<p>Quick question-
How do you get your water? do you bring water bottles?</p>
<p>BRITA!</p>
<p>Sidenote:</p>
<p>"Brita'd" - when you accidentally spill the Brita pitcher all over yourself because you didn't wait long enough for the water in the upper chamber to filter through all the way before attempting to pour water.</p>
<p>this probably won't help</p>
<p>.. but nice username!</p>
<p>uhhh... user name I thought we were suppose to put in our real names?</p>
<p>Where do you get the water to put into the Brita filter? Not from the bathroom faucets I hope?!</p>
<p>nope, toilet water of course!</p>
<p>seriously, what's wrong with tap water? It comes from the Sierra snow pack.</p>
<p>Tap water = delicious, voted one of the best in the U.S., put into canteen bottles.</p>
<p>Bottled water = overpriced, plastic, tastes nasty, and v. bad for environment.</p>
<p>I drink filtered tap water. By the way, I don't think filters actually do much to make the water better--they're mainly nice because they remove the chlorine flavor.</p>
<p>hmmm tap water... Well maybe I am too modern for that (isn't harmfull or something?) I thought people bought those hard plastic bottles and filled them up in the cafeteria or whatever.</p>
<p>you know what my econ teacher told my class last year? he said that the water standards are higher for tap water than they are for bottled water..so in theory, tap water is actually better. when you get bottled water, all you're paying for is the taste since the companies put special chemicals in it to make the water taste fresher..more fresh?? fresher?? whatever</p>
<p>what! Why hasn't 60 minutes done a report on this!!</p>
<p>What e.leigh.mac says is true. I wrote an article about that for my school newspaper a few years ago.</p>
<p>To think I have lived in ignorance for so long... Bottled water is not only of a lower standard but they have been having those talks about the plastic melting into the water and causing harmful effects</p>
<p>Well I'm not a complete believer yet, I mean doesn't straight tap water have unhealthy amounts of lead and other chemicals??</p>
<p>All the better to make you stronger, my dear. You can't turn into the Hulk with only bottled water!</p>
<p>glock:</p>
<p>The point of the Brita filter is that it doesn't matter where the source water that you put in is from (well ok it can't be sewage water but you understand my point). The filter will purify it and make it good clean-drinking water.</p>
<p>Basically, the water in Alameda county comes from EBMUD (East Bay Municipal & Utilities), which taps directly from the Sierra Nevada. The water doesn't have to travel too far, therefore it's processed less because it simply doesn't have to be processed as much as is still really good clean water. Los Angeles, on the other hand, basically steals water from lots of other places (because it's in a pretty arid area), including a large part from the North. The water has to travel all those hundreds of miles of pipeline to get to LA before being processed. Don't drink the tap in LA.</p>
<p>Ah I see, thanks for the info. - I asked because the tap water around my place is less than optimal</p>
<p>So the verdict that we have reached is that the tap/faucet water at Berkeley is fine and it is smart to use Brita as well.</p>
<p>Is this what the majority of Cal students do because this concept is hitting me like a revolution.</p>
<p>Tap water in most parts of the US is fine to drink, if not better than bottled. Bottled water takes such a toll on the environment, cuz of all the costs to produce them, ship them, etc. If you're really paranoid about the tap water, just boil it and filter it and it is way more than fine.</p>
<p>In terms of water purity, "filter" means to remove sediments (stuff floating in the water) and most harmful chemicals (lead, mercury, benzene), which is what a brita will do. It won't purify or sanitize the water, the key difference being the removal of harmful microorganisms (you would need to boil the water or add a purifier), but unless you're getting your water from a stream in the wilderness you don't need to worry about that. A filter is more than enough for tap water, and realistically you probably don't even need that, it's just a taste thing.</p>
<p>Also, did you know that you can turn really ****ty, bottom-shelf vodka into incredibly good top-shelf vodka using Brita filters? True story. MythBusters proved it.</p>