Are you drinking tap water or buying water from shops?

chrcoluk said:
Tap water currently but considering change, its so bad I have to descale kettle every 2-3 weeks, way more often than people quote for hard water areas.
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I live in a really hard water area too but to me that is a good thing. it tastes good imo so much better than soft. it's only calcium carbonate . plays hell with pipes however so we have a water softener as well for non drinking water.

the money for bottled would really cheese me off but as bad as that is the waste as well. it's just waste for the sake of it. not just the packaging either but the pointless use of fuel lugging it around the place.
 
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A2Z said:
No idea how people can drink tap water in this country.. well at least down here in London... It tastes absolutely disgusting. Not to mention has stuff just floating in it.

I drink bottled water 100% of the time.
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How much does that cost you? Tap water just tastes different depending on where you are in the country. Water at my Mum’s (60 miles away) tastes exactly the same, at my other half’s parents (Yorkshire) it’s noticeably different but I wouldn’t say better. The only tap water I don’t like is when it’s been through a softener- just tastes of nothing due to everything being stripped out of it.

People are odd.. complaining about a cost of living crisis when spending £££s on something that is available for “free”. Like when reading the Homes forum and people complaining about the heating bills.. in the same breath saying theirs is set to 18c at night and 21c during the day, all day lol :o Even worse there’s people like my sister that have no money and she doesn’t drink any sort of water.. only coke (diet of course :rolleyes: ), j20 and other soft drinks. She’s also incredibly unhealthy and you wonder why…
 
such is life. years ago when I 1st started work I could afford to go to the pub maybe once every few months and a takeaway was a special occasion treat. OTOH my ex wife's friends who were unemployed went to the pub every week, had a better phone than me and gambled at the bookies. they also had expensive "hobbies" such as smoking
 
Tap water, however I never realised how relatively little of the UK has soft water that tastes lovely. The water here in Manchester is delicious.

Looking at a water hardness map, it's essentially Devon / Cornwall, Wales and the North West of England that has soft water. Everywhere else is hard. No wonder the in laws water in East Yorkshire tastes weird.
 
Hmm thanks all for a very balanced view on this issue. I'm still torn. We went on a visit to Scotland a few days ago and my children, who have been drinking bottled water from Costco, said the tap water was horrible!. I'm an old timer myself, so I can drink pretty much anything, but still unsure whether to tap water or not for the kids!. On the other hand, I'm confident that bottled water must come with some level of quality control, and it can never be anything like Peckham springs. But then again, I just don't want to flush money down the toilet. I'm thinking of water filters, anyone gone down this route?
 
DeanT77 said:
Filtered tap water via one of these;

www.screwfix.com

BWT Water Filter Kit 5bar - Screwfix

Order online at Screwfix.com. Elegant, long-reach tap reduces bad tastes, odours, scale and scum in drinking water. Replace cartridge every 6 months. Installation kit with push-fit cartridge supplied for ease. FREE next day delivery available, free collection in 1 minute.
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Thanks. Is this easy to install? Can I do it myself or it requires a professional?
 
tsobo said:
Hmm thanks all for a very balanced view on this issue. I'm still torn. We went on a visit to Scotland a few days ago and my children, who have been drinking bottled water from Costco, said the tap water was horrible!. I'm an old timer myself, so I can drink pretty much anything, but still unsure whether to tap water or not for the kids!. On the other hand, I'm confident that bottled water must come with some level of quality control, and it can never be anything like Peckham springs. But then again, I just don't want to flush money down the toilet. I'm thinking of water filters, anyone gone down this route?
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the wife used to use a Brita water filter. it's basically just carbon.

it didn't do anything for me I just used tap water.

sometimes if there.has been a burst the tap water is full of air and maybe even other stuff..... when that happens I just drink tea or coffee for a few hrs until it clears
 
Don't think I've ever bought bottled water had it on the table on the odd restaurant visit tried it and... yep, tastes exactly like water.

