Why is Florida tap water so gross???

[reginaastralis]

It just depends on where the community gets its water from. My county has a huge man-made lake that is fed by spring-fed rivers. I think our water is fine and drink it all the time. My parents (same county) have a 450-foot-deep well that goes straight into the aquifer. They have amazing water. However, if you drill a shallow well (30-40 feet for irrigation only), the water has the sulphur smell to it.

I don't know where Orlando and Tampa get their water, but I know that when my brother lived in Orlando and my sister lived in Tampa, I could hardly stand to take a shower, the sulphur smell was so overwhelming. We typically bring bottled water along to WDW and do not drink the tap water there unless it's filtered.

My parents live in Plant City, and they have the most amazing well water. I love it! Our water doesn't smell ... but a lot of neighborhoods have the rust color stains on their fence from the water. Our neighborhood isn't like that, so I don't know what the cut off is ... I'm just thankful my water doesn't smell when I take a shower in it.

 

[xApril]

I've never had an issue with the water so I'm either used to it or it isn't bad.

 

[amycakes]

The water at Tusker House in the AK was foul! Could not drink it.

The water at the other restaurants was OK, not great, but we were able to drink it. The lemonade at certain restaurants was a bit off as well. It could have been the water I suppose.

 

[eeyoresnr]

I live in Northwest Florida and the water is gross here too. I drink filtered or bottled water. I won't drink from a water fountain or the tap.

Sulfur water- sulfur in the ground where the water is gotten. It seeps into the water making the water taste like sulfur. Sulfur also smells very bad.

I live in NW Florida also, but our water is great! I have lived all over the country and was surprised when I moved here in 1999 at how good the water was/is

 

[dvc one day]

The water is perfectly healthy, otherwise they wouldn't be able to serve it.

This. All public water sources are tested constantly.

To the original point of the thread. I have noticed a similar taste and smell in many coastal areas while traveling. Not sure what it is, but it is not appealing.

 

[Hunclemarco]

I get sick drinking the water there. I can't drink the water, or even the filtered water there...hence i can't drink any fountain soda drinks. Hot Tea and Coffee are tolerable, and even then, i tend to get sick with those too. Bottled water is one of my best friends while there!

 

[Groovee]

Scotland has lovely tap water but I struggle to drink it. I used to gag when I worked in Upstate NY and had to drink water. I rarely drink water abroad if it's not bottled

 

[dburg30]

The water is perfectly healthy, otherwise they wouldn't be able to serve it.

With that said, there are often microscopic stuff in water (everywhere). If your body isn't used to them, or able to suppress them, they can make you not feel well. Doesn't mean the water is bad, just bad for you individually.

For the tea and food and all that, as mentioned, it's usually filtered. Even the fountain drinks use filtered water (e.g. sodas and the like).

Yup, hence the saying, "dont drink the water" different areas will have different microscopic things. your body is used to them around your area but if you go somewhere new they have different 'things' and it can make you feel poor. doesnt mean it's bad, as stated, just has stuff in it that may disagree with you. if you lived there your body would build a resistance to it and you'd be fine.

 

[ggeorgiagirl]

I haven't noticed it at all!

 

[tjevans]

I haven't noticed it at all!

Neither have I. I always wonder what people are talking about with the water.

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[TandLMommy28]

When I lived in FL I had to put a filter directly on my faucet and I had to change it a lot faster than what is normal. Yuck. We were in Pensacola and the water was really gross.

 

[tjevans]

When I lived in FL I had to put a filter directly on my faucet and I had to change it a lot faster than what is normal. Yuck. We were in Pensacola and the water was really gross.

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

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[fla4fun]

Some of the water here is very hard, with lots of minerals in it, which can give it an "off" taste. We have community well for our neighborhood, and we have a water softener for our house, which helps a lot, but I still filter the drinking water to make sure the taste is good.

Water taste is pretty subjective. People even have their favorites among bottled water because the minerals in the water affect the taste.

 

[chigirl]

Orlando water is rough....I live in a suburb of Chicago and we have similar water; I have a softner and a filter, but it is still nasty, so we drink bottled water. Most suburbs of Chicago have Lake Michigan water, but it is sooooo chlorinated, it tastes like a pool! But I actually liked it! When I go to my parents house, I rink glass after glass of their tap water....at WDW, we get bottled water sent to our room. I also think the Coca Cola is nasty, too.

 

[Nuli]

When I first moved to Orlando, I considered the water totally gross - bad smell and taste - and wouldn't drink it. Everyrone - even the cat - got bottled water. But paying for water is, IMO, ridiculous. And going to the grocery store because you ran out is a pain (and, again, ridiculous when there is perfectly healthy water to drink in the house.)

I knew it wasn't bad for me and became determined to get over my issues. I started with drinking cold ice water from the fridge dispenser. When it is cold enough, you don't taste it as much.

As the water warmed up, I'd notice it and keep drinking until I was grossing out.

Eventually, I stopped noticing the taste and smell. It seems just fine to me now. .

When I go back to what used to be home, I notice that the water there is different. But I don't come home and get grossed out again.

The issue isn't the water; it is our reaction to something different. Like most stuff, it is mind over matter.

 

[RabFlmom]

We live up north and our tap water is pretty good. When we go down to Florida the water taste horrendous. I remember people saying it is sulfur water, whatever that means. Are you Floridians used to the Florida tap water or do you think it's gross also??? Thankfully we have a rental car and will pick up two cases of bottled water before we get to WDW.

Ist thing I buy when I go North......bottled water. I think it has to do with what you are used to and not necessarily that the water is horrible. I think it is just different.

 

[Suellen]

What in Celebration is fine. We do filter and refrigerate it - but from the tap is also okay too.

I don't mind the Disney water either as long as it is cold.

Our water in Maine smelled like chlorine. Gross! We filtered that too!

 

[laceemouse]

Ist thing I buy when I go North......bottled water. I think it has to do with what you are used to and not necessarily that the water is horrible. I think it is just different.

Amen! It just depends on what you are used to, like someone said many people even prefer one bottled water over another.
Also, the water is not the same "all over the north" or "all over Florida" It can be very different in two communities right down the road from each other.
I can drink the water in Orlando and Pensacola (we have a second home there) but we have lived in Plano, Texas for 7 years and the water here is awful to me. It tastes like DIRT! Now IN Dallas it is different, they have a different filtration system and it is much better (at least to me) But everyone's tastes is different.
And all water must meet the same safety standards in the US, the water in Orlando, or Florida, or Plano, or "the south" must be tested and cannot be unhealthy. Usually people are just used to the water where they live.

 

[sherabby]

So, if the water is bad in Orlando, that would have an effect on much of the food served at WDW restaurants correct? What about about the coffee and tea also? Does the water just not taste very good or is it actually unhealthy too? That would change my opinion of that nice tea hut at AK.

In some of the parks even the Coke takes bad like the water when it comes from the fountain dispensers.

 

[laceemouse]

In some of the parks even the Coke takes bad like the water when it comes from the fountain dispensers.

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.