Water filters

[Jameshow]

That's very interesting, thanks.

I grew up in Manchester and i've always thought the water in the taps there to be better tasting/fresher than in plenty of the smaller cities/towns i've been to all over the UK and wondered why. When i was around 14 years old i discovered the water came from Thirlmere in The Lakes. That's a little over 150km away. The pipes were laid down in... (googling... - Opening up the ground began in 1890, and reservoir and aquaduct finished in the year)... 1894.

How broad a project was this, the one you @Gwylan led, in terms of scale/time, etc? Was it for London, only? Was this the first cost analysis project after the Thirlmere/Manchester one? How long into the future did they weigh up the cost/maintenance/renewal of piping clean water into London against the cost/maintenance/renewal of piping low quality water and the follow-up installation of filtering systems in millions of homes? Forever?

It just doesn't make sense to me. I have an O level in Geography from 1984, you know.

Bradford water comes from above pateley bridge apparently.
Probably the only good thing about Bradford!!

 

[Gwylan]

That's very interesting, thanks.

I grew up in Manchester and i've always thought the water in the taps there to be better tasting/fresher than in plenty of the smaller cities/towns i've been to all over the UK and wondered why. When i was around 14 years old i discovered the water came from Thirlmere in The Lakes. That's a little over 150km away. The pipes were laid down in... (googling... - Opening up the ground began in 1890, and reservoir and aquaduct finished in the year)... 1894.

How broad a project was this, the one you @Gwylan led, in terms of scale/time, etc? Was it for London, only? Was this the first cost analysis project after the Thirlmere/Manchester one? How long into the future did they weigh up the cost/maintenance/renewal of piping clean water into London against the cost/maintenance/renewal of piping low quality water and the follow-up installation of filtering systems in millions of homes? Forever?

It just doesn't make sense to me. I have an O level in Geography from 1984, you know.

Well it was a joint Euro project with French, Belgian and German organisations. The aim was to provide remote farms with pure water for their dairy production.

We did the techie stuff, others did the economics. This was late last century.
End product was solar powered water purification prototype. And a lot of sums to show this was much better than trying to deliver clean water from the reservoir.

I got moved on and the project went on a back burner somewhere. Nothing to do with the grant money having been spent, of course.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

We did get a letters several months ago saying that the water might get cut off for short periods in the next year or so due to a long term project to "protect the water supply" to the area.
Turns out - reading deeper - that they are adding a lot of water to the supply from other sources rather than the reservoir sources that were the main supply many years ago

I presume this has been gradual and hence the build up of the scum on my tea

 

[fossyant]

Finest Cumbrian water here in Manchester. No need for filters.

 

[Milzy]

I use this and have done fo many years
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/360954946177?epid=1039949772&hash=item540a976281:g:1GUAAOSw~BJhpQNA&amdata=enc:AQAIAAAA4FL6aoPuP9hoEpLCXij7zJtQeQhshMBvnDzH0It0IMVRL20Y9UK3vRUadHAPMC/4yOtiF23HV1OTp+KMebn0JshlGC5UHwFriqrvRpKnelQPGAoesvghc02Q9d9VraURB+4werHVuckKkHyB+MCI/exwUEWpMdf2CB2CQlt6Q3qd78OVKPuYcJL9amvJctp1cvnMecVbDkE6C12RYiumSIFLaqSN0LYDDP65WXHVizLAKJ0AYMNQw7uEqSPZmllFsG0X6Gq60fHLSDj7CARipmt/IqeI3noZWQFKyJ1ct0BG|tkp:Bk9SR_zIoZH5YQ

Hi, will this filter out all the female sex hormone out of the water too?

 

[neil_merseyside]

It seems a bit strange that in the UK it's down to the individual household to filter their drinking water.

We don't need to filter our water for safety as it's perfectly say to drink, but some people are very sensitive to the smell of the treatment chemicals, for those few a filter makes it more palatable. Generally anyone near to a reservoir, water tower, bore hole or other treatment plant have more of a problem than those in remoter areas where the chemicals have reduced.

We receive rain water that has been collected in Wales.

 

[vickster]

@ebikeerwidnes if still looking for a Brita, Sainsbury’s have the jugs and cardtridges on sale at the mo if wanting to buy on high street

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

@ebikeerwidnes if still looking for a Brita, Sainsbury’s have the jugs and cardtridges on sale at the mo if wanting to buy on high street

Thanks - didn;t really think they would work or that we would use it so went for a cheaper Tesco version that uses the same filters

Actually very pleased with it - well designed
and the difference it makes to the scum on the surface of tea cups is amazing!

 

[derrick]

Just ordered one of these, anyone else use one ? Wife is getting a bit worried about what comes out the tap, so thought i would give it a go, will have to remember to do before and after taste test.

https://water2.com/products/the-pod-2-0-starter-kit

 

[Dave7]

Generally anyone near to a reservoir, water tower, bore hole or other treatment plant have more of a problem than those in remoter areas where the chemicals have reduced.

We receive rain water that has been collected in Wales.

We live less than a mile from the bore hole/treatment plant and sometimes the water tastes disgusting.
Had the supplier out several times....... Lots of technical jargon which didn't help.
I now use a Brita ( on offer at the time).

 

[newts]

You can ask you water supplier to flush the local main to get rid of sediment if you're getting a film on the surface.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

A while ago e got a letter from United Utilities saying that the water was just fine but they were changing the source slightly and we migth notice a slight build up of limescale
reading the small print they were introducing ground water into the system which previously was mostly from reservoirs

We soon noticed that there were white deposits in the kettle, the sinks and washbasins had white marks on the plugs and the water tasted different
Also 2 kettles broke for unknown reasons . One was replaced under warranty which was fine but we regarded it as a warning

As a result we got a cheap water filter from Tesco which has made a big difference - taste is still not as good as it used to be
certainly not as good as it was where I grew up on the Wirral

but it is better with the filter
we have considered adding a permanent one to the mains - but the area under the sink is very crowded and it would be complicated to fit it in so we have not bothered

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

We got one of these Berkefeld filters

Smashing. When the grandkids visit, they make a beeline for it because they say it's the best water they've ever tasted. Filters out all the chemicals, hard metals and bacteria like e-coli. Apparently they're used in hospitals, laboratories and by aid agencies in the third world to provide clean water. Filters are a year old and not needing changed yet.

 

[rogerzilla]

I happily drink cold water from the tap but use a Brita jug for (a) the kettle, to almost eliminate scaling (b) the cats' water, because the smell of chlorine discourages them from drinking and (c) the car washer bottle.

 

[fossyant]

Still on Finest Eau de Lake District here in Manchester.