Ten cities where you can skip filtering the water

Photo by Maliz Ong

Did you know that New York City's tap water is on the list for some of the best tap water in the country? That's good news for all you New Yorkers! According to an article by Michael Y. Park in the September/October issue of Rodale's Organic Life magazine, "More than 1 billion daily gallons of sweet, mineral-rich water travels over 125 miles from carefully guarded Catskill Mountains reservoirs." Hmmm. I honestly didn't know that any tap water was considered especially safe to drink. We filter ours.

Of course, for the environmental nightmare caused by plastic water bottles, I encourage you to use them as little as possible. Once you get used to carrying reusable bottles, it becomes second nature and buying bottles of water is usually unnecessary.

Here are the top 10 cities listed in Park's article for having the best tap water:

• New York City, New York
• Stevens Point, Wisconsin (Not sure about this one, as it's treated with chlorine, fluoride, and phosphate -- doesn't sound like something I'd want to drink, but I could be wrong.)
• Chicago, Illinois
• Denver, Colorado
• Manchester, New Hampshire
• Fort Collins, Colorado
• Greenville, South Carolina
• Silverdale, Washington (Apparently the deep Green Mountain aquifer is so pure, treatment is unnecessary. How awesome is that?)
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Louisville, Kentucky

If you live in any of the top 10 tap water cities, perhaps filtering isn't necessary. What do you think? Do you live in any of these cities?

Learn more about your municipality's tap water by clicking here.