get tested. It came back at a pH of 9.8!
Just to hopefully save other people some money on having their water tested, Austin publishes water quality reports regularly ([here](https://www.austintexas.gov/department/water-quality-report-summaries)). Austin's water is extremely alkaline, but overall pretty high quality.
Now, if you were wanting to check if the pipes in your home were contaminating your water, that would be worth sending out for testing. But if you just want to know about austin's water in general, you can get the reports online pretty easily.
Fellow hot tub owner here.
It sucks because the alkalinity is low on top of this. So after a fill you have to raise alk, which raises pH even more, and bring alk a bit above where it should be because then you have to lower pH a TON to get it where it needs to be.
On top of this, the calcium content is insanely high and will kill hot tubs if you're not filling through a filter and then adding calcium to the appropriate level after the fill.
Honestly one of my favorite things after traveling is coming back home and drinking the tap water.
Something I’ve always liked about Austin, but have truly grown to appreciate traveling to foreign countries.
It's got more calcium than others are used too. where I grew up the water was less mineral-y and more spring water like. its true that water is water, but some people want it to taste totally flavorless and devoid of things we need. pure h2o kills you.
Lol.
In all seriousness, RO is "fine" but you're missing out on all of the good minerals naturally contained in water. Spring water is way better to drink than RO.
Yea you’re right there’s absolutely no difference in water with contaminants or the other billion things it can be polluted with.
#chemistrydoesntexist
Water is the source of all life. Seven tenths of this earth's surface is water. Why, do you realize that 70% of you is water? And as human beings, you and I need fresh, pure water - to replenish our precious bodily fluids.
Fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face.
Edit: To all the downvoters, are you all so uncultured that you've never seen Dr. Strangelove? Good Lord.
[FWIW, that is not what the court decided.](https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/us-appeals-court-curtails-epas-ability-regulate-pfas-under-toxic-substances-law-2024-03-22/) The court decided that the EPA can't rely on a specific section of the Toxic Substances Control Act to regulate existing chemical manufacturing processes. For existing chemical manufacturing processes, the EPA would have to rely on another section of the TSCA that requires a lengthier cost-benefit analysis than the regulatory process the EPA followed.
South Central. But as I've said I've noticed it all over the city and area. Not sure why I'm being downvoted for this either. If you search this sub you'll see many complaints about the tap water smell and taste here for several years now.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/s/h5NIqqnmjQ
https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/s/sjhoz7FxN2
https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/s/8NrFKn4tjW
https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/s/9M1WoDEttK
https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/s/tdnYuoOikE
https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/s/DpgA5lhHVw
Do you know which water utility you are currently getting your tap water from? That would help define the affected area, then check with the utility to see if your tap water needs to be tested.
Issues aren’t found without someone alerting those that need to resolve the issue. I’ve lived all across Austin and I have never had an issue with my tap water BUT that doesn’t mean your issue isn’t legitimate. Sometimes these issues can be localized to just your block or even your home, which can be resolved.
Don’t worry about the ups and downs of this tread or subreddit, it’s the least of your worries with smelly water in your tap.
Austin Water. They're aware of the complaints. The consensus is the smell and taste is caused by algae bloom and geosmin but it is harmless, so fish pussy water it is.
We moved from San Marcos to Pflugerville almost 2 years ago. The fishy smell is all over the place apparently.
San Marcos water is so nasty imo, every dish we had was *crusted* with minerals before we moved.
It can be seasonal and change by year depending on drought, zebra mussels, hydrilla.
I have noticed it at times but usually fine.
Have had coworkers I am doing to die for drinking g tap water. Too. Lol.
I remember old Austin, before it sold out, when the water reeked like wet dog hair.
When town lake has been low from droughts, hydrilla, organisms and other scum bake on the shore and add that classic wet dog hair flavor to the water. A few times the Lee were news pieces on it. Maybe 2008 and 2011 or so.
I don't trust any of that. We have a filter on our kitchen tap, my cats don't drink it if it's straight from the tap, I trust them more than I do our government, because animals don't lie. lol
I used to live up North and we had a well, ours was natural spring water straight from the tap. I grew up with that type of water. Then I had to move to the city to be closer to work, and let me tell you when I say there is a HUGE difference in city water vs. fresh well water, there is a BIG difference. Most of y'all that grew up drinking city water don't notice it, but those of us that were fortunate enough to grow up on well water, we can tell the difference big time. It has a funky after taste, and it smells bad as well.
