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by lysace 31 days ago
On the other hand the US often relies on relatively crude chlorination to reach those levels, which those 'top' European countries don't. They instead put a strong emphasis on protecting the source water and then treating it via ozone, UV, biofiltration and slow sand filtration.

The taste of chlorinated water generally isn't tolerated.
1 comments
owenversteeg 31 days ago
The US isn't a monolith and neither is Europe. Overall, yes, the US uses more chlorine than Europe, but Spain and France both have _minimum_ water chlorination levels (about 0.2-0.3 mg/L depending on the regional situation) and France has no cap on max chlorine, which is very different from the US, where you can drink completely unchlorinated water in countless places around the country and there is a nationwide cap of 4 mg/L. For example NYC (average 0.5 mg/L and many places with zero.)
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lysace 31 days ago
Oh, but you were comparing the US to the top-ranking European countries: "For this section the US scores 96, within a few points of Switzerland (100), Sweden (97)"

Also: It's a bit of a culture shock to be served soft drinks made from very obviously chlorinated water in e.g. California (one of the richest regions in the world). Is it a taste that people just learn to live with? I don't understand how this is tolerated.

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JuniperMesos 31 days ago
Where in California? Where I am in the bay area, we have quite good tap water. San Francisco famously built the Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite national park in the early 20th century, which delivers excellent water from the granite Sierra Nevadas to supply the city and a substantial fraction of the water supply in other parts of the bay area. Hetch Hetchy water needs minimal treatment.

On the other hand, I remember being shocked as a small child visiting Disneyland by how nasty the water from the water fountains there tasted, and in general the tap water in the dryer southern part of the state isn't as good (LA also has its own famous systems for getting drinking water from parts further east).

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lysace 30 days ago
My most recent such experience was in San Diego.
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