How's your tapwater?

[mudsticks]

La di dah

One of the upsides / necessities, of living in a field, with no readily connected services

 

[glasgowcyclist]

People poor chemicals and oil down their drains & I always wonder if it's really that safe to drink. Then I wonder if the bottled spring water might be just as bad as tap water. Unless you test kit the water before every glass you'll never know what you're putting inside your body.

Bottled water is subject to far less stringent tests than tap water and is much more likely to be contaminated or become a source of infection.

“Water coming from UK taps is the most stringently tested in the world,” said Prof Paul Younger, of Glasgow University. ​

“People think there must be something wrong with tap water because it is so cheap and plentiful. But from a safety and price perspective, tap water is better for you."​

 

[steverob]

Another person with one of those jug water filters here (not sure if it's a Brita or a cheap knock off), but to be honest, I don't mind the taste of it directly from the tap either. However in our house we do drink a lot of squash/cordial that has to be diluted and I really like my water to be ice cold for that, so keeping the filter in the fridge is a must - water from the cold tap here just doesn't cut it for me; it's a little too close to tepid.

 

[Ridgeway]

Nice hard, mineral based water here, tastes great but wreaks any machine it touches so installed a direct Co2 system into the whole house water supply, slightly softens the water as it passes through your equipment and yet leaves it nice and mineral laden to retain taste.

Our incoming TDS is 300-350 and we get sent a water report once a year, i also ICP test it to keep them on their toes

We do also use an industrial grade RO system for the aquarium as we need zero TDS water there.

If anyone is in doubt about their CI (chlorine) content then you should ask your water supplier and also check the legal levels in your country, also F (fluorine) is worth looking into, it is in fact more commonly over dosed, especially in the USA.

Overall higher mineral content will give a taste that is more appreciated by 90% of people, high mineral usually means it has passed through or was stored in rock based reservoirs.

I noticed yesterday at Starbucks (Brussels airport) that they were using RO filtered water on their supply, perhaps a standard for such a company to ensure a consistent taste from region to region, don't reckon they bother with that at Greggs though

 

[Archie_tect]

I checked the Bristol Water website, it says our water is 253 mg/l of CaCO3 (Calcium Carbonate) , which is very hard, I can vouch for this, you only need to boil a kettle a couple of time for very noticeable flakes of calcium carbonate to materialise, think of my poor washing machine!

It was the scum on top of glasses of squash that used to put me off when we visited my aunty there as a nipper.

 

[oldwheels]

Drink lots of water straight from the tap. It gets filtered and chlorinated before we get it but not enough chlorine to taste. About 40 years ago it came straight from the reservoir and was supposed to be filtered but when I was washing photographic prints there were lots of small snails and other wriggling things left in the bath. When we went on holiday to Lairg and Lochinver the water was very peaty and the kids always had a couple of days with skitters before getting acclimatised.

 

[Cycleops]

Down here the piped water is okay and fine to drink but it's become the fashion to drink bagged water. Some do smell of a bit of disinfectant but this is a good one. Each sack costs about 50p:

Because the mains water is rather irregular we store it in a tank at the side of the house:

 

[Pale Rider]

My brother has a water softener because his tap water is rock hard.

The plumber who installed it added a third, small, cold tap direct from the main.

Apparently lots of people find they don't like the fully softened water for drinking, cold or boiled.

 

[numbnuts]

Very hard here

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Very hard here

Quite the brag there...

 

[Drago]

The water here in poshire is quite nice, much nicer than home in Shetland.

 

[Dirk]

Down here the piped water is okay and fine to drink but it's become the fashion to drink bagged water. Some do smell of a bit of disinfectant but this is a good one. Each sack costs about 50p:
View attachment 502591
Because the mains water is rather irregular we store it in a tank at the side of the house:

View attachment 502592

Judging by the razor wire, I take it that you don't get on with your neighbours?

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Lovely and soft, almost soapy feeling, with a slight bouquet of sheep crap here in SE Lakes.

Finest Cumbrian and Peaks water here in Manchester (we've got a great big pipe /aquafier running from Cumbria - it's made out of brick, and built in Victorian times.

I do notice other parts of the UK the water isn't as good. Horrible down South, and not as good in North Wales.

We have our own reservoirs (South lakes) lovely tasting water. Occasionally during droughts we get some from the Windermere to Manchester pipe, and can tell instantly. We keep the good stuff from the high tarns to ourselves.

I didn't know more than one supply went to Manchester - about 800m from our house 4 large metal pipes break cover to cross the river Mint. I assume that this is the supply from Haweswater?

 

[Dave7]

Approx one Km away is a station with bore holes. The lower ground is porous sand stone......the same as the Liver Building is built from apparently. The bore pipes go deep and we get our water directly from there.
A few years ago we complained that there was so much chlorine we couldn't drink a cup of tea from it. They told us, thats not possible as they dont add chlorine. Its a new fangled light thingy that kills anything.
The problem lasted 12 months then disappeared.

 

[Cycleops]

Judging by the razor wire, I take it that you don't get on with your neighbours?

It's their anti burglary wire. I won't have it as it looks so ugly and it won't stop them anyway as they just cut it. In fact they once did just that entering through our house to get to next door. Electric fence is the best way.