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The profit margin achieved by charging for tap water must be a thing of beauty.

art posted this in the "tips" thread yesterday.

Is that some type of filtered water press pictured on the tray? What is it and where do I find one?

MrGreen, what's your point now?

Seriously mrgreen, I can read for myself that the tip came from AT reader Art. It was nice of Regina to spotlight this, since I missed that comment in the Tips thread.

Having said that, I guess I understand that the restaurants would want to find a way to cushion the loss of all that bottled water money, but these things seem a little silly to me (plus, they're essentially charging you for tap water with some tricks added, right?).

thank you for pointing that out Mr Obvious ,er green ...


i agree with bluestar...tap water is free...i dont want to pay for it simply cause you put a few charcoal pieces in it. i can do that myself.

I guess I can see them charging for the house-made seltzer but the filter tap water is so not necessary. NYC has very good drinking water right out of the tap. If you're really that concerned carry around on of these: http://www.purewater2go.com/bottles.html

ok, so I have recently been feeling guilty about my bottled water habit... (it did ween me from a nasty soda habit I had in my 20's...) So I recently filled a gallon jug and refridgerated it overnight, but it did have an off taste. what are my best bets for improving my tap flavor? I really dont think my tap water it is nasty tasting, just not as good as bottle. I believe that my tastebuds are sensitized enough by now that in a blind taste test I could identify Evian to Poland Spring...

what should I do, will a Brita do the trick?

What I want to know is how is opting to not pay for bottled water "green"?

It's economics, the way I see it, not environmentalism.

Isn't it? Just asking...

I find it rather interesting that we all have no issue with buying a case of water while at the market, poping into a local store for a bottle or two, at a bar or pub we will purchase water. We even pay for the water that comes out of our taps at home. But if we dine in a resturant, we find it difficult to have to pay for a glass of water. I find the whole thing rather ironic that we have to pay for water at all. But the fact of life is... we do.

Once the dust settles, I see no issue with people paying for water that has been filitered through charcoal bamboo french presses. It will begin the next wave in the water generations.

Boomer, I think the "green"-ness is supposed to come from not using all the plastic bottles that drinking bottled water entails.

The first, and only time, I've seen the french press with the charcoal in it being used was at Boulette's Larder at the Ferry Plaza Market in San Francisco. I was immediately intrigued. They don't even ask you for water they just use this as their standard water for your water glass, no charge.

What is so great about this place is that they are a very forward thinking business. I wouldn't call them a restaurant, per se, because while they do serve an ala carte lunch they do only private dinner parties and produce and sell many different prepared foods and prepped ingredients for cooking. While the food was absolutely delicious and it was exciting to sit in the "kitchen" while the food was prepared, it's the water pitcher that made the biggest impact on me.

I hope this methodology catches on at restaurants. If anything it's making people more aware of something that is usually taken for granted. In restaurants a sign of good service has always been the full water glass test. I think better service would be to ask the guest if they would like a glass of water. I also understand this strategy depends on the type of business.

jako, this may seem like an over simplified answer but I think the Brita does a decent job removing the funky tap taste. I terrible tap water and the Brita makes it rather enjoyable.

I know in Taipei, where you shouldn't drink water straight from the tap (or at least was the case over a decade ago, the water might be cleaner now), people boil tap water before drinking it. I'm too lazy to do it here in the States, but the few times I've done it, I believe it made the water taste "better." Would be a very easy thing to try before buying a Brita, and boiling water will kill most disease-causing organisms that might be in it.

So I'm still curious - if you drop bottled water to be green, do you still drink beer? Soda? Milk?

Since the bottles can be recycled I don't see an issue with them, unless they're left on the beach as litter (#1 source of litter on Oregon beaches, they claim) or otherwise not recycled.

There's even a pilot plant converting plastics back into the oil they were made from.

So I really don't understand the whole greenness of not drinking bottle water, but that's fine, I'm not trying to debate it or anything, just putting in my two cents worth.

I occasionally buy it when I'm running errands and want an alternative to soda but for the most part I've always been a Brita or plain tap water person.

BUT - if you can find "reverse osmosis" filtered water, then that's worth the money, I think. It's been used to make medical grade water since the 1970s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_osmosis

French press water? Right, enjoy the bits of "charcoal" in your glass. This whole water biz is out of control and has been since yuppy Americans en masse discovered Europe in the early 80's. "How charming!" they thought, "Pallets and pallets of bottled water! I must buy water when I return from abroad, for then I too shall be cool." 25 years later they want so dearly to rediscover local water, but wouldn't it be much cooler to pay for it?

Go figure.

I'm not so greencentric, but just to summarize the green no-bottled water thing, it's the petroleum used as material for the bottle, the energy used in that whole manufacturing process, the energy used in transporting water great distances by ships, trains and trucks, the ones that don't get recycled, and the transportation and energy required in the recycling process.

Anyway, here's a sidebar question: I (native NYer) have always loved the taste of NYC tap water, even though my mother (native NYer) insists that it used to taste like a soft drink and at some point got less good. But I've had a few European visitors who claim to taste chlorine in the water (which of course *is* present, there's no disputing that). I've never noticed a difference in chlorine taste between bottled water and NYC tap. I've always suspected these Euro-individuals learned beforehand about chlorination, and that knowledge tricks their tastebuds into thinking they can detect it.

What's your best guess? Does NYC tap water have a noticeable chlorine taste?

NYC tapwater is great. Not as good as my local water, but it is still great. Euros are a suspicious lot and probably anticipate the chlorine taste, maybe they've been to Chicago? God knows they must dislike the taste of fluoride.

