Just saying.
I've solved part of the problem with the bottled water that seems to take forever to consume: a squeeze of lime. The limes were 8 for $1 at Joe V's Super Saver (love that store--about which more later). I didn't buy them with the intention of saving the water, but I had that light bulb moment last night. Sure enough, a couple of squeezes of fresh lime and the bad taste was undetectable (to my palate). What a relief. I just hope the limes will last as long as the jugs of water!
The other part of the problem seems to be something that the City of Houston is going to have to tackle. It seems that the taste of the water comes from critters (hopefully dead ones).
Backing up a tad, Houston used to use ground water for its water supply, but over pumping the aquifer and sinking the city kinda indicated that it was time to look for another source. Houston chose, among other sources, Lake Houston for its surface water/backup source. No doubt there are a zillion contaminants in the Houston water supply, but the taste seems to come from those aforementioned critters: cyanobacteria and actinomycete. Cyanobacteria are algae, popularly referred to as blue-green algae and adored by dietary supplements fans. Some of the bacteria in this family make toxins. This is a bad thing, I would think. Actinomycetes are bacteria from a family that produces a number of antibiotics. This is a good thing, I think. No word on whether they are dead by the time the water leaves the faucet or the bottling plant, but they seem to be always in Lake Houston. The amount of bacteria depends on how long the water stays in the lake, gets diluted by rain and run off, and is pumped out (so saith the USGS).
As it turns out the bottled water that we are drinking has been "carbon-filtered." Not well enough to improve the taste, but making it more or less safe to drink. A little lime juice makes it palatable. And more rain would help the aquifer.
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