pasta water

is it possible to cook pasta in non-potable water?

as i was about to make some pasta tonight, i remembered that i had seen more than one sign in my neighborhood that said "warning: non-potable water". several of these signs are posted on lawns in front of houses just blocks away from where i live. it's something i've never seen before. in houston, the only place i saw the words "non-potable" was on a tanker truck watering the medians on the street. i don't usually drink tap water anyway, but in houston i never stopped to wonder if it was good enough to cook with.

since i have no idea about the quality of the water here, i decided it was probably best to use my bottled drinking water. after pouring the water into the pot, i saw that i had used almost a third of the bottle. i felt a little like i was wasting this water just to boil some pasta. i started to think of what else i could do with it afterwards. make some soup maybe... i've never seen my mom do anything with pasta water besides pour it in the sink. there must be something useful you can do with it.

i've found the explanation for the non-potable water signs. they're posted wherever "reclaimed water" is being used for irrigation. i guess this is to prevent any thirsty children from drinking from the garden hose? just kidding. actually, these signs are a good thing. i think it's very responsible to warn the public that the grass the kids are playing soccer on has been watered with treated, processed, recycled sewage.

i was watching dr. strangelove the other night and to spoil the plot, a crazy general launches a nuclear attack on the soviet union because he thinks flouridation of water is part of the international communist conspiracy. strangely enough (i couldn't resist), the flouridation of water in the united states has its roots in a study done here in the colorado springs area in 1909. a condition called "colorado brown stain", caused by naturally high concentrations of flouride in the drinking water, caused tooth staining but seemed to prevent cavities.

colorado brown stain??? i WISH someone had told me this before i came here....

well, supposing the tap water is safe to cook with, i'm not sure i want the brown teeth to go with it. i still don't know what to do with my pasta water. maybe i should water the grass out front with it. it's probably the best water it's had in years.