Why is Florida tap water so gross???

[SamSam]

We always take a filter to Florida because I can't stand the smell/taste of the water. That way we don't have to buy cases of water, just refill our water bottles; we also use the filtered water to make coffee.

 

[Nuli]

Doesn't soda have to be made with carbonated water? Is that tap water?
Soda can be terrible anywhere if they do not put enough syrup in it, I complain when that happens.

I'm going to call the finished product "pop" because it gets way too confusing when we call it "soda" for this conversation.

Yes, pop has carbonated water in it. Carbonated water is soda. Soda is carbonated water. I am woman, hear me roar.

The soda is mixed with a syrup to form pop.

Soda changes from regular old water into soda by forcing a bunch of carbon dioxide into it. The water is fizzy (pressurized) with a bunch of little carbon dioxide bubbles after it is turned into soda, as I'm sure you've witnessed after accidentally opening a can or bottle of pop that was shaken so much that it freed up some of the bubbles that got shoved in there.

Even if the pop doesnt "explode", as soon as you relieve the pressuere (open it), the little gas bubbles wil start finding their way out (the fizz rises to the top of the glass and the bubble pops). If you drink enough of it quickly, your stomach will say, "Yo! I don't want all this carbon dioxide down here!" and send it back in the form of a burp.

Soda isn't all that different than regular water. It's just regular water that got stuff forced into it. So, different sodas can taste very different because different waters have different tastes. That could affect the taste of pop. But I think, more likely, it may taste differently because the balance of fizz and syrup in the water is a little off.

 

[carly chloe]

Interesting facts. I always thought the water tasted and smelled like swamp water. One drink and we wouldn't drink tap water down there after that either- yuck!

 

[kbelle8995]

I always have drank the Florida water have never been bothered by it to the extent that I went out and purchased it.

Now the water at Disney does have an odd taste to it but I never found it horrendos as many of our visitors do.

Then again in South Florida when I was a child I used to drink from a well with lots of iron in it. Which you only noticed when you filled up the bathtub and there was an orange color.

 

[Gorechick]

I remember trying it at an MK drinking fountain in 2002 and spat it out because it taste so bad. Just drank out of a fountain this trip and not so bad. 10 year difference, maybe they instituted some new filtering system?

 

[okw2012]

Tap water in Orange County tastes bad due to naturally occuring hydrogen sulfide. See this report:
http://www.orangecountyfl.net/Porta...bage-Recycle/docs/DrinkingWaterReport2012.pdf

The good news is that it is groundwater, so it is not easily contaminated by bacteria so it safe to drink even after a storm. The other good news is that Brita filters/bottles can remove most of this stuff. I'll have filtered groundwater over chlorinated surface water any day.

 

[Radiorox]

Miami here, our water is so chlorinated sometimes you smell it when taking a shower. We prefer our bottled water, Zephyrhills. Aquafina tastes SUPER funky to me as does Dasani.

Water in Northern and Central Florida tastes and smells funky to me too. I lived in Gainesville for a while and had to battle the minerals leaving stains on toilets and bathtubs, something that just didn't happen down here.


In our family, Disney water is just a no-no. It was instilled into us at a young age that it would make you sick. (Somebody's something or other got water poisoning from the well water and had to be hospitalized... You know, Latin families and their old wives tales.) Seriously, if I head up with certain relatives, I'd get skinned if I drank Disney water. LOL!!! So, last trip I drank some, I lived, did not suffer any gastrointestinal problems of any kind.... So I made a decision, I'll drink it when my bottled water that I lug from Miami runs out.

Jackz.

 

[DRDISNEYMD]

~I remember back in 1998, the water was unbearable. I could not handle any kind of fountain drink, the sulfur was so strong and overpowering all the drinks tasted the same with this hard plastic like aftertaste. Now, I have noticed a huge improvement in the taste of fountain drinks. But, I still opt to drink bottled water and drinks whenever possible.

