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When buying a house, homeowners have the choice of choosing between municipal water vs. well water, or even both. Regardless, both are great options, and choosing the type of best water for you depends on your home and lifestyle needs.
So, what are the differences between municipal water and well water, and why should it matter to you? Here at Water Filters Advisor, we will discuss the differences between the two.
What Is Municipal Water?
Municipal water is water that is provided by your city’s water district. There are many conceptions that municipal water equates to drinking water. While city water is typically safe to drink, there can still be problems in terms of water quality. There are other methods of external, household water filtration that can be done to ensure clean drinking water. These methods can include external water filters or even simpler methods such as boiling.
One advantage of living in a municipality is that drinking water is generally accessible at any time. However, part of the duty of residents and city authorities is to control and secure local water sources.
(*) Municipalities are cities, towns, and villages with facilities such as water supply, police, and fire departments.
The term “tap water” means that it is different from other forms of freshwater, and the quality may even be different from those of private water companies.
Municipal Water Pollution: Causes and Effects
If municipal water is polluted, this allows bacteria and viruses to spread through miles of pipelines that carry water to homes in towns and cities. Non-living contaminants, such as tar, gasoline, and soil, may also disperse polluted water.
What Is Well Water?
A well is a water source wherein the structure is drilled into the ground using different methods of excavation. The oldest and most common form of well is a well for access to groundwater in underground aquifers.
Well water is often extracted from well through the use of a pump. Placing a liner in the well shaft helps establish further stability. More than 50 percent of people in the United States use groundwater for drinking water. This includes the majority of rural living areas, as the primary need for groundwater is the irrigation of crops.
Municipal Water vs Well Water
Source
Tap water is water that is provided by your city’s purified water supply and requires monthly payments to sustain, whereas well water on your property is your own.
However, for some towns, the use of a personal well is not allowed. Therefore, access to city water is always a good idea.
The mineral content can, of course, affect the taste — some minerals may be left to the city treatment program via the network.
Mineral Content
If you have your own well, you’ve got some additional things to remember. Annual monitoring is recommended for both particulate and biological pollution. Shocking the well or getting it professionally cleaned can be a good idea, particularly for holiday homes where the water is off for a longer period of time.
Maintenance and Costs
The first distinction between well water and town water comes with the price tag. Well water requires you to pay to install and maintain your well, though costs are high but infrequent.
City sanitation, on the other hand, allows you to pay the city government a monthly water bill (cheaper but more frequent). As a result of the government taking responsibility for the quality of water, city water is also generally safer. It is due to the use of chlorine in the water to destroy any harmful bacteria inside.
The safety aspect of water, on the other side, falls on your back. You’ll need to contact your well drilling company for any repairs you need, as well as run daily checks of your well water to make sure the water isn’t contaminated. Slacking on the front can lead to everything from toxic metals to bacteria living in your water.
It is not implied that well water is the most unpleasant of the two forms of water. In the case of any natural disasters, well water will remain at your fingertips even though city water may be experiencing problems.
Taste Quality
Because it is not treated by the same chemicals that city water passes by, well water appears to taste better than its city equivalent. It’s also richer in minerals than city water.
Accessibility
Another significant difference between well water and city water is how you get the water. City water comes to you through electrical pump-fueling systems, which means that your water supply revolves around your electricity supply. Therefore, in the case of a power outage, you may not always have easy access to your water supply.
City water flows through the city’s plumbing systems, making it cleaner. That said, it’s in the city’s possession. They could shut down your water whenever it feels, and you’d be out of luck.
Conclusion
We all want clean, safe water. Both well water and municipal water have their set of distinct pros and cons. And whether you’re drinking water from a well or municipal water provided by your city’s water supply, using your own water filter is a step that you can take to have more control over the quality of your water.