The water is very important to the resulting beer. After all, beer is mostly water. If your tap water tastes good at room temperature, it should make good beer. It will just need to be boiled for a few minutes to remove the chlorine and kill any bacteria. If the water has a metallic taste, let it cool before using to let the excess minerals settle out. Do not use water from a salt based water softener. Do not use Distilled (De-ionized) water. Beer, and Ale particularly, needs the minerals for flavor. The yeast needs the minerals for proper growth. A good bet for your first batch of beer is the bottled water available in most supermarkets as Drinking Water. Use the 2.5 gallon containers. Put one in the refrigerator and use the other for boiling the malt extract.