http://www.homefacts.com/waterquality/Washington/King-County/Redmond/City-of-Redmond-Water-System-Water.html

For the record, the best water I’ve ever had was from Ames, IA. We would stop at a friends house every time we drove by just to fill up a couple gallon jugs of tapwater to bring with us. Ahhh, the good old days.

Softwater tastes smoother and crisper than hard water. High levels of calcium and magnesium make hard water (you will spot this if limescale is a problem in your area). I see from Wikipedia that “More than 85% of American homes have hard water.” Poor you!

Putting fluoride and chlorine in the water supply is insane. Both are poisonous in large quantities and there’s no way to control dosage.

I know all of this because I called my city water department. Everywhere I’ve lived, these folks have been kind and informative, some even quite excited to talk with me (working for the water department apparently isn’t that glamorous and these people want attention in their jobs, who knew?). In the city of my current residence, I’ve even been to the plant and met the people, tested some water, and learned a bit more about it in the process. My city also publishes a detailed annual water report.

So, look up the Waitsburg water department (if they have one; they may get their water from a nearby municipality or third party) and give them a call. No doubt, they know their water better than anyone—where it came from, what they do to it, and why.

Full disclosure: I have some semi-aquatic pets. I am required to know properties of the water so that I can adjust as necessary for their habitat. I adjust the pH to around 7.5 and add trace minerals to the water to increase hardness. Also, chlorine eventually kills smaller animals, so that gets neutralized. A scoop of this, a cap-full of that, and we’re all set.

Aside: Reverse-osmosis combined with UV sterilization produces pretty vanilla water, but just like iodine is added to salt, you have to add some minerals back in or we would all get rickets. There’s a RO water dispenser outside my grocery… have you tried RO water, Mike?

Everyone always says, “water doesn’t taste like anything, how can you not like the taste of it.” I am glad there is someone else out there with me who disagrees.

Jemaleddin: I agree. NYC is probably the second-best water I’ve had after this stuff. Exceeds expectations dramatically.

Pure distilled water (no minerals) acctually taste rather boring / not very good. It’s the minerals which gives it taste!