TakeBackTap.jpg

Walking in San Francisco yesterday, this sign in the window of a restaurant caught my eye. Because, damn right people, it is super annoying to be made to feel like a heathen for just wanting tap water in a fancy restaurant instead of bottled water—which is bad for the environment, more expensive, and can often be just reprocessed tap water anyway.

So why isn’t this movement here, in addition to being in New York, Portland, and San Francisco? After all, our civic lore has it that we offer some of the best tap water in the nation.

Confidential to Take Back the Tap: Take on Seattle!

Eli Sanders was The Stranger's associate editor. His book, "While the City Slept," was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He once did this and once won...

33 replies on “Making the World Safe for Tap Water”

  2. Because, damn right people, it is super annoying to be made to feel like a heathen for just wanting tap water in a restaurant instead of bottled water—which is bad for the environment, more expensive,…

    Since a restaurant charges for (and presumably makes money on) bottled water and doesn’t do that for tap water, it has a vested interest in making people feel embarrassed or cheap in asking for tap water.

    The bottled water industry has done a magnificent job of convincing people to pay money for its product instead of drinking tap water.

  5. Because we are b level city who only figure out things when we are told they are good ideas by A level cities like SF, Chicago and NY. Just ask Grandy.

  6. apparently there is a chemical in the plastic in most bottles which can increase risk for certain cancers. this contaminant has never shown up on tap water tests in seattle, another reason to drink tap.

    filtering out the fluoride and chlorine is a great plan though.

  7. also, lead is a serious issue. about 2% of homes in seattle have plumbing that leaches lead into the tap water, something to consider with the filtration at the tap idea.

    love the basic idea though.

  8. There is a filtering system that restaurants can by that will filter the water and/or carbonate it. That way they can still mark up the water, but with out the environmental impact. Most of the places I ate at in Chicago offered this.

  9. yeah, about that. i am a waiter in one of those fancy restaurants, and i offer bottled water as a courtesy. when i go out to eat, i prefer to drink sparkling water, and am irritated if not offered the choice. tap water is great and all (i’m actually a huge fan), but some people prefer bottled and it is wrong to presume otherwise.

  10. I get tired of telling people this, but it doesn’t seem to stick.

    If you live south of the Ship Canal, your water comes from the Cedar River, and tastes wonderful.

    If you live north of the Ship Canal, your water comes from the Tolt River, and tastes bad. Not horrible, but way worse than Cedar water.

  11. SF tap water tastes awful. Sorry, but I don’t drink it. I do use filtered (Brita fridge filter) tap water for cooking though, because I can’t bring myself to waste bottled water cooking pasta or something.

    “San Francisco earned a water quality and compliance grade of Poor for 2000 and 2001…” http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/uscit… (I realize that’s going on 10 years old, but I’m at work, and not about to scour the net for more recent reports)

    Also: “Pharmaceuticals Found in Bay Area Drinking Water” (2008) http://www.kcbs.com/pages/1796019.php?

  12. #11, I never did much mind the water up there, but yeah, the water down here is pretty stellar (doesn’t compare to the aquifer, though).

  13. We are lucky in Seattle to have good tap water. But when I’m back east I always drink bottled as their tap water is lousy and gives me indigestion.

  14. If you live somewhere with rusty old pipes like I do, it doesn’t matter where your water comes from. It tastes like rusty old pipes. That’s what Britas are for.

    Maybe I just don’t got to fancy enough restaurants, but I’ve never been pressured/shamed into buying bottled water in Seattle.

  16. I love the taste of our tape water. I have lived in many cities and Seattle has the best tasting water. It comes close natural spring water. Natural spring water is the most delightful and refreshing water ever.

  18. Keep a glass bottle of tap water in the fridge, and drink that. It’s especially nice in the summer, when the “cold” water that comes out of the tap isn’t all that cold…

  19. I actuually run a take back the tap campaign at UW campus. It is a campus focused campaign but we’re always looking for help. Maybe starting a restaurant push is a good move for Seattle.

    You can find out more at takebackthetap.org and fww.org too.

  22. filtering out the fluoride and chlorine is a great plan though.

    In a rational world, water fluoridation would long ago have gone the way of douching with Lysol. Setting aside the acrimonious debate over its effects on human health, fluoridation is clearly untenable from an environmental standpoint.

    Anyway, don’t count on a mere Brita filter to the the job of removing fluoride, as they are intentionally designed to let through this “healthful” additive. You will need to invest in either a distiller or a reverse osmosis system.

  24. It’s true, Seattle is definitely behind Portland, San Francisco, and NYC in just about everything culturally. Except video games and comic books. Being 4th isn’t that bad, though.

  27. Ballard water stains the tub orange. This was true in both my last apartment (new construction) and my current one (100 years old). I’m not so interested in having my kidneys that color.

    Even if Seattle’s source water is fantastic, our pipes our not.

    I prefer tap water in restaurants, but that orange hue makes me wish filtration were universal.

  28. “If you live south of the Ship Canal, your water comes from the Cedar River, and tastes wonderful.”

    If you like chlorine. The chlorine flavor is terrible, but we use a filter now, which helps.

  29. I guess I assumed they were all serving tap water. I know some places you could order it, if you’re special in the brain or something. Plastics can leak into the water, even before they get to the store, especially if they’re flying in a fucking plane over Fiji. The bottles serve an amazing purpose for raves, camping and douchebags who think the city is trying to poison them, but they’re way too fucking cheap. Consider taxes, lots of them, TAX THEM TO DEATH.

  30. My brother always complains about the chlorine taste when he visits, though I’ve never particularly noticed it. I do use a Brita filter for most of my drinking water, though, because our building’s pipes are old and rusty.

  31. I live in D.C. The tapwater here is so bad I can taste the chlorine when I’m brushing my teeth. Some days I am glad for this chlorine smell because it masks the flavor of whatever other godawful substances are getting into my pipes.

    When people ask me for tap water, I don’t say “Are you sure?” because I want the extra fifteen cents of tip money I might get for it. I ask because I have a simple rule that I wouldn’t serve anyone anything I wouldn’t eat or drink myself, and if I weren’t legally obligated to provide tap water on demand I’d probably refuse.

  33. Greg, I think some of us are more sensitive to the chlorine than others. (I’ve taken one of those “supertaster” tests where you taste a bitter substance and if you notice the bitterness you are supposedly a “supertaster” — and yes, I tasted it. So it’s possible that I just taste the chlorine more than many people do. For me it’s very noticeable and tastes awful, and so for many years I did not drink tap water at all. Now with a filter that removes that flavor, it’s suddenly become drinkable.)

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