If a restaurant or even a homeowner wants to 'clean up' their city water, all it takes is a set of on-premesis water filters.

My cost was $100 for the filter canisters, another $150- for installation, and $20 a year for replaceable long life cartridges. I've got these in my house (carefully plumbed in so as to avoid the outside watering taps) and it's great.

There are even cheaper ways to get in-home water filteration installed but we wanted a system that front-ended the water softener and took care of everything including the clothes and dishwasher. If all one needs is tap water, an undersing reverse osmosis unit can be had for less than $100 installed and another $20 a year for filter cartridges.

At $10- a flat for bottled water, a home can make up these costs in a single summer season. After that, it's all money in the bank. People dump their cell phone company and cable/satellite company to save $10- a month, why not do something about the nasty costs of bottled water too?

My home in GV gets Minnneapolis water and we've not had the spring smell / taste / appearance problems since the filters were installed 4 years ago.

It's too bad that the so-called state of the art filter system in Minneapolis can't do it's job. But for the end-user who is sensitive to the 'asthetics' of their water, there are economical alternatives that does not involve costly bottled water that is often nothing more than super-filtered tap water from the local soda pop bottling plant.

At most plumbing / refrigeration supply houses you can buy water filters with replaceable cartridges. Aquapure AP300 does a nice job as an under sink filter. Attach it to your faucet's cold water line (you're not going to drink hot water). If you're handy you can do it with some compression fittings, soft copper, and the SS braided water connection line. Or have a plumber do it.

The activated carbon filters last about 6 months in our kitchen.

http://www.simplyplumbing.com/aquapure-ap300-06.html

This entry reminds me of an article from the Onion.

Suburbanite Saved From Certain Poisoning By Brita Filter

SYOSSET, NY–Long Island homemaker Judith Weiss narrowly escaped poisoning Tuesday when her tap water was purified by her Brita Water Filtration System. "If not for this Brita filter, I would have died," a shaken Weiss said after drinking a glass of filtered water. "My water was filled with lead, copper, and other dangerous impurities, but this filter intercepted them just in time." In addition to saving the lives of Weiss and her family, the heroic filter also improved the water's taste and odor through its patented chlorine-removal system.