Why does Florida water taste so bad?

[labdogs42]

Yes, the water tases "weird" to those of us who aren't from the Orlando area. The taste is a function of the Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) in the water. TDS is basically a fancy name for dissolved minerals. The minerals may be different (more sulphur) or just higher than you are used to drinking, so the water tastes "funny".

FYI -- even Florida bottled water can taste weird if you buy Spring Water (e.g. Zephyrhills brand). Since it is bottled SPRING water, it tastes like the natural Flroida water (to me, nasty!). So, when in Florida, drink bottled purified water (e.g Dasani) which by its nature, has had some of those "tasty" minerals removed.

Water with high TDS is safe to drink, there is nothing "bad" about it except we Northerners (I'm from PA) aren't used to it.

Why do I know way too much about this? I was once a Quality Control Manager at a Nestle Waters plant (bottlers of such brands as Deer Park, Poland Spring, Ozarka, Arrowhead, Ice Mountain, and Zephyrhills). I learned more about water than you can imagine!

 

[JessicaFaye508]

I totally notice that! I hate drinking out of the water fountains!

The water rides like Splash Mountain and POTC have a certain smell to it to. (I love that smell, but i'm sure it would taste awful)

 

[Jamie77]

I tasted the water for the first time 2 weeks ago. It tasted like there was too much magnesium in it. TMI: The aftertaste was the same as citric of magnesia - a laxative.

 

[Brian_WDW74]

I've moved this thread to the Theme Parks Community board.

 

[Cat0727]

I tend the think of Florida water as swamp water. A high water table combined with lots of swampy areas and rotting organic matter makes for some interesting water. Heck I lived just off property at one point near the prime outlet mall and if it rained really hard the water would smell very swampy.

However I do know that the restaurants and other food service places filter their water.

that's what my boyfriend calls it, too!

during my most recent trip their tap water was really inconsistent...some places it'd taste pretty bad, other places it would taste fine.

 

[suzyqn]

We live less than an hour from WDW and our water tates nothing like the water there.

 

[inkkognito]

We live next door to WDW and when we moved here, I resigned to having "swamp water." When we used to travel from Chicago to WDW, one of the things that said "Disney" to me was the smell of that water. We use a Pur filter in our house...I can fill a water bottle from the Pur and fill one directly from the tap, leave 'em both for a couple of days, and the Pur one is fine while the tap one smells like something died in it. But ironically, when I go back to Chicago now, the tap water there smells like a bottle of chlorine to me. I also can't stand the smell of gas when using a stove since most of the houses in our FL area are all electricity.

 

[krissy2803]

I have noticed the sulfer smell in the water at WDW too. My DH does not.

 

[pilesoflaundry]

It's the Florida in general water. My mil lives in St. Pete and I won't even brush my teeth with her sink water. Bleh!

The water from the disney fountains is even worse. The water from the shades of green sinks is ick but not bad enough that I can't brush my teeth with it. Their ice tastes fine though so go figure. The ice from counter service in disney wasn't bad the one time I got it.

The only place I've seen just as bad or worse water was when we lived in Wichita Falls, TX. In the spring and summer, it smells and tastes like swamp or dirt. Ick.