I recently studied how to easily and inexpensively improve the quality of the water than my family drinks. Here's what I do (did):
1) Buy two glass pitchers, with covers.
2) After dinner, refill the two pitchers, putting one in the refrigerator and one on the counter.
3) In the morning, use the water pitcher on the counter to make coffee/tea. Empty it, rinse it, and then let it dry completely during the day.
4) Use the water pitcher in the refrigerator for cold drinking water.

This prevents you from drinking the water that has sat all night in your plumbing, or in the pipes that bring water to your house. Water that sits in metal pipes will pick up some of the metal.

This method collects tap water at its peak quality. Demand for water in the late afternoon and early evening is high. Therefore, the water hasn't been sitting in either your plumbing, or the pipes that bring water to your house.

By letting the water sit overnight, the chlorine is eliminated.

Since I live in the Seattle area, the source water is fairly pure. If I were concerned, I would also add a water filter.

The healthiest water seems to be well water, from an unpolluted aquifer, with lots of dissolved calcium and magnesium. Since this option isn't easily and inexpensively available to me, I use the above method. However, I take a magnesium tablet each day to get the magnesium that I'm not getting from my tap water.

SeattleHiker,

I can see how letting the water sit overnight would allow the chlorine to escape into the air as a gas. But I am not clear on how any metals from the pipes would be lessened by this method. It seems to me that the metals would remain dissolved in the water. Could you let us know more?

--Rheanna

Very interesting.. thanks for sharing! Unfortunately as a college student I can't afford to buy any expensive filters or add anything to our sink, but usually end up drinking from water bottles. I know THOSE can get expensive too, but our sink water has a strong "tap taste" and has little bits of things floating in it.... if you don't drink your water quickly, it will all settle at the bottom and it's pretty nasty! One of my friends even said they got diarrhea at first from the water. Yuck! I also noticed when out of state visiting my family, the ice cubs there were perfectly clear, like glass.... ours come out more white with clear around the outside... the water was also much better tasting and cleaner out of state there too!

Following are some more details on reducing the amount of dissolved metals from tap water:

1) The worst tap water to drink is water that has rested in metal pipes for long periods of time. For example, I'm usually the first one to awake in my household. Before showering, I go downstairs to drink water, make coffee, and then eat breakfast. If I use water from the tap at this time to drink and make coffee, I'm getting water that contains significant amounts of leached metals. Depending on the pipes, fixtures, and soldering used in my building, I could get dangerous amounts of lead and copper in my body over a period of years.

2) In the early morning, even if I run so much water that I'm getting water from the city pipes instead of my building, I still have the same problem. Demand for water in my neighborhood is very low during the night, while most people are sleeping. During the night, water sits in the pipes underneath the streets of my neighborhood/city for long periods of time. Depending on the pipes used in my neighborhood/city, the water could contain significant amounts of leached metals.

3) The best tap water to drink is water that has not had time to sit in metal pipes at all. This water is generally available after dinner, in the early evening. The members of your household have come home from school/work, and are using significant amounts of water. They are flushing toilets, washing hands, dishes, and laundry. In addition, the majority of the people in the neighborhood are also using significant amounts of water. As a result, the water coming from your tap after dinner has raced from the water tower, through the city pipes, through your house, without collecting much metal. If you collect this water, as explained in my original post, you and your loved ones will consume significantly less lead and copper over the years.

I'm fortunate, as I live in a city that has access to high quality source water. By following the steps I outlined in my original post, I'm able to ensure that the water from my tap is also high quality. For those of you that live in cities where the quality of the source water is poor, you need to take additional steps.

SeattleHiker,

Thanks for the explanation. That makes sense.

--Rheanna