I grew up on cool clear well water, hard as hell but delicious!! We had to use special soap to get suds and cleaning action because of the minerals but baby that water was good right out of the tap. Now I'm in a small town with a very expensive reverse osmosis filtration system that only works when the moon is blue. This is also a very hard water area which includes iron in the minerals thus causing porcelain to turn brown - so water treatment is necessary- I thought is would be great to be able to abandon salt based water softener so voted for the new system.

I use bottled water purchased in the 2.5 gal containers which I refrigerate for maximum drinking pleasure. This water I can drink at room temperature as well which is why I don't drink tap water because at room temp I can taste chemicals and don't enjoy that. I don't mind refrigerated city water...my theory is the cold numbs the taste buds long enough to get the water down.

Alice, some of the chemicals (chlorine, for one) are volatile and leave the water relatively quickly after it comes out of the tap.

We have groundwater of unknown origin tested to see if it is from a municipal water source. We have to fill a bottle to overflowing, cap it with no air, and get it to the lab within like an hour. Otherwise, the chlorine (if any) will dissipate.

So my suggestion to AT is to please get off the green bandwagon. I mean I agree it's good to be green.

But every other store we see now has some "green" hype to it even when there's really no green issue at stake.

We're told "unplug your cell phone charger" but never once "hibernate your PC when you go home at night".

And now giving up bottled water is going to save the planet but I haven't hear one person advocate giving up milk, soda, beer, etc, all of which come in manufactured containers, all of which are made and consumed in massive quantities. Especially beer. Ummmm, beer...

So really folks, I like the planet as much as anyone else, but please, you're over using the "G word".

And that's all I'm gonna say. Aren't you glad. ;->

ughhh yuck yuck - please say no to Brita. it's a harbour for bacteria!

here's a tip that's been used for generations, if you really think there is an off kilter taste to tap (there isn't here in NY, we have some great tap water).

fill a glass pitcher with water and let it stand on the counter overnight (uncovered). oxygen in the air acts as a natural filter. if you stick it in the fridge, it tastes like pure filtered water.

jako- use a glass pitcher for water always, not plastic.

by the way - boomer. excellent post.

Boomer, I think the point with not buying water is if water is so readily available from the tap then why buy it? I wish, oh man I wish, beer came from a municipal tap. And if I had a cow or a goat....Anyhow, here in Illinois we have Oberweis dairy that uses glass bottles that are returned for credit. Soda is a *&!% waste of plastic but that's another story.

It's great that AT is discussing something like this because part of their philosophy is to edit out some of the stuff in your life to make it more organized and pleasant. Some people would like to edit out the cases of water that they buy every week. If buying and storing less stuff means being more green then maybe you've killed two birds with one stone.

I think your tip about hibernating your PC is just as valid. The green stuff is overwhelming, I know, it's like how can I make a difference? But I wonder, how many people will hibernate their computers before they go home this week? If only one person does then you made a difference. Imagine how many people may be doing things like that based on other information they've gained from this site? In times like this, there's no such thing as over using the "G" word.

Boomer said: "And now giving up bottled water is going to save the planet but I haven't hear one person advocate giving up milk, soda, beer, etc, all of which come in manufactured containers, all of which are made and consumed in massive quantities. Especially beer. Ummmm, beer..."

I think one key difference is that you can turn on your faucet and get water, without having to buy it in bottles. (Of course, depending on your water source and plumbing, your water might not be as good as bottled water.) The other beverages you mention require additional efforts and/or ingredients to produce. That is, if you want water, you have the choice between tap and bottled. If you want milk, soda, or beer, you have to go with bottled.

charles, art - OK, I accept that since you can get it for free that to pay for it is wasteful. That's how I feel about Linux. ;->

I wasn't defending soda, just trying to illustrate the point but I think we're on the same page there.

melissaw - :->

"I'm suffering so much giving up my bottled water for the planet" is the chic form of snobbery, as it distinguishes the sufferer from those of us who never routinely drank bottled water in the first place.

The filter obsession just adds another princess-and-pea dimension. The U.S. has stringent water quality regulations. Most urban water is safe to drink. And if you live in one of the neighborhoods where it's not -- Marydale in Phoenix has water contamination that's been linked to serious birth defects -- the problems aren't something a Brita filter will catch.

If restaurants here in Arizona chose to charge for tap water because we're in year 12 of a drought and the stuff's scarce, I'd pay. But I don't think I could see that French press nonsense without giggling.

wende -

I think the "filter obsession" exists for good reason. While our tap water meets the regulation for quality, "good taste" isn't part of the spec.

We (filter users in general) filter our tap water to get the taste manageable. I don't care for the chlorine taste or the harsh metallic aspect of most tap water myself. The Brita, for me, make it a lot better tasting. I've tried the "just put a pitcher of tap water in the fridge" thing and I can taste a difference.

Just a heads up- tap water is not free. yeah it's cheap, but at a busy large restaurant they must go through 20-50 gallons a day plus water for ice, alot of which people don't drink and gets dumped. Next time you meet a restaurant owner, or commercial building owner ask them what their water bill is.

Boomer -- True, certain water supplies taste unbearably of chlorine (my parents' town has this problem), which is a reason to filter or buy water dispensers (which they do).

But the Cure book advocates using a water filter for people who haven't already been motivated by nasty-tasting water, on the grounds that public water is somehow bad to drink. And in general, it's not.

Many of the public water supplies may not be "bad" to drink in that they will make you sick, but perhaps the taste does not suit many discriminating palettes. Many people with discriminating palettes prefer to buy bottled water because many of those bottles, Hildon, Badoit, Aqua Panna taste good. If some of these people were enlightened to an alternative, filtering your own tap and producing a product equally as enjoyable as these bottles, then that must have a positive effect upon the environment and storage space in a 500 s.f. apartment.