Tap water is treated specifically so it does not have bacteria. Many in fact object to the chlorine in it (objectively, it's mainly a flavor problem). If this didn't work we'd have all kinds of bacterial illnesses still. Clean water treatment is actually one of the biggest reasons we have such health and longevity in the West these days, and is still a big problem in un/underdeveloped areas (e.g. much of Africa).

Edit: OK so searching on this, with water treated for drinking, it is rare but possible to have problems if you use tap water for neti pot. Of course the odd cases are the ones that float to the top. SO this is not medical advice. I still stand by the fact that to have problems using treated tap water for a neti pot is somewhere in the range of risking swimming in a lake or eating raw/undercooked eggs. It's an easy enough risk to avoid though, I'll grant that.

EDIT 2: OK so now everyone is going to comment, argue, say they still wouldn't chance it, etc - I retract all this. Do not use fucking tap water for a fucking neti pot, and in fact don't drink it either. I will now delete the remaining comments which will look odd but I don't want to have to keep replying in the various subthreads etc.

Tap water is treated specifically so it does not have bacteria. Many in fact object to the chlorine in it (objectively, it's mainly a flavor problem). If this didn't work we'd have all kinds of bacterial illnesses still. Clean water treatment is actually one of the biggest reasons we have such health and longevity in the West these days, and is still a big problem in un/underdeveloped areas (e.g. much of Africa).

Edit: OK so searching on this, with water treated for drinking, it is rare but possible to have problems if you use tap water for neti pot. Of course the odd cases are the ones that float to the top. SO this is not medical advice. I still stand by the fact that to have problems using treated tap water for a neti pot is somewhere in the range of risking swimming in a lake or eating raw/undercooked eggs. It's an easy enough risk to avoid though, I'll grant that.

Tap water is treated specifically so it does not have bacteria. Many in fact object to the chlorine in it (objectively, it's mainly a flavor problem). If this didn't work we'd have all kinds of bacterial illnesses still. Clean water treatment is actually one of the biggest reasons we have such health and longevity in the West these days, and is still a big problem in un/underdeveloped areas (e.g. much of Africa).