I moved into an older apartment a few months ago and the tap water here tastes like a YMCA pool with pennies in it.

not "oh it's a little off" bad. more like i make coffee and somehow it still tastes like the building's pipes.

my first thought was just get an under-sink filter and be done with it. then i read the lease again and remembered that renting means the cabinet under your sink is basically sacred landlord property. i asked management about it and they gave me the whole "anything involving plumbing needs written approval" answer, which is landlord for "please give us a reason to keep your deposit."

also the cabinet under my sink already looks like a plumbing crime scene. garbage disposal, weird pipes, cleaning supplies, one mystery leak stain from before i moved in. i am absolutely not adding "tenant-installed water filter" to that mess.

i tried the pitcher thing for a while. hated it. too slow, constantly empty, took up fridge space, and the water still had that old-building taste. bottled water was worse because this building has no elevator and i got tired of hauling cases up the stairs like i was training for something.

so now i have this countertop RO thing from Aigerri sitting in my kitchen because it doesn't touch the plumbing at all. it just plugs in and i fill it from the tap. that part is nice because there is no drilling, no sink attachment, no "please approve my drinking water" email chain.

but of course, because apartment life is stupid, it created a different annoyance.

my kitchen counter is already tiny, and this thing now owns the spot where my toaster used to live. it fits under the upper cabinet when it's closed, but when i need to refill it i have to pull the whole thing forward because the lid needs more room. so now i'm doing this weird little water machine shuffle every day.

My landlord made drinking water feel like a lease violation