 

[sbeaulieu]

As someone who moves a lot (4 states in 5 years), I always find the tap water gross in the new place for the first week or so. We just moved to Kansas and found the water so hard to drink for the first week, but now I think it tastes great. That is probably the issue with a lot of people in Orlando...you are used to the tap water where ever you live and aren't at WDW long enough to grow accustomed to the different tasting water.

 

[okw2012]

~I remember back in 1998, the water was unbearable. I could not handle any kind of fountain drink, the sulfur was so strong and overpowering all the drinks tasted the same with this hard plastic like aftertaste. Now, I have noticed a huge improvement in the taste of fountain drinks. But, I still opt to drink bottled water and drinks whenever possible.

There is indeed less sulphur now than before in the water. The treatment plants have been upgraded and use ozone to oxydize the H2S to sulfate, which they can take out of the water quite easily. This also sanitizes the water more efficiently than chlorine. There is still some H2S and sulfate left hence the odor. But it is safe to drink.

 

[P'colaBeachBum]

Never found the water in P'cola to be bad the whole 2 years I lived there. To each their own.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

I'm from Pensacola and the water was not bad there. We moved to the Space Coast and our water comes from Cocoa and it's awful. I use a zero water filter and pitcher and have to replace the filters often.

Yeah...the reclaimed water in the sprinkler systems here is foul smelling.

 

[mhconley]

We live in SWFL, Cape Coral to be exact. Our previous home was on well water and septic and the water was horrendous. It had a VERY strong rotten egg smell that made even showering gross. We drank bottled water only, DW even used it to brush her teeth. We recently moved into a home on city water which is 1,000% better. Cape Coral runs well water through RO for the city water supply; the only issue is the chlorine they add. We have a filtered tap for drinking water and it tastes great.

We always drink bottled water in WDW due to the sulfur taste.

Martin

 

[twinklebug]

Every water shed in this country will have it's own blend minerals and micro-organisms in it that (in most cases) are perfectly fine for consumption. However, we can still smell and even taste the difference from what we're accustomed to back home. In my home town the water is from wells and is laden heavily with iron to the point that our rivers and ponds are all stained orange. We're used to it of course, and so the water and anything mixed with it doesn't seem funny to us, but a few visitors will comment.

When we first went back to Disney World after a 15 year break we thought the water was horrendous and I blamed it for making us sick (it is very possible to get ill off of other regions water if your body isn't ready for it) Now, after a number of visits we're accustomed to it, in fact I like it better than at home, perhaps just because if I'm drinking it it means we're on vacation.

Soda from the large manufacturers such as Pepsi and Coke, be it bottled or from the fountain, will taste like the water in the region because it is mixed locally with local tap water. Fountains mix the syrup with the carbonation and tap water on site while bottled comes from a regional bottling plant. The plants could, if they wished to, filter the water before bottling but I doubt they do. I have never heard of a fountain machine filtering the water.

I recommend parents of bottle fed infants either buy bottled water of a brand they're used to in order to mix the powder with. Canned formulas should be purified and safe regardless of where they're bought.

Worse than the tap water making you sick: the pool water. But that's a discussion for another thread.

 

[Queen2PrincessG]

I must be alone because I think it smells and taste fine.

 

[Talking Hands]

Water at WDW isn't bad. I don't have a problem with it. Drink tap water.

 

[Cherinva]

It's not as bad as other places I've been...but now, I drink bottled water when I"m away from home.

 

[larryz]

http://www.chastainskillman.com/downloads/articles/WhatsThatSmell.pdf

 

[Feralpeg]

About ten years ago, a new code was passed regarding drinking water in the greater Orlando area. All new construction and any buildngs undergoing renovation must install water filtration systems. They are built into the plumbing. Thus, you will find that the newer remodeled resorts and restaurants have much better tasting water than the older ones.

While I don't drink a lot of tap water, I don't find it all that bad. It has a slight taste, but isn't as bad as I remember the water being when I first started visiting Florida.

 

[disneyfanlincoln]

I don't have an issue with the water but my DH does and complains about it everytime. We end up buying bottled. I've always said he's being dramatic but I guess this thread has proved me wrong!

 

[livie1205]

I live in NF and the water here is fine. We have a well so its pretty good.There is no sulfur in our water at all.