RResidents in Japan

Tap Water tastes and smells metallic, has small particles

I moved into a 40-50 year old apartment a couple of months ago. It doesn’t have many issues except for the water and sewage system. The water tastes a bit odd and after I rinse my mouth, the cup smells very metallic after the water dries out. When you look closely the water contains a bunch of small particles floating around. Is this something I should do something about or am I overthinking it?

7 comments

  1. I mean, you have a few options, don’t you?

    1. Don’t worry about it
    2. Call your landlord/management company
    3. Get a water filter

    Did you try any of those?

  3. My water has small particles floating around – it’s mostly calcium. But they sell it in my area as a “good” thing, as a symbol of healthy, nutrient rich water.

    It gets far worse if you make ice cubes from it, all the minerals solidify and I’ve had ice cubes melt into a glass and it looks like a snow globe.

    If you leave bath water for too long it stinks thanks to the nutrients assisting bacteria production.

    Brita filter sorts it for me.

  4. Try cleaning your faucet head. If you can unscrew the head without damaging it, try doing so and clean it by scrubbing it and soaking it in vinegar or a citric acid solution. Or, even if it’s fixed and not removable, you can affix a plastic bag full of vinegar using a rubber band, and leave it overnight to loosen up mineral deposits.

  5. Buy a Brita water filter.
    3000 will get you the pitcher and in some places with extra 2 filter included.

  6. Summit， Keio， and other supermarkets offer free reverse osmosis water if you are concerned．

  7. There are a bunch of testing kits on Amazon that you can use to test for common pollutants. Some of them should catch heavy metal pollution and things. I’m not sure if they’ll be able to detect lumps of stuff floating around if it’s rust for the pipes or something.

    https://www.amazon.co.jp/s?k=%E6%B0%B4+%E6%A4%9C%E6%9F%BB&__mk_ja_JP=%E3%82%AB%E3%82%BF%E3%82%AB%E3%83%8A&crid=2KNLGGU9UN5J3&sprefix=%E6%B0%B4+%E6%A4%9C%E6%9F%BB%2Caps%2C219&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

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