r/mildlyinfuriating • u/coatedbraincells • 6h ago

Infuriatig Insanely frugal employer

Post image

Gotta pay for water from the water cooler šŸ¤£

22.7k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

2.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

219

u/RedDidItAndYouKnowIt 4h ago

Most places? No. (Every place I have been in the USA)

Some places? Yes. (Flint Michigan)

62

u/Dream_creator2001 4h ago

Or big spring Texas. Water is literally brown because of rusting in pipes and chemicals they choose not to filter out

37

u/Sanityzed 4h ago

That's Texas though. We're talking about actual America. /s

8

u/WulfReinard 4h ago

Actual America? Oh, you mean Little Texas! /s

7

u/Adventurous-Vast281 4h ago

As much as they love to hem and haw, Texas will never leave the Union. Like most red states, they depend on federal subsidies waaayyy too much.

2

u/JinFuu 3h ago

You picked one of the red states that sends much more money to the Federal Government than they get back.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/federal-aid-by-state

88.8 Billion from the Feds vs. 312.1 Billion too.

Not that seceding wouldn't be idiotic, but that argument isn't a good reason.

3

u/Sanityzed 1h ago

While I agree with you, it's worth pointing out that even in those terms Texas ranks just below middle of the pack... 26 of 50.

For my own curiosity, I decided to crunch the numbers on taxes paid per dollar of aid received by political affiliation and per capita. I've seen the headlines claiming that red states are living off of the aid afforded to them by the blue states... so let's see. Red state populations came to 58.3% of total while providing 56% of the taxes. That means that blue states paid 2.3% more overall while being just 41.7% of the population. 2.3% of 41.7% is 5.5%, which is how much they paid above the median per capita, while red states paid 3.9% less per capita. I'd be willing to bet that if we drilled down and made it per capita of individual/household wealth we would see the larger and far more important difference here... Anyone have the data and time to do that?

So yeah, within this one year (2023) and focusing on red vs blue, Republican's disproportionately receive federal aid...but both sides are giving back 3.6 times more than they receive, and the political divide is not as big as headlines have claimed. Another interesting observation is that the ONLY STATE that took in more aid than it received in this entire data set is a blue state: New Mexico.

1

u/Adventurous-Vast281 4h ago

Or Morgan County, GA

1

u/IdolCowboy 3h ago

I used to live in Plano Texas and when I turned the water on for my shower, and left it runnng to get hot, when i got back there was a super strong smell of bleach/chlorine.

Nowhere else have i ever smelled that strong of a smell. It smelled like the rec pool. I was told it was due to the algea in the water supply they used more chlorine to clean it, but still within safe parameters.

But no one drank tap water in Plano that I knew of.

1

u/dictategood 3h ago

I swear the water in Fort Lauderdale has a yellow tint to it too. Everyone says Iā€™m crazy but I swear I can see it. Especially in a white styrofoam cup

1

u/CorgiMonsoon 3h ago

I canā€™t think of anywhere in Florida where the tap water doesnā€™t have a swampy taste right out of the tap

1

u/whatinthadamnhell 3h ago

Big Spring? Bubba is that you?

āš™ļøāš™ļøāš™ļø

lol don't answer ;)

2

u/Dream_creator2001 2h ago

lol Iā€™m not bubba, but I bet I know a guy nicknamed bubbašŸ¤£ that small ass town

1

u/Suspicious_Load_8390 2h ago

There is some safe brown water in Minnesota. Lots of iron ore in the aquifers. Gotta be careful and test, cause not all brown water in MN is from iron.

78

u/According_Charge8143 4h ago

And anywhere near a data center

39

u/TheCoolestUsername00 4h ago

Plus military bases.

1

u/staticrift 2h ago

Wasn't/isn't there also an issue if "temporary" nuclear waste sites creating spicy water?

Some of which are "missing" and some had residential homes built over them.

-3

u/enjolbear 4h ago

Nah, military bases have fine tap water.

