Tap Water
<p><b >Tap water</b> (<i >running water</i>, <i >city water</i>, <i >municipal water</i>, etc.) is<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potable_water" title="Potable water" class="mw-redirect" >potable water</a> supplied to a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tap_(valve)" title="Tap (valve)" >tap (valve)</a> inside the household or workplace. It is a principal component of "indoor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plumbing" title="Plumbing" >plumbing</a>", which became available in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_area" title="Urban area" >urban areas</a> of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developed_world" title="Developed world" class="mw-redirect" >developed world</a> during the last quarter 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 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanitary_engineering" title="Sanitary engineering" >sanitary engineering</a>. Calling potable water "tap water" distinguishes it from the other main types of potable water, such as water from rainwater-collecting <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cistern" title="Cistern" >cisterns</a>, from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village_pump" title="Village pump" class="mw-redirect" >village pumps</a> (town pumps), or from streams, rivers, or lakes (whose potability varies).</p>