montymint said:
tap but use a brita as the water here is quite hard.
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Never really got around to any of these things been drinking hard water all my life anywhere that has soft just tastes really wierd. Taps etc do fur up with chalk though.

dave28 said:
I live near a natural spring, hippie types come from a long way with big bottles lol

I have never trusted it though even though it is the best water i ever tasted, i just cant get my head around drinking water straight out of the ground.
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Where else do you think it comes from? Reservoir water usually has to be purified or chorinated here they just pump it straight out of boreholes in the chalk they don't even need to treat it it just goes straight into the tapwater
 
tsobo said:
Hmm thanks all for a very balanced view on this issue. I'm still torn. We went on a visit to Scotland a few days ago and my children, who have been drinking bottled water from Costco, said the tap water was horrible!. I'm an old timer myself, so I can drink pretty much anything, but still unsure whether to tap water or not for the kids!. On the other hand, I'm confident that bottled water must come with some level of quality control, and it can never be anything like Peckham springs. But then again, I just don't want to flush money down the toilet. I'm thinking of water filters, anyone gone down this route?
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The quality control for tap water is at least as good as it is for bottled water. Also, bottled water certainly can be very much like Peckham Spring. As demonstrated by Coca Cola. The UK source of Coca Cola's brand of bottled tap water ("Dasani") was tap water less than 10 miles from Peckham, a fact which caused considerable amusement. It was less amusing when the chemical processing Coca Cola did on the tap water so they could pretend it wasn't tap water went a bit wrong and resulted in bromate levels well above what would be allowed in tap water.

Tap water from different parts of the country and bottled water of different brands can have different mineral content, which will affect the taste. So your children tasted the difference and declared it horrible because it was different to what they're used to. Water filters might or might not make a difference, depending on whether the tap water has more or less mineral content than the bottled water they're used to. Also depending on whether or not they know it's different, since perception strongly affects perceived taste.
 
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tsobo said:
Thanks. Is this easy to install? Can I do it myself or it requires a professional?
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I would class it as easy to install, yes :)

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.
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Change the filters every 6 months and they are about £15 or so each I think.

Been using these for many, many years after weighing up how much lolmoney a brita filter would cost me.

Highly recommend, keeps kettles cleaner too.
 
DeanT77 said:
I would class it as easy to install, yes :)

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com

Change the filters every 6 months and they are about £15 or so each I think.

Been using these for many, many years after weighing up how much lolmoney a brita filter would cost me.

Highly recommend, keeps kettles cleaner too.
Click to expand...
Thanks very much. I'll have a look at this.
 
DeanT77 said:
Been using these for many, many years after weighing up how much lolmoney a brita filter would cost me.

Highly recommend, keeps kettles cleaner too.
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BWT - they are not making the water soft though and removing calcium carbonate , versus brita which have water softening resin using ion exchange.
eg https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/p1xe0l/inside_of_a_brita_filter/

BWT filter spec High Capacity Water Filter Kit A convenient and easy to install water filter kit for whole house application.* Reduces sediment down to 10 micron, chlorine, bad taste/odour and organic chemicals
 
tsobo said:
I still wonder what are the risks though of drinking tap water, from a medical point of view .
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in the UK as close to zero as what matters.

I dare say most of the UK population drink tap water and this is somewhat of a recent thing insisting on bottled.
IF drinking tap water was dangerous then I think we would know by now.
 
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Tap water is absolutely fine where i am.

However when I fill my water bottle up (have a hydro flask) from the tap it tastes fine for the first 10 minutes or so then goes horrid if you drink it an hour or so later. It’s still icy cold though.

I started filtering water for putting in my bottle and it’s perfect. I drink about 1lt of water every day and it’s saved me a fortune. Use to drink 3 or 4 bottles of evian a day, handy as it’s sold all over europe and tastes the same.

I tend to find other brand water Bottles are hit and miss tastes wise but thankfully that’s reserved fro when I’m abroad as sod drinking their tap water - regardless of where it is had to many trips to the toilet to risk drinking tap water in other countries :D :D :D
 
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