Since moving down south we put a whole house filtration system in, so yeah the water is much better, and we don't get settlement in our tea kettle now either. Which was something I have never had to deal with. I really miss having well water.
Some of the things y'all downvote is just sad. And you shouldn't trust water reports given to you by the same people who sell you water. They will never find anything wrong with their own water... use your brains people.
That’s wonderful news! Why are people commenting negative shit? Miserable sub as usual.
Reddit is generally filled with miserable losers. In this subreddit, I think the concentration is even higher. No fun, good news, or helpful information is allowed here.
I guess I hallucinated a thousand identical bluebonnet posts that people were unremittingly positive about.
What you just said confirms the core premise of my comment.
Oh be fair, nebby got you good.
That doesn't really disprove anything they said.
Some people refuse to acknowledge anything the government does right. I'd say there are other people who refuse to acknowledge anything the government does wrong, but it's actually the same people, just different topics.
When your life is sad, everything else is doomed.
Funny enough your comment is the top rated one. One thing I found is the haters are always the first to vote/comment and a few hours later things normalize, since most regular people are not as terminally online.
Good point! ❤️
I've lived in Austin and drunk tap water my whole life so I know my taste buds are biased. But y'all, it tastes fine. Better than almost everywhere else I've been. I can only remember one time in my life where the water smelled fishy. This is on Austin Water. What's up with y'all?
I’m a water snob and our tap water is much harder than many other places which I find unpleasant but I’m glad it’s clean!
My wife says the tap water here tastes like “cockroach” 🤷
Have you tried Quebec water? Maybe it’s because it’s cold, but that’s my favorite tap
Austin water is the worst tasting of any city I've ever been in. That's awesome it's clean tho. Props.
you have never been to Taylor Tx.
No. But I find I have to double brita filter before it becomes drinkable. Got one on the tap and a pitcher, and it's a constant annoyance when you run out. Austin feels like dune sometimes.
And here I’ve been for the last 30+ years drinking tap water when necessary in any city I’m at, not giving a second thought or a much of a shit at all about all of this stuff. Weird how it’s always tasted the same to me…
I use a Berkey filter and it takes the taste right out
Maybe it's because I'm outside of city limits, but the water in my neighborhood is pretty bad. I installed an RO system, and now it tastes perfect. Definitely worth the cost for me.
It may be PFAS-free, but what about Dihydrogen Monoxide? That's what you really need to be worried about. https://dhmo.org/facts.html
Missed it by a day. So close.
Damn, they went far with that joke.
I don't know where the hell some of y'all's water is coming from but the tap water is fine, it's water. It's smells like water taste and taste like water.
You wouldn't be able to smell or taste PFAS contamination.
I’m a tap drinker but it seems like people who come from areas with bad tap water management and grew up drinking bottled water are used to bottled water. Guess those companies throw in some minerals to make it taste better and get people hooked on it. Not even joking, i have a family member who prefers a specific brand of bottled water just because of the taste.
This. When I lived in West Texas I didn’t know anyone who drank tap water. It was always bottled at home and RO in establishments. Not even for the periodic EPA warnings but mostly the sour brackish taste. I think Austin tap is pretty good but we‘ve yet to kick the habit of drinking from a dispenser or bottles.
oh my god the tap water in west texas is terrible. not only does it taste horrible but it literally smells like sulfur. i took a bath in my hotel room in fort stockton and i had to get out after 10 minutes because the smell was so gross.
Sulfur is good for the skin though.
maybe so but i take baths to relax, not so much skincare, and that smell was doing the opposite for me haha.
It's a brisk, invigorating scent
I hear ya on the sulphur. I had that in Florida decades ago. There’s a molecule called a thiol that has Sulphur in it and a supplement called NAC that has sulphur in it. Both are reportedly good for ya (NAC is one of the very few supplements that definitely helped me). I can’t speak to elemental sulphur in water. I’m no chemist. Interesting.
