<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Thank you to everyone who replied to my question regarding tap water. For those who missed it, I asked about the possibility of tap water being contaminated with gluten. I raised the question because of an article I had read in which it was reported that Environment Canada is implementing testing to determine if chemicals and other contaminants are present in tap water. Concentrations of chemicals in water intake areas caused them to take this action. A few people said that they refused to drink tap water because it smelled and tasted funny, or because they were concerned about what is in it. One person pointed out that not all jurisdictions require bottled water to be tested, so tap water may be safer. One person was sure that small quantities of gluten are present in tap water (in addition to other toxins). This person felt that the quantities would be so small as to be harmless. One person pointed out that the "dilution factor" in rivers is enormous and, in the water intake process at filtration plants, the concentrations of gluten entering the system would be minute. Similarly, the majority of the people felt that there is no way that gluten would ever survive the water treatment process, and even if some did, the parts per million would be so low as to have no effect on our health, and to be undetectable. During the water treatment process, heat will cause the protein to unravel and chemicals will easily denature or destroy it. A water treatment professional assured me that carbon filtration would remove gluten and other organic chemicals. Ozonation and natural bio-degradation by specific bacteria are other processes that will eliminate gluten. Another person said: "Gluten itself is insoluble in water and gliadins are not very soluble. Between the biological breakdown and the low solubility plus the large size of the molecules (which means they are more likely to get filtered out by soil processes), it is very unlikely that any could get into the water." If you are still not convinced, one person suggested that a commerically-available filter (such as Brita) will easily remove gluten--a large protein molecule--in the unlikely case that it could survive. Thanks for the answers. Brian