WDW Tap Water

[CapnStinxy]

I don't know how true this is but I was told by a local a few years back that Florida's fresh water supply is basically from the swamps.

True, but perhaps not in the way you think. Swamps occur in low-lying areas much like lakes. The surrounding land drains into the swamps, so they act as catch basins. In a swamp not surrounded by development (good luck finding one of those) those plants, critters, and bacteria act as an excellent filter, trapping and digesting oraganic compounds. In a pristine swamp, the water quality is good. The water slowly permeates into the underlying limestone and down hundreds of even thousands of feet. It has a high degree of dissolved minerals, including calcium and sulfur, but it's not polluted in the sense that it's harmful to life.

Now, when a swamp is eaten away by and surrounded by development, then its effectiveness diminishes. Paving and other impervious cover reduces the area for water flow, meaning it gets to the swamps faster. Artificial organic chemicals, like petroleum products and fertilizers, get picked up along the way. Then there's sewage runoff from septic systems or inadequate "packet" treatment plants as well. This overwhelms the swamp filter, and some that pollution works its way into the groundwater.

Private and municipal water supplies in Florida use wells almost exclusively, which tap that swamp-filtered water. The surface water doesn't occur in large or deep enough bodies to be practical for a potable water supply. 50 years ago, one could drink well water "straight." The sulphur smell was quite off-putting, but a simple aeration treatment (spraying the water into a vented tank, which allows the sulphur to dissipate as a gas) could solve that. That would be a considerable health risk today.

The icing on top of all this, at least in coastal areas, is that the increasing demand for water is drawing down wells at the upper Hawthorne depth (approx 200 feet), allowing salt water to intrude.

All of these factors lower the quality of groundwater, requiring costly and sophisticated filtering and chemical treatment. We could do with vastly expanded, healthier swamps. In fact, we're spending a great deal of money to restore the ones destroyed over the past 100 years.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

it can lead to fun things like diarrhea (yay!)

Or as we say .... "a dose of the skitters" far more graphic.

 

[DisneyPirate85]

Well....This has been a pleasent thread:hurl:
All things concidered, and read, Ill just stick to the Bottled water and avoid, how was it, "the Skitters"...lol...:lol:

 

[LudwigVonDrake]

From what I've been told, the Disney water tastes the way it does because of an excess of sulphur found naturally in the water supply. It's technically not harmful, but if you have a sensitive stomach like me, it can lead to fun things like diarrhea (yay!)

It has the opposite effect on me :lookaroun

Fill your ice bucket with ice just before you go to sleep. When you wake up, you'll have fresh water. They filter the water for the ice cubes.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

THe tap water in Miami is fine...Olrando's is terrible,though,your right.

I've never had the runs from it though,and I have a pretty weak stomach.:shrug:

 

[PeterPan1985]

It has the opposite effect on me :lookaroun

Fill your ice bucket with ice just before you go to sleep. When you wake up, you'll have fresh water. They filter the water for the ice cubes.

Best...advice...ever! Will do for my next trip!

 

[Antjeanne]

This may explain the problems i had on our recent trip last month. It was the worst trip I ever had to WDW. I was not thrilled with CBR. But after 3 days i became violently ill. I was able to hold my food for about an hour. and was visiting the bathroom 8-12 times a day. I slept from 3pm to 6 am the next day. only getting out of bed to visit the bathroom. I think i may also have fallen asleep in the bathroom on more than 1 occasion. The only thing i can think of was i drank out of a few water fountains. Or i had bad food someplace. So much for the free dinning plan. My wife actually got me to go to a medical clinic to get checked before our flight home. He gave me some pills that must have been part crazy glue to make me fit to travel. And he checked for everything and all was negative, no parasite or salmonella, but he saw slight changes in the E Coli culture. but the Dr said not enough for a full blown violent 4 day inestinal rampage that i was going through. It could have been i was on the down side of what ever it was and my body was fighting it off. I know there was nothing left in me after 4 days. So its bottled water for me next time.

 

[rdour@techminds]

Wow, I didn't think I'd touch off such a lively discussion. Wow, go away to a Cubs game for the day and look what happens.

Yeah, I'm from Chicago. We're kinda spoiled with our lake water. Too bad BP keeps dumping their garbage into it in Indiana. Anyway, I also noticed that no matter how long you run the water at WDW in your hotel, it never gets cold. Should I assume that the water table in Orlando isn't deep enough to ever really cool? Part of the effect in Chicago is the fact that we've got cold weather what seems to be a majority of the time. Yeah, we have Spring and Fall,, but you wouldn't know it. I swear by mid OCtober we could have days in the 40s then 70's then 30's then 75. Drives me, and sinuses crazy!

