Re: -I- humidifier smell

[Sun, 30 Nov 2003 20:26:26 +0200] Ken Tough:
>Generally the only reason to 
>filter tap water is to get rid of taste and odour, which is done 
>with activated charcoal only.  Nothing else gets rid of taste or 
>odour.  Anything else you do to tap water is likely to increase 
>the amount of bugs in it, rather than decrease it.

Many places in the United States (I live in one of them) have tap water
that is so grotesquely hard that it tastes bizarre and coats appliances
(such as coffee makers) with mineral deposits very rapidly.

It even seems to give my animals (dogs and cats) intestinal discomfort,
though I'm pretty sure it's not microbiologically contaminated.  It makes
horrible coffee and tea.

Bad taste from chlorination, etc. is also not uncommon.  In my experience,
most U.S. municipal tap water, though perfectly safe, is not something you
want to drink or use for cooking if you have a practical alternative.

Filtering, unfortunately, doesn't help hardness.  Reverse osmosis does.
("Water softeners" work to reduce hardness for showering, washing clothes
and so forth, but you can't drink "softened" water because of the salt
added by the softening process.)
-- 
Peace, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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