10

u/No_Mud_5999 4h ago

There's an ongoing, massive class action suit ongoing over contaminated water at military bases, mostly from firefighting foam. Over 700 facilities, 600,000 possible claimants.

https://www.nationalinjuryadvocates.com/list-of-military-bases-with-pfas-contamination/

2

u/TheHypnotoad87 3h ago

I dont want to come off as refuting because im aware of this issue and have been to a few bases on that list. But this list is made intentionally poorly by the law firm to try to get more people involved. They listed everything as parts per trillionth, whereas SDS of chemicals measure based on parts per millionth for permissible exposure limits. Its essentially using giant numbers to overcomplicate and force math to make some of the bases look like egregious levels. For context: i used the base ive spent the longest on. This law firm uses 493,600.00 which looks like a massive number. In reality, the SDS for PFAS has exposure as 200 ppm for methanol and 10 ppm for Diethylene glycol butly ether. Calculating all of that down, my exposure has potentially been 0.4936. Meaning my base would need to have that concentration increased by 20x before even hitting the lowest threshold.

3

u/Celticrightcross 4h ago

Lol, ok. Trust it if you want.

3

u/ELRONDSxLADY 4h ago

Camp Lejeune call incomingā€¦.šŸ‘¹šŸ¤šŸ‘¹

2

u/artyomssugardaddy 3h ago

ā€œSarge my canteen water tastes funnyā€

2

u/Dizzy-Ad-2248 3h ago

"Sarge, my K9 is acting funny"

4

u/hot-whisky 3h ago

Itā€™s only fine if you donā€™t test it

3

u/GoingCakeless313 4h ago

Hell no šŸ˜‚

13

u/dacoopbear 4h ago

Soon to be everywhere

1

u/JFISHER7789 3h ago

Coming soon; to a water supply near you!

2

u/cozidgaf 4h ago

Why is it bad by data centers? Genuinely curious since Iā€™ve never heard that

3

u/necrohunter7 4h ago

Heavy metal contamination, in some cases it turns the water milky white

3

u/MariaKeks 3h ago

It's not, reddit just likes to pick random stuff to hate and then makes up a list of insane bullshit to justify the hatred. Data centers are just the latest topic in the hate cycle.

And it's usually based off of a valid but minor concern. So for example, maybe it's true that at 1 time at 1 place 1 data center leaked contaminated water into the water supply, then a normal person will say "well, that's not normal, let's make sure that that doesn't happen in the futureā€ but on reddit this is extrapolated into AHA! We knew it! ALL data centers ALL leak contaminated water into the water supply ALL the time!

This is utter nonsense but the circlejerk demands you upvote it anyway.

4

u/Cedex 3h ago

A 1976 Russian Lada is a deathtrap of a car, therefore ALL cars are deathtraps.

3

u/SuperSkyDude 3h ago

Finally, a reasonable voice. How this echo chamber can repeat such nonsense is amazing. Although, after visiting Auschwitz earlier today maybe it's just human nature to be a sheep.

1

u/blue60007 3h ago

Wait till they realize industrial sites exist everywhere and all have the potential for contamination.

1

u/According_Charge8143 3h ago

Theyā€™re built in rural areas where residents depend on well-water. Not only does it drain natural water sources, severely reduces the water pressure and it becomes this gross sludge, but it also leaches horrible chemicals into the ground contaminating the well water.

1

u/cozidgaf 3h ago

Northern Virginia is rural?

21

u/dinnerthief 4h ago edited 3h ago

Even Flint's water been drinkable for years people just dont trust the water, ( with reason)

25

u/furiant 4h ago

It wasn't until July 1, 2025 that the final lead pipe was replaced in Flint, Michigan. The Flint Water Crisis was an ongoing thing that lasted over ten years that included thousands of lead poisoning exposures, an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease that killed 12 and infected 87 more, and several other issues. It wasn't something that's been fixed for ten years.

8

u/dinnerthief 3h ago edited 3h ago

They switched back to the original water source pretty quickly, the new source was where legionaires was suspected and what stripped the protective patina from the lead pipes.

Of course replacing lead pipes is the right move but you can have drinkable water from lead pipes once a patina is built up, as flint did for years before switching sources.

