I am moving to Odessa in a couple months, from San Antonio. Are there any areas of the city I should avoid? What should I do about the water situation, stock up on bottled water? I am looking to make the most of it, will probably just go out to eat and stay home most of the time (go on outdoors adventures every once in a while too?)

East/ Northeast side is where I'd live. As far as water, I haven't drank tap water in forever, no matter where I've lived. So that's no different than anywhere else.

What about the water in restaurants? Do people drink it? Do they all have filters?

I live in san Antonio which actually has good tap water believe it or not. Sorry for the dumb questions but haven't lived somewhere with bad water before.

When I lived in Midland from 2010-15, I had a softener for the house and an RO unit under the sink. I drank the RO tap water most of the time and I'm still kicking. Family liked the 5 gal stuff.