Tap Water safe to drink in Ed?

[mary123]

Any issues with drinking water straight from the Tap in this hard water area, my friends visited recently and I poured them glasses of water from the Tap, the mum mentioned about a filter and risks of damage to kidneys from drinking hard water but I have not read any risks??

[Asset]

The tap water is fine.

[DulwichFox]

I have been drinking Tap Water from the Peckham and East Dulwich areas for 65 years.

My recent yearly diabetic check indicates that I have full kidney function.

Very little risk unless you have an existing Kidney problem.

DulwichFox

[uncleglen]

I remember reading somewhere years ago that hard water has a beneficial effect on the heart because of the mineral content

[Angelina]

there is an argument that tap water contains chemicals and should be filtered. You can google this all yourself and find out the opinions of the researchers.

Depends how worried you are. I don't think it's ever killed anyone. I suppose if you were that worried, you wouldn't choose to live in London with all the air pollution.

My mum and sister filter their water and always have done. I don't. ...but then I eat sugar and smoke (but I don't drink alcohol or eat processed food).

[caz]

I have had Chronic Kidney Disease with low kidney function all my life and I now have my freedom pass! Lived in London all of that time and here in ED for more than 30 of it. I have to drink a minumum of 3 litres a day, mainly tap water, never caused problems and none of my kidney medical team have ever mentioned it could cause problems.

[rendelharris]

I think that arises from a misconception: because kidney stones are mainly calcium and hard water contains more calcium, people assume there would be a link but large scale studies show it doesn't exist. Even if there were a small risk the benefits of water would far outweigh it, every 500ml of water drunk per day reduces the risk of kidney stones by around 7%, apparently (source, my GP who told me off for not drinking enough water on long cycle rides!).

[Penguin68]

I have lived all my life in hard water areas. I'm fine (so far) - and it's been close to 70 years. Some people find that if they move to a different area they can get a stomach upset by a change of mineral content in water (I've heard that of Moscow water) - but that's a short term effect. London water actually hasn't been through seven people before it gets to you (that's a myth) and it is most unlikely to precipitate illness in anyone. It does however cause water staining on surfaces and can gunge up kettles (and central heating pipes). There are perfectly good reasons to soften hard water, but very rarely health related.

[tomskip]

I find the tap water in London tastes absolutely fine. Where my inlaws are, in rural Suffolk, their tap water tastes vaguely of bleach! Yuck.

[Angelina]

If you chill tap water it makes it taste better and saves water too - as it's quite normal to let the tap run for a bit to cool the running water.

If you leave it at room temperature it starts to taste funky (there is chemistry behind it).

[Ruskin]

Yep, got a pair of fully-functioning kidneys here too. Cheers!

[JohnL]

Swansea water is very soft, London quite hard, but once you get used to the difference it's OK.

Any bleach smell will probably be chlorine

http://dwi.defra.gov.uk/consumers/advice-leaflets/chlorine.pdf

[kibris]

OMG dont you anything better to talk about if you dont like the tap water,you can do two things 1,Go to the shop and buy bottle water, 2 Move away

[Penguin68]

Having lived all my life in hard water areas I actually find naturally 'soft' water (sans limescale) quite soapy in taste. But I don't expect to be killed by either.

[mary123]

I know there are different views on drinking tap v bottled water..personally I cannot taste any difference and think it's safe to drink tap water unless any health reports say otherwise..i think people stick to bottled water as it became do popular

[dc]

When I was at university (studying genetics and microbiology) we had to do a final year project/dissertation. One of my fellow students studied the microbial content of bottled waters.

They found coliform bacteria (an indicator of contamination) in a number of brands of still water. The acceptable level for tap water is zero as their presence indicates a contamination within the water supply which, of course, could have huge public health implications.

No carbonated bottled water had any viable coliforms. This would always be the case as the carbon-dioxide lowers the pH to a level of acidity where pathogenic bacteria will not survive. Not sure how good it is for the enamel on your teeth though.

I drink tap water - and sometimes filtered tap water because it improves the taste of my tea. The filtration would not remove any bacteria if there were any present anyway. Sometimes I drink carbonated water when I?m out if it has a particular flavour - the alka-seltzer taste of Badoit for eg.

It?s possible that standards have improved in the still-water bottling industry (the project was almost 30 years ago) but I don?t see the point of drinking it at home and I haven?t looked them up.

[mary123]

Thanks Dc.

[Loz]

We have a separate small cold water tap on the sink that passes through a filter. It runs a lot slower than the main tap, so you need both. The filters cost about 30 quid and last about a year (they say six months, though). Pays for itself in no time if you've been buying bottled water.

The kettle fuzzes up a lot less, as well.

[Robert Poste's Child]

I use a filter jug, partly for the tea and partly for the sake of the kettle.

I too have family in Suffolk and find the water there grates a bit, so here it must be softer, though when I lived in a proper soft-water area in Cumbria it took some getting used to, particularly washing your face and hair as there was never that squeaky-clean feeling, which to me felt like the soap hadn't rinsed off. Birmingham has lovely water, comes off the Welsh hills apparently. Comes out a bit brown sometimes though.

[Nigello]

I really DNK why bottle water is so popular. Granted, it is nice to have a bit of fizzy stuff every now and again, but British tap water is amongst the best. All that pollution from transporting bottles of water when you can get it out of a tap seems ludicrous. Another sign of the mad(wo)men holding too much sway.

[JohnL]

Robert Poste's Child Wrote:

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> I use a filter jug, partly for the tea and partly

> for the sake of the kettle.

>

> I too have family in Suffolk and find the water

> there grates a bit, so here it must be softer,

> though when I lived in a proper soft-water area in

> Cumbria it took some getting used to, particularly

> washing your face and hair as there was never that

> squeaky-clean feeling, which to me felt like the

> soap hadn't rinsed off. Birmingham has lovely

> water, comes off the Welsh hills apparently. Comes

> out a bit brown sometimes though.

They submerged a Welsh village to get that water :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elan_Valley_Reservoirs

[Jules-and-Boo]

and then there's the environmental cost of bottled water, which is far too low on people's priorities

[rendelharris]

Jules-and-Boo Wrote:

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> and then there's the environmental cost of bottled

> water, which is far too low on people's priorities

Definitely - until quite recently I was guzzling a couple of litres of Sainsbury's Highland Spring fizzy water every day, then Mrs.H pointed out that for someone who tries to be environmentally sound a couple of large plastic bottles a day wasn't that good a thing. Back to the tap for me!

I spent part of my childhood in Brussels, the local alimentation had a scheme whereby one took back wine bottles and they were refilled from the barrel. I'm convinced supermarkets could do this with all sorts of products and that it would be really popular.