Watered Down

Mar 2

Water droplets splash on a light blue surface, creating ripples. The serene background and clear droplets evoke a calm, refreshing mood.

Woman in red shirt smiling, wearing glasses, in front of a green background. Text introduces her as Jennifer Theurer, a content creator.

I recently found myself at the bar in the town where I grew up. There was a live band playing that evening and some friends asked if I would like to go. Since I work from home and don’t get out a whole lot, I thought it might be a fun time. It was but not for the reasons you might think.

Since I had kids, alcohol hasn’t appealed to me so drinking the night away wasn’t in the cards. My husband actually laughed when I told him my plans. He imagined that I would melt into a puddle at 7:30 p.m. as I sipped my glass of ice water in the corner.

Water pouring from a blue bottle into a clear glass against a white background. The mood is refreshing and clean.

While I was the first one to start yawning, I didn’t have water because the town’s water tasted notoriously iffy. As I was raised on fresh from-the-ground well water, I can’t handle water that tastes funny.

Some swear by bottled water but I’m even snootier when it comes to that. Some bottled waters taste like they’ve been stored in an aluminum can even though they are sold in clear plastic bottles. That tinny taste gets even worse if they get one degree above ice cold. I have to be pretty desperate to drink a bottle of water that’s been rolling around in a vehicle. I’m not concerned with microplastics. I just don’t like to drink water that has a weird taste.

Woman in green cardigan drinking water from a glass, sitting in a bright room with green accents. Relaxed and content mood.

Person replacing a yellow water filter cartridge under a sink. Other filters and a wrench are on a wooden counter, near a power strip.

Shortly after we made the move west, we bought a filter for our faucet because I just wasn’t a fan of how the town water tasted. The water supply is very clean but whatever they put in it to keep it clean leaves a bit of an aftertaste. It makes me shudder just to think about it and I drank from a garden hose pretty regularly growing up.

I come by it honestly though. My dad used to only order iced tea when he would go to restaurants but now he claims that can’t even squelch the funk in some town’s water so he opts for lemonade instead.

You won’t find us watering down our opinion on that any time soon.