Well, Shiverers, it is that time of year again: Spring! While I'm sure most of you (myself definitely included) are shedding layers, opening windows, and generally finding it hard to get any work done, there is one thing about Spring in Minneapolis that is, decidedly, less than awesome: the nastiness that is our tap water this time of year.
As many of you know, Minneapolis gets its water straight from the mighty Mississippi River. It is actually pretty cool when you think about it - it means that the river running by our cities makes up over 75% of our bodies. However, with the copious amounts of snow we tend to get every year, and the rate at which that snow melts off, these few weeks in March leave the tap water with the unfortuante smell and taste of an uncleaned aquarium.
And so, it has become an annual rite of spring in Minneapolis (not for you St. Paul-ites who get your tap water from lakes and groundwater): turning on the tap, filling a water bottle, and then directly spitting it back out because well, your mouth now tastes like sturgeon.
It may taste and smell bad, but believe it or not, it IS still perfectly safe to drink, and still infinitely better that drinking bottled water, which, surprisingly, is less regulated than what comes out of the tap and produces a ton of waste. So, here are some tips for still getting your daily allotment of tap-found H20 without feeling like you're going to gag:
-Use a Brita filter on your tap, or have a Brita water purifying pitcher to fill and stick in your fridge, this tends to get rid of the bad smell, although it tastes a bit funny still.
-Clean water bottles out with lemon juice to get rid of existing fishy smells, it kills the bacteria and makes your nalgene lemony-fresh!
-Don't drink it hot without purifying first! For God's sake, heating the water makes it worse, don't do it- I warned you!
No worries, in a week or so it will all be back to normal... until it snows again. I love you Minneapolis, I really really do.
-From the fishy-cities, K
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