So now the next topic, hotel room smell. Something about the WDW resort makes your clothes smell very distinct. When I unpack my suitcase at the end of the trip, bam, WDW wafts up in my face. It makes me so sad too.

Ryan

 

[awalte7]

Hey I have always said that splash mountain smells like wet dog and nobody listens:brick:


As for the hotel room smell, maybe it's a disinfectant of sorts?

 

[Tinkrbell]

The one thing I like better in Chicago than in WDW, the yummy Lake Michigan water. :slurp:

Same thing here, except Im in Milwaukee. I even notice the difference in water at the camp I work at, which has well water & Im used to lake water.

 

[rdour@techminds]

Yeah, go lake water!

 

[adamthegetupkid]

This is going to sound really, really odd, but I know there is a certain drinking fountain that is leaps and bounds above the rest. Before the gate at MGM, right after you pass the security guards checking bags, there are two fountains outside of the bathrooms. They have freezing cold great tasting water. Please, someone try this and voice their opinion for/against me.

 

[WEDisney]

It seems like the water in Disney is run through rotten eggs before it hits your tap. I guess this is the sulfur. I have had stomach problems after drinking from a fountain but I never really made the correlation. This trip I couldn't even rinse my glass with the tap water because it left such a bad smell. Living on Long Island I think I am spoiled from my tap water. Maybe I am just used to it but it is the best I have ever tasted.

 

[Phonedave]

True, but perhaps not in the way you think. Swamps occur in low-lying areas much like lakes. The surrounding land drains into the swamps, so they act as catch basins. In a swamp not surrounded by development (good luck finding one of those) those plants, critters, and bacteria act as an excellent filter, trapping and digesting oraganic compounds. In a pristine swamp, the water quality is good. The water slowly permeates into the underlying limestone and down hundreds of even thousands of feet. It has a high degree of dissolved minerals, including calcium and sulfur, but it's not polluted in the sense that it's harmful to life.

Now, when a swamp is eaten away by and surrounded by development, then its effectiveness diminishes. Paving and other impervious cover reduces the area for water flow, meaning it gets to the swamps faster. Artificial organic chemicals, like petroleum products and fertilizers, get picked up along the way. Then there's sewage runoff from septic systems or inadequate "packet" treatment plants as well. This overwhelms the swamp filter, and some that pollution works its way into the groundwater.

Private and municipal water supplies in Florida use wells almost exclusively, which tap that swamp-filtered water. The surface water doesn't occur in large or deep enough bodies to be practical for a potable water supply. 50 years ago, one could drink well water "straight." The sulphur smell was quite off-putting, but a simple aeration treatment (spraying the water into a vented tank, which allows the sulphur to dissipate as a gas) could solve that. That would be a considerable health risk today.

The icing on top of all this, at least in coastal areas, is that the increasing demand for water is drawing down wells at the upper Hawthorne depth (approx 200 feet), allowing salt water to intrude.

All of these factors lower the quality of groundwater, requiring costly and sophisticated filtering and chemical treatment. We could do with vastly expanded, healthier swamps. In fact, we're spending a great deal of money to restore the ones destroyed over the past 100 years.

Thank you for a very informative and factual post.

Just to go a bit further

Yes, swamp water has no more or less "bugs" than any other water. Anyway, the water is treated before it gets to the tap anyway, and those "bugs" are removed.

FL water is high in mineral content, look at what Florida is underlain by. Thats why sinkholes form. What used to be where the sinkhole was is now in the water.

Water in WDW is provided by Reedy Creek Energy Services. RCES provides much of the infrastructure support for WDW - electric, gas, sewage, potable water, and for all I know they may even supply steam. I have been able to find out precious little about the operations of RCES.

As for the water. A filter will remove some of the minerals. Cold water will taste better - or more to the point, taste less. All things have less of a taste when cold. It numbs your taste buds and there is also less aroma for you to smell.

As I said, I could find little about what sort of treatment RCES does in its water plants, but it is common practice for a plant to put EXTRA chlorine in water as it leaves the plant. Without going into details, as chlorine encounters "bugs" it kills them, and in turn is used up itself. Because the treatment plant has no controll over the water between the plant and the end user (pipes may leak, people don't use anti-siphon devices, etc) they put some "extra" chlorine in the water to ensure that if any "bugs" enter the water along the way, they are taken care of. The trick is to add enough chlorine that there is enough to protect the water, but not so much that it impacts water quality. Of course the extra chlorine may effect the digestive systems of certain people. The same goes for dissolved minerals.

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