I have to agree with IdaClaire. Most bottled water is just another city's tap water. However, being on not-always-properly-treated well water here, I do use a PUR filter for drinking/cooking water.

But in any case you really should get an analysis of your water to find out what needs to be filtered out, if anything, if you are concerned that there is something especially evil in your water.

I started filtering my tap water when my dog developed kidney disease. I use the Zero Water filter dispenser which is highly rated by people on the internet. The one I would like to have for its looks is the Berkey system. Their systems are made of stainless steel. Berkey

I'd try something inexpensive like a Britta and see how it is for your tap water. We normally drink water that has been through our fridge filter and it's good enough for us. I used a Britta for a while trying to convince the spouse that we didn't need an ugly water dispenser in our new fridge (fail).

I think the Britta is a little better than our fridge filter and at least as good as typical bottled water but if your tap water is nasty to start with, it might not be adequate. It's a cheap investment to try it though!

I worked in the municipal water treatment industry. I use a Brita pitcher filter and reusable water containers.

I use a plain Brita pitcher. My tap water is perfectly clean and healthy but it has a slight taste. Many people think it's just fine. I only use filtered water for my coffee and drinking water, or where water is an actual ingredient in cooking. I never use it when boiling pasta. I generally don't buy bottled water unless I forget to plan ahead on an outing.

I have some neighbors who must go through case after case of bottled water on a weekly basis. The night before trash pickup, I can hear them crushing empty water bottles to fit into the recycling. It goes on and on. Lovely sound.

I can not drink out of any plastic so tap that sits in fridge in a glass pitcher than poured into a glass is my go to water. For those with kids, filters clear out the fluoride so very young children need to drink tap or get fluoride supplements.

I use the Brita filter. Our water has a mossy odor and taste, no surprise living in the PNW, and it removes it. Much easier than lugging bottled water home.

I use a Zero Water pitcher with filter. It comes with a little battery operated water tester that reads the levels of contaminants in your water so you can test your tap water then the filtered water. My tap water reads at a level of about 80 and after it goes through the Zero Water filter it goes down to zero. I got Zero Water because it is supposedly the only one that filters out aluminum.

In PA, we have excellent water (the neighborhood where our house is used to be a luxury hotel resort where people came to take the "water cure" and there are still old natural springs around) but we still use a filter b/c I am paranoid about water quality.

In FL, our water is soooo horrible. We're on well water and the previous owners of the house put in an excessively expensive system w/ multiple stage filters and a bunch of various treatment things to make the water not smell like sulphur and not taste terrible.

We have a company that comes out monthly to service this stupid system and put the "chemicals" in and then we have another filter that filters out the chemicals those people put in after the water has been purified.

It is like a science experiment that is very expensive to maintain... and this is all just to get the water to the point where it is OK to wash clothing and take showers in. We still will not drink it and I have a water delivery service that comes monthly and brings 6 3-gallon jugs of 100% spring water.

The company provides us w/ a rental thingy that the water jugs sit in and hot and cold come out, just like businesses have. The company offers two options (purified drinking water and spring water) and we opted for spring water. It is the best tasting water ever.

Carbon filters like Brita don't remove fluoride. It's funny--you get sciencey dentist types who say "that means they're good!" and you get the conspiracy theorists who feel otherwise. And both agree on the lack of fluoride removal. :)

I've had a Pur 18 cup dispenser for years, I hope it's doing its thing. I thought the issue with plastic was only when heated but now, I wish the pitcher weren't plastic.

All my other storage, drinks, dry stuff is always glass.

Fori, thanks my dentist asked if my kids drank tap or filtered city water and said if it was filtered she gives fluoride tablets....we do not filter with carbon or osmosis so I did not ask more.

i do not like the smell of any plastic not just the old chemical ones...

Taste is in the eye of the beholder. A couple of years ago, the Washington Post did a water taste test downtown with people walking by.

The absolute favorite was pool water.

I just ordered the Berkey system last week. They also have optional floride filters which I got as well. I also ordered the shower filter. I read that they reduce contaminants by 99.99 %. With all the pharmaceuticals and other contaminants in the water supply I want to be sure about the water I drink. The Berkey system leaves the minerals in the water which an RO system does not. I was using a PUR pitcher and filter but have been thinking about the Berkey for years, and finally purchased it. I never bought the bottled water because you don't know what's in that either. I don't drink coffee but it makes my tea taste very good - no chlorine taste whatsoever. I read this over and it sounds like a commercial but I assure you its not, I am just glad I finally spent the money on it.

They also have optional floride filters which I got as well.

You know, I never had any trouble with my teeth ever till I moved up here where there's no fluoride because we're on well water. Now I have a mouth full of crowns. Just sayin'. I would not filter out that fluoride.

We use the Brita water pitcher. I was buying Dasani bottled water. I think that is the best tadting but got tired of spending the money and lugging them home. Our water has a constant chlorine taste that is so bad we can barely drink it. I have thrown out many a pot of coffee because of it.

We have well water and I know it's hard but not sure what's all in it. It tastes perfectly fine. However, we did use a PUR filter for years attached right to the faucet. Our new refrigerator has a water filter so we use that now. Growing up (also well water) I know we used a Brita filter at one point.

The only time I used bottled water was when we lived in LA - water there was dirty looking and tasted terrible. Here in KY, we have outstanding city water and that's what I drink.