Folks, it's official: I need your help. If there is anybody out there who is familiar with bizarre tap water?

So, here's the deal: I noticed pretty early on that my tap water behaved in strange ways. It wouldn't sit when I told it to, it is not housetrained yet...

Sorry. Seriously though, when I put tap water into my non-teflon frying pan and let it sit for an hour or so, a bizarre, rust-like substance formed. When I went to wash my frying pan, I noticed it became permanently stained. The same thing happened with my knives.

If that's not weird enough, check this out: I bought one of those three-stage Pur water filters that attaches directly to my faucet. I sat that water in my pan, and still the rusty film appeared, but it was more scattered throughout the pan and not concentrated like the direct tap water.

And if that's not weird enough, I then tried boiling the filtered water. Heck, boiling filtered water for five minutes should fix the problem, right?

Wrong.

After boiling the filtered water and let it sit and evaporate, the bottom of my frying pan got stained yet again with what looks like "rust dust" instead of clumps of rust.

No matter what I do with the water my frying pan keeps getting stained. Worse, after sitting for an hour, the water turns rust colored as well, even if I boil the filtered water.

Here's where you come in: Does anybody have any friggin clue about what could cause this? Is this just reaction to the metal or what? I mean, c'mon, it is even safe to drink boiled water in China, but I have serious questions about the boiled, filtered water in LA?

Meanwhile, I am drinking bottled water and am NOT boiling spaghetti. Fuck that. I am not eating rusty spaghetti no matter how tasty my fresh, homemade pasta sauce tastes.