Drinking water or potable water is water safe enough to be consumed by humans or used with low risk of immediate or long

term harm. City water is filtered for the safety of humans; however, plants do not agree with many of the chemicals used in that process. Some plants are more sensitive than others; palms, spider plants and dracaenas are quite sensitive to fluoride. The fluoride acceptable in tap water is still more than plants can handle. Additionally, tap water can also contain salts for softening which can be harmful. A build-up of a white film crust forms on soil, this is a sign water has too much sodium- a nutrient plants despise. Finally, water that has the wrong pH level can damage plants. Some plants cannot tolerate chlorinated tap water, while other plants have a difficult time with soft water. Use the cleanest water possible, such as rainwater or reverse osmosis water. Some people use bottled water for their houseplants. This may be okay if they have one or two small plants, otherwise it is unnecessarily expensive. To combat tap water problems, installing a filtered system at home would be ideal. Though tap water is considered filtered, high levels of chlorine remain in the water. Tap water (running water, city water, municipal water, etc.) is potable water supplied to a tap (valve) inside the household or workplace. It is a principal component of "indoor plumbing", which became available in suburban areas of the developed world during the last half of the 19th century, and common during the mid-20th century. The application of technologies involved in providing clean (potable) water to homes, businesses and public buildings is a major subfield of sanitary engineering. Calling potable water "tap water" distinguishes it from the other main types of potable water, such as water from rainwater-collecting cisterns, from village pumps (town pumps), or from streams, rivers, or lakes (whose potability varies). According to the Water Quality Association, distilled or reverse-osmosis filtered water is the best for watering house plants.