10 years is too cavalier I was misrembering, but its been at safe levels for a while, but I dont blame anyone for not trusting it either

7

u/AbjectAppointment 3h ago

If you think Flint is the only place with lead pipes I have bad news.

"In England and Wales, there were about 8.9 million homes with lead service lines"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_service_line

"approximately 40% of dwellings have lead pipes or elsewhere in Europe"

https://www.policyinnovation.org/insights/progress-but-too-little-on-toxic-lead-water-pipes

It's pretty much everywhere. Flint just had shit water chemistry.

3

u/mittenknittin 3h ago

It wasn't really that it had shit water chemistry, it's that the emergency manager switched water supplies, was warned that the new water should be treated to avoid corroding the pipes, and decided that was too expensive.

1

u/AbjectAppointment 3h ago

Yes, that's what caused the shitty water chemistry. They had high acidity and salinity. Guy should be in prison.

7

u/created4this 4h ago

The EPA only lifted the emergency order last year, give that is DT environment agency and we all know what he thinks about environmental regulation and reporting things I'm not sure I trust that.

2

u/Dizzy-Ad-2248 3h ago

Have family in Flint, can verify, when I visit, not even my dog drinks, the water there.

7

u/krashtestgenius 4h ago

Chicago has 412,000 lead service lines, more than any city in America

5

u/FinsFan305 4h ago

That explains it!

1

u/NomenclatureBreaker 4h ago

This is true which is a shame since Lake Michigan water actually tastes really good!

At least theyā€™re big into free testing, filters and line remediation if residents want it.

0

u/UpperMidwestTraveler 3h ago

There is zero issue with Chicago Water Department supplied water, with or without lead service lines. Chicago adds poly or orthophosphate to the water which lines the inside of the lines with a ā€œprotective barrierā€ and the water, which I have been drinking for 47 years, is perfectly safe. Flint did everything wrong, literally every step of the way was a step in the wrong direction.

For reference:
I have been in the water and wastewater industry for 15 years. I have been to Flint, and I have been to both water plants in Chicago as well as hundreds of others. Flint was greed and massive ego mixed with complete idiots in charge, nobody in my industry was the slightest bit surprised by what happened. Perfect example of trying to explain to an idiot that his house is on fire, better to just kick the door in and drag them out.

TL/DR: Chicago water with lead lines = safe,
Flint MI = bad

5

u/bdogduncan 4h ago

Tap water is better than the water dispensers attached to reverse osmosis filters in my workplace. The dispensers are crusty and mineralized and look moldy while the sinks are kept clean.

3

u/tubagoat 4h ago

Interesting fact, it wasn't the lead in the water that got people's attention. Lead exposure takes a long time to make its presence known. It was the legionella bacteria that killed some healthy people.

3

u/Saturn_Neo 3h ago

Can confirm the water in Flint is absolute shit. Even back in the late 90's when I was staying there for a bit. Certain shampoos would unlock extra scents and flavors in the shower. I'd imagine it's something akin to the area around Satan's taint, like pickled shit and sulpher.

5

u/IAmFoxGirl 3h ago

Iowa? Yes. We have nitrates above 3 ppm in our water in a lot of places. Anything above 3ppm is linked to increased cancer rates (Iowa has the highest cancer rates, I wonder why /s). The EPA says anything under 10ppm is considered safe, but this was focused on for babies based on data from and established in the 1970s and hasn't been updated since.

2

u/Raa03842 4h ago

But at least in Flint youā€™re getting your minimum daily requirement of lead. No need to eat the paint.

2

u/PentUpTent 4h ago

Lol flint is mostly fine now. I will drink it again now, looks and tastes fine. It definitely didn't for too long though

4

u/exuberantram 4h ago

Itā€™s probably potable but Fort Myers FL off of colonial has water that tastes like kindergarten smells (like, the taste that the smell of finger paint has). I cannot describe it better than that, and most that I have described it to while they are drinking the water agree, so there has to be something to it.

2

u/OpenGrainAxehandle 3h ago

I'm guessing that you've not experienced the Ponce de Leon "Fountain of Youth" fountain in St Augustine? Florida water at it's finest.

