Originally Posted by
gelplanes
Washington, DC, the capital of the world, ooops, I mean the USA, has water mains that date to pre-war days. I'm not talking about WWI or WWII. No... the pipes were laid just before the U.S. Civil War. The local water company does try very hard to update the system, but digging and putting down new 3-foot pipes around the entire city taks time. They do use extra chemicals to treat the water.... but I would never drink the tap water in restaurants/hotel/home in DC.
I suppose that puts you at odds with most of those who live there (and hundreds of thousands of visitors, business, political and touristic).
Actually, on the record, DC water has been judged to taste pretty good, better than in many US cities (certainly including my own). Chemically treated? The list of jurisdictions which don't chlorinate water is very short (and much of the bottled water for which you have such an unrealistic obsession comes from the tap in locales which "treat" the water. Bottlers simply let the product "sit' and filter it).
Old pipes? I thought the water in Segovia, Spain tasted OK, and the acqueuct which carries it into town has 2000+/- years of "seasoning". I can make a good case that the very common "Concrete/asbestos" water lines, widely used, may be a greater hazard than DC water in its old pipes. Certainly, the internal plumbing of many old houses around the country, literally dripping with lead, puts you at greater risk than few glasses of DC drinking water.
Bottled water is but a chic affectation of those whose insecurity drives them to demonstrate their levels of culture and sophistication.
"We are not peons, not of the hoi polloi. We drink from bottles, not boobishly swilling from the tap!"