Hundreds of people in the US so far have recently developed a specific type of food poisoning that's causing watery and occasionally explosive diarrhea.
My tap water goes through months of smelling funny at a time where I get nervous that it is unsafe to drink. I thought about buying a filter for the tap like a Brita filter or something…but my (admittedly very minimal) research showed that these only filter out things like mineral contaminants. Bacteria and other pathogens don’t seem to get filtered out by most standard filters that people are using. It’s just that they filter out the hard water.
I used to live outside of Dallas and they had an algae bloom during the summer in whatever reservoir that would make the ice maker reek of garlic for a few months a year in the summer.
Yeah I suspect it is something benign but similar like that. Problem is that I really don’t know that I have a way to know for sure. And anecdotally, my recurrent stomach issues significantly reduced once I stopped drinking my tap water. Mine smells like pond water tho instead of garlic lol.
No, it’s not my water heater. I had it replaced and the new heater smelled the exact same even when brand new before any possible sediment accumulation.
A reverse osmosis system is probably your best bet. You can pour pond water in them and run lab tests with the results. Its basically distilled water though, so you want to make sure you get your minerals somewhere.
I’m not Chief O’Brien but I use a reverse-osmosis water filter installed under the sink, that has its own drinking water tap. It has 6 or 7 stages of filters and a pressurized tank to hold a few gallons of filtered water. And it does remove bacteria, chlorine, fluoride, lead, and pretty much everything but water. I installed it about 10 years ago and it was a fantastic investment. It cost under $200 if I recall, and the yearly cost for filters is about $50 to $100 to have unlimited pure water. Filters must be replaced every 6-12 months, except for some like the RO membrane that lasts 2-3 years.
For drinking pure water, we use a brita tap filter, and a sawyer filter straw, and just have it gravity feed into a pitcher. The pitcher usually doesn’t last a full day.
For cooking, we just use the tap filter and a cheap gravity filter with a reservoir. No need to go all out when you’re boiling the water lol
The Sawyer filter can be cleaned by forcing distilled water through in reverse, it unclogs the straw/membrane filter, but it only works for so long. Luckily the sawyer still works like a charm after thousands of gallons.
Disclaimer: I have not been testing for bacteria or other contaminants, I just go by taste and swap filters when something tastes off. I have no proof this filters everything, but neighbors have gotten sick around times when boil advisories go out, when we’ve been healthy the whole time. Could just be coincidence.
My tap water goes through months of smelling funny at a time where I get nervous that it is unsafe to drink. I thought about buying a filter for the tap like a Brita filter or something…but my (admittedly very minimal) research showed that these only filter out things like mineral contaminants. Bacteria and other pathogens don’t seem to get filtered out by most standard filters that people are using. It’s just that they filter out the hard water.
What do you use?
I think the only real answer is RO and UV filtration.
RO won’t remove everything, but UV will kill everything.
Great, time to reroute the house plumbing through the aquarium UV.
I used to live outside of Dallas and they had an algae bloom during the summer in whatever reservoir that would make the ice maker reek of garlic for a few months a year in the summer.
Yeah I suspect it is something benign but similar like that. Problem is that I really don’t know that I have a way to know for sure. And anecdotally, my recurrent stomach issues significantly reduced once I stopped drinking my tap water. Mine smells like pond water tho instead of garlic lol.
No, it’s not my water heater. I had it replaced and the new heater smelled the exact same even when brand new before any possible sediment accumulation.
A reverse osmosis system is probably your best bet. You can pour pond water in them and run lab tests with the results. Its basically distilled water though, so you want to make sure you get your minerals somewhere.
I’m not Chief O’Brien but I use a reverse-osmosis water filter installed under the sink, that has its own drinking water tap. It has 6 or 7 stages of filters and a pressurized tank to hold a few gallons of filtered water. And it does remove bacteria, chlorine, fluoride, lead, and pretty much everything but water. I installed it about 10 years ago and it was a fantastic investment. It cost under $200 if I recall, and the yearly cost for filters is about $50 to $100 to have unlimited pure water. Filters must be replaced every 6-12 months, except for some like the RO membrane that lasts 2-3 years.
RO water is not sterile.
You need RO + UV , but most people don’t change the UV bulbs frequently enough.
For drinking pure water, we use a brita tap filter, and a sawyer filter straw, and just have it gravity feed into a pitcher. The pitcher usually doesn’t last a full day.
For cooking, we just use the tap filter and a cheap gravity filter with a reservoir. No need to go all out when you’re boiling the water lol
The Sawyer filter can be cleaned by forcing distilled water through in reverse, it unclogs the straw/membrane filter, but it only works for so long. Luckily the sawyer still works like a charm after thousands of gallons.
Disclaimer: I have not been testing for bacteria or other contaminants, I just go by taste and swap filters when something tastes off. I have no proof this filters everything, but neighbors have gotten sick around times when boil advisories go out, when we’ve been healthy the whole time. Could just be coincidence.
or, aside from removing chloride, you didn’t need it.