Is that what’s responsible for it smelling like swamp water? I always heard that somehow “algae bloom” was to blame, but there were certain days the San Jose tap water would be pungent.

Is this something that would be removed with common cheap consumer filters? (such as Britta)

I drink a lot of tap water, but always put it through a filter of some sort.

If you don't mind a bit of work (weekly rinsing) and discarding part of the water, I'd recommend a reverse osmosis filter. They're reasonably cheap and beat the crap out of all the alternatives for non-professional users. You'll essentially have to add back some salts after the filtration process to turn it into something that won't demineralise you.

Took some poking around to piece together a real answer, but the ion exchange component in a standard Brita filter (or similar pour-through) isn't the right kind to trap chromium (mostly just zinc, copper, and cadmium). You either need a higher-grade ion exchange filter (you can search for "Chromium 6 Water Filter" on Amazon) or a reverse osmosis system.

Thanks. Reverse osmosis removes minerals, which isn't something I want. Personally (this is just my perspective) I operate under the theory we don't fully understand the human body, so don't mess with things too much, removing minerals and then selectively adding some back in is not something I think we are well informed enough to do without possible negative consequences.

I looked for Chromium 6 Water Filter and found plenty of good options. Truly thank you for the recommendation.

I honestly don't know. IIRC, you need an ion exchange filter (but they're bad for other reasons) or a reverse osmosis one certified for Cr(VI).

https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/ has a pretty decent guide.

I think that is overly alarmist. These guys: https://torrentlab.com/drinking-and-storm-water-quality-test... make it easy to get a water test done.

If you're worried about chromium 6 (hexavalent chromium) install a reverse osmosis filter.

> If you live e.g. in the Bay Area, your tap water instead has a good chance of having a good helping of hexavalent chromium

And tastes like crap across the bay. I don't care, but my wife is pretty picky about it. I've tried multiple filters, to no avail.

San Francisco water mostly comes from the Tuolumne River (Hetch Hetchy reservoir).

I don’t think SJC gets if from Hetchhechy nor east bay mud, but I may be misinformed.

Upon searching looks like SJC gets if from aquifers, recharge areas and also a bit from sfpuc (hetchhechy). EB MUD gets it from the Sierra snowmelt.

If you want to actually look up your local results from the source of that article,

https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/

And what exactly can one do if the results are terrible?

Depending on specific circumstance: buy filters, find alternate sources, move.

> find alternate sources

To the water coming out of your tap?

Sure. Bottled water for example. ;-)