Austin Tap Water Among the Cleanest in the Country

Posted by Crystal Olenbush on Thursday, May 29th, 2008 at 5:48pm.


Do you drink bottled water?  If so, you probably choose to drink bottled water so you can avoid the chemicals and pollution that still manage to make their way into city water.  If you live in Austin, Texas, however, this is not a concern.  According to Forbes.com, Austin has some of the cleanest tap water of any city in the United States.  In fact, Forbes.com lists it in second place in terms of cleanliness, with Des Moines, Iowa taking the first place spot and Sioux Falls, SD taking third.

A number of factors were considered when determining the cleanliness of the water in Austin.  For example, the researchers looked at the bacteria level of the water as well as its cloudiness and the amount of lead and haloacetic acid the water contained.  The Austin-San Marcos area had some of the lowest levels of cloudiness, lead, and haloacetic acid among the water samples that were tested.

This type of news does not make the manufacturers of bottled water very happy.  In fact, the bottled water industry has been facing problems as consumers become more concerned about green living and increasingly sustainability.  As a result, many have been turning once more to their faucets for a refreshing drink rather than grabbing one more plastic bottle to fill the landfills and using up oil.

According to reports, it takes about 17 million barrels of oil to make the bottles needed to meet the demand for bottled water in the United States.  This is equivalent to the amount of fuel needed to fuel 1 million cars in one year.  In addition, four million pounds of the bottles are tossed into landfills each year.  Therefore, with the downsides to drinking bottled water and with the quality of water flowing through the pipes in Austin, there is no reason not to turn to the faucet for a drink.

Posted by Cindy McCright, Austin Realtor.  Give her a call at 512-417-0948!

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