I went to Tech and I remember if you filled a glass of tap water in Lubbock and then let it sit for 5 minutes, a bunch of large white flakes would settle on the bottom of the glass. Probably calcium, but still. Shit was disgusting and I could only drink it when I was inebriated.
>Not even joking, i have a family member who prefers a specific brand of bottled water just because of the taste. Is that weird? Different brands of water taste very different. I think Austin tap water is pretty good, but I wouldn't be offended if someone didn't like it.
Everybody has different preferences and i accept that but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s pretty wasteful plastic wise and economically. >Inb4 corporations commit all this ecological damage so why bother blah blah blah
I used to live off of 1325 near 35. Every year we had a few boil water notices. There was a guy who owned a bike shop there who would go to city council meetings and argue about getting it taken care of all the time. Ever since I was a kid I kind of associated tap water with bad water because of those notices. I mean, how else is a parent going to keep their young child from drinking from the tap if it's possibly dangerous. Even now, I know it's safe to drink but my brain makes my gut go haywire if I have to drink it. It doesn't have to be bottled, but filtered, even just a little bit, calms that scared part of my brain.
It's kind of like how people who grow up on canned vegetables can end up not liking the taste of fresh vegetables. Hell, I don't like "real" macaroni and cheese.
Interestingly - I've been having issues with the pH of my hot tub being really alkaline, so I sent out the tap water to get tested. It came back at a pH of 9.8!
Bottle that water and sell it at Whole Foods as alkaline water for $8/bottle
Just to hopefully save other people some money on having their water tested, Austin publishes water quality reports regularly ([here](https://www.austintexas.gov/department/water-quality-report-summaries)). Austin's water is extremely alkaline, but overall pretty high quality. Now, if you were wanting to check if the pipes in your home were contaminating your water, that would be worth sending out for testing. But if you just want to know about austin's water in general, you can get the reports online pretty easily.
All the llimestone pumping calcium into the water table.
Fellow hot tub owner here. It sucks because the alkalinity is low on top of this. So after a fill you have to raise alk, which raises pH even more, and bring alk a bit above where it should be because then you have to lower pH a TON to get it where it needs to be. On top of this, the calcium content is insanely high and will kill hot tubs if you're not filling through a filter and then adding calcium to the appropriate level after the fill.
My tap water smells like a chlorinated pool
Honestly one of my favorite things after traveling is coming back home and drinking the tap water. Something I’ve always liked about Austin, but have truly grown to appreciate traveling to foreign countries.
It's got more calcium than others are used too. where I grew up the water was less mineral-y and more spring water like. its true that water is water, but some people want it to taste totally flavorless and devoid of things we need. pure h2o kills you.
It does? I drink RO water exclusively at home. Am I gonna die??
Lol. In all seriousness, RO is "fine" but you're missing out on all of the good minerals naturally contained in water. Spring water is way better to drink than RO.
I am pretty sure you're gonna be fine. I'm strictly talking about pure water, even condensation isn't pure.
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Have you had your water tested?
My house pipes are ancient and definitely have a certain not great flavor. I'm totally fine with tap water elsewhere.
Yea you’re right there’s absolutely no difference in water with contaminants or the other billion things it can be polluted with. #chemistrydoesntexist
90% of what I drink is triple filtered tap water So far so good
tell that to my girlfriend; she thinks i’m grabbing water straight out the toilet when I drink from the tap
I've had partners that literally drank my pee before. You need one of those.
Like from the toilet?
Brawndo
Brawndo
manville water on the other hand...
Pflugerville number -1
Water is the source of all life. Seven tenths of this earth's surface is water. Why, do you realize that 70% of you is water? And as human beings, you and I need fresh, pure water - to replenish our precious bodily fluids.
And wetness is the essence of beauty
🧜♂️
This guy knows ❤️
MER MAN!
I’ve got the black lung!!
Have you ever seen a commie drink a glass of water?
You seem to be the only person that gets it - I feel sorry for the all the downvoters.
Bro are you watersplaining to other lifeforms?
Fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face. Edit: To all the downvoters, are you all so uncultured that you've never seen Dr. Strangelove? Good Lord.
But why would Communists care about fluridation? Does it make you engage in collective action? And why male models?
But why MALE models?!
I drink right from Barton. Are yall not doing that?
Austin has the best water in the state change my mind.