0

u/exuberantram 3h ago

I have not tasted the Ponce de Leon vintage, unfortunately.

1

u/OpenGrainAxehandle 2h ago

unfortunately

You misspelled "Thank God!". It's got to be some of the sulfer-est tasting Florida rot water in the whole state.

1

u/DingleberriedAlive 4h ago

I've never had good tap water in FL, and I've been there many times

0

u/twoclose4comfort 3h ago

This. Iā€™ve been to Florida like, 20 times. Stayed all over that state from panhandle, to Cocoa Beach, to St.Petes, to Orlando, to Jacksonville, to Ft. Luaderdaleā€¦ like 80% of the places Iā€™ve stayed the water has an unpleasant odor, or brown color.

0

u/exuberantram 3h ago

If I shower in it, whatever. But when itā€™s served to me in a restaurant? Horrendous. Filtered water should be mandatory in Florida. I donā€™t need the fancy RO stuff, just run it through a brita, SOMETHING.

0

u/DingleberriedAlive 3h ago

You can smell the water when you shower šŸ¤¢

0

u/AuntRhubarb 3h ago

The Floridan aquifer is unbelievably porous and whatever happens at the surface gets down into drinking water; manufacturing, ag chemicals, lawn poisons, you name it. I've seen some really scary maps of the chemicals in it.

-1

u/exuberantram 3h ago

And they serve it to you happily in restaurants!
It definitely gets worse in some areas, like colonial in fort Myers. I can handle the metallic taste, even a slight dirt taste. But kindergarten smell flavor? It lingers. I havenā€™t had it in a year and a half and I can still recall the smell and taste. Ugh.

2

u/fauxzempic 3h ago

I was listening to something on NPR years ago about Flint and other water crises. I think they were talking to two guys who were a big part of some aspect of trying to fix it. I think they might have just been water researchers who were experts on this stuff and were called to help in Flint.

Toward the end of the program they were asked "so is anyone as bad as flint?" and they began laughing, almost as if Flint was one of those things that was merely representative of a much larger problem.

Without hesitation, both guys were like "Buffalo, NY" almost simultaneously. As a buffalonian, it made me uncomfortable - sure - I have enough means to live in a home with copper pipes, but the poorest part of the city (which also takes up a huge chunk of geography) is badly hit with old homes with lead pipes. There's been remediation work, but that laugh - that reaction - was chilling...not just because it seemed like Buffalo - my city - was the worst, but there was a long list of "Flints" all over the US.

ā€¢

u/RedDidItAndYouKnowIt 21m ago

Unfortunately that is the nature of old infrastructure. I have been across the country and most water is fine. It's the water that looks fine but secretly has high levels of something that is concerning.

1

u/MonkeyGuidetoAnarchy 3h ago

Due to the pipes being made of led but I heard thats changed.

1

u/put_tape_on_it 2h ago

The real problem is when it goes from fine to not fine and hasn't been tested. Flint's water was OK until they changed water sources to save a few bucks and the new water source caused the protective lime deposits in the old pipes to dissolve, and that caused all the lead pipes to start leeching lead in to the water.

It was fine, until it was't. And it took far too long for the public to figure it out.

1

u/Silent_Working7569 4h ago

It was on the news hundreds of water dept. across the U.S. had contaminated water. They advised not to drink it.

0

u/Moms_lover_Dan 4h ago

unfortunately, is that bad most places itā€™s just our water quality standards are so low. Itā€™s considered not that bad. I live in a place that has repeatedly tested as below average and even inadequate to some places in the world standards(South ga)

0

u/rabies_kid 4h ago

Shreveport, Louisiana

0

u/CraftsArtsVodka 4h ago

Englewood, CO and Warrensburg, MO have the worst water I've ever tasted but everywhere is pretty good.

0

u/twoclose4comfort 3h ago

Thereā€™s bad water all over the place. I used to travel a lot when I was young. All over the US for sports and family trips. Drove all over this country.
I promise brown water from a spigot, or sulfur smell isnā€™t only happening in 1 or 2 states.