Amazing! Tasty Tap Water

Hoards of Brita-bearing freshmen arrive at the Yard each fall prepared for the worst. With Harvard Student Agencies offering water coolers for your dorm room at $119 a pop, it’s easy for neurotic Type-A’s to worry that their water will be lead-filled and grosser-tasting than Gordon’s vodka mixed with warm OJ.

“It tastes grosser than my water at home,” says Colleen L. Lenahan ’10 of the Yard’s H2O. “I drink bottled water for sure.”

But Stephen S. “Sam” Corda, the managing director of the Cambridge Water Department, begs to differ.

“I think it’s very good,” says Corda of that not-so-dirty water. “I drink it every day.”

While Corda is perhaps a biased source, he claims that he’s not the only one who enjoys the spigot’s glory. Corda says that after the water authority built its own plant in Cambridge in 1998, they received rave reviews from customers.

“For the first time, we got a handful of calls from people saying that the water tasted much better now that we’re back on our own water.”

And to boot, he claims that the delicious natural beverage is above par. “I believe that we exceed all of the requirements of the DEP [Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection], not just meet them.”

So instead of dropping a Benjamin on a water cooler, you might want to spend your money on more worthwhile pursuits—like replacing that Gordon’s.