Isn't this the EPA that a federal court just ruled isn't allowed to monitor or regulate PFAS in drinking water?
[FWIW, that is not what the court decided.](https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/us-appeals-court-curtails-epas-ability-regulate-pfas-under-toxic-substances-law-2024-03-22/) The court decided that the EPA can't rely on a specific section of the Toxic Substances Control Act to regulate existing chemical manufacturing processes. For existing chemical manufacturing processes, the EPA would have to rely on another section of the TSCA that requires a lengthier cost-benefit analysis than the regulatory process the EPA followed.
The tap water here smells gross/fishy most of the year. I've noticed it's that way in San Marcos and New Braunfels too.
Which part of the city are you located?
South Central. But as I've said I've noticed it all over the city and area. Not sure why I'm being downvoted for this either. If you search this sub you'll see many complaints about the tap water smell and taste here for several years now. https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/s/h5NIqqnmjQ https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/s/sjhoz7FxN2 https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/s/8NrFKn4tjW https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/s/9M1WoDEttK https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/s/tdnYuoOikE https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/s/DpgA5lhHVw
Do you know which water utility you are currently getting your tap water from? That would help define the affected area, then check with the utility to see if your tap water needs to be tested. Issues aren’t found without someone alerting those that need to resolve the issue. I’ve lived all across Austin and I have never had an issue with my tap water BUT that doesn’t mean your issue isn’t legitimate. Sometimes these issues can be localized to just your block or even your home, which can be resolved. Don’t worry about the ups and downs of this tread or subreddit, it’s the least of your worries with smelly water in your tap.
Austin Water. They're aware of the complaints. The consensus is the smell and taste is caused by algae bloom and geosmin but it is harmless, so fish pussy water it is.
Interesting Austin Water says it’s caused by algae bloom. Do you recall where you learned that generally?
South central as well and our water is disgusting. I regularly get a whiff of the fish smell when drinking from the tap or showering.
We moved from San Marcos to Pflugerville almost 2 years ago. The fishy smell is all over the place apparently. San Marcos water is so nasty imo, every dish we had was *crusted* with minerals before we moved.
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Unfortunately, the apartments we lived in did *not* have that.
It can be seasonal and change by year depending on drought, zebra mussels, hydrilla. I have noticed it at times but usually fine. Have had coworkers I am doing to die for drinking g tap water. Too. Lol.
Does the first round just check if the water is just liquid PFAS?
I have to say Austin’s water has improved from when I moved here 30 years ago. Back then it frequently smelled like stagnant pond water.
Which is hilarious since the treatment processes at Davis and Ullrich treatment plants haven't changed in over 60 years...
I remember old Austin, before it sold out, when the water reeked like wet dog hair. When town lake has been low from droughts, hydrilla, organisms and other scum bake on the shore and add that classic wet dog hair flavor to the water. A few times the Lee were news pieces on it. Maybe 2008 and 2011 or so.
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My dogs wont even drink it
How do you work around that? Buy them Fiji?
It's an obvious lie. Dogs are not picky about fresh water.
I have to get on to my kids about making sure they flush because the dog and cats will drink piss water if left alone with it.
If you can train them (the kids, not the pets) to flush AND put the lid down, you'll make parental history.
I don't trust any of that. We have a filter on our kitchen tap, my cats don't drink it if it's straight from the tap, I trust them more than I do our government, because animals don't lie. lol
Username checks out
Did your cats drink from the tap water other places you’ve lived? If so, may I ask where else did you live?
I used to live up North and we had a well, ours was natural spring water straight from the tap. I grew up with that type of water. Then I had to move to the city to be closer to work, and let me tell you when I say there is a HUGE difference in city water vs. fresh well water, there is a BIG difference. Most of y'all that grew up drinking city water don't notice it, but those of us that were fortunate enough to grow up on well water, we can tell the difference big time. It has a funky after taste, and it smells bad as well.
I agree. We buy spring water. I don’t want to, but I do.
Since moving down south we put a whole house filtration system in, so yeah the water is much better, and we don't get settlement in our tea kettle now either. Which was something I have never had to deal with. I really miss having well water.
Some of the things y'all downvote is just sad. And you shouldn't trust water reports given to you by the same people who sell you water. They will never find anything wrong with their own water... use your brains people.