Water Quality

Howdy All,

I am not sure when it happened, but at some point, I became a bit obsessive about water quality.

As a result, I have always had drinking water delivered by Alhambra or one of the other companies that supplies the stuff.

I am wondering what the water quality is in London and if there are services like here in the states to deliver purified drinking water to the home.

Anyone have some info on this?

Thanks,
R

I find most tap waters make me sick now I'm pregnant, so I boil it in a kettle and then chill it in the fridge.  Seems to do the trick. 

You can also get Britta filters in Woolworth's, department stores, even some larger Tesco's and ASDA's.

i have a big old brita (we havea  big fridge), it's one that takes up half the shelf.

water in london (marylebone) is SO hard......it's nasty.  when the water dries it gets a really large white splotch where the water puddled (like in the tilted wine glass)

our shower curtain is nasty with lime, not soap scum.

ikk

I'm a tap water drinker and have had no problems, but my flatmate also introduced the Brita filter to our place so I drink that more often now.

Its from 03 but thought you might appreciate it;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3161201.stm

Our own water is perfectly okay, it is down to personal taste and area though, like everything. Brits are certainly getting up there with their bottled water spending, but we are NOwhere near the consumers that the French are and as far as I am aware, not as many UK households have the water delivered as I noticed in lots of American homes (most offices have them though).

Expats answer is a good one, the Brita water filter, I know a lot of people that have them and also there are various water purifying systems you can have attached to your taps (faucets??) if you are buying a place rather than just renting one.

Interesting question!

I live in Scotland now, where the tap water is delicious, but i spent 4 years in London and would NEVER drink the water while i was there.  It's very hard water, with chunks of limescale floating in it, and a terrible taste.  I always bought bottled water down there.

I wouldnt think it is dangerous to drink the water... its just a matter of personal taste.

Ok... sounds like I have all the same options I do here. Ranging from having a truck deliver bottled water all the way to the same in home filtering options.

Thanks for all the great input!

R

I live in Scotland now, where the tap water is delicious

So true! The water here is so wonderful! And it does wonders for your hair, too. 

City water ("mains water" in British parlance) is classed as safe to drink everywhere, but subjective quality varies considerably.

There are localized pockets of variation as you would expect, but as a rough guide water is very hard in London, the southeast in general, and East Anglia.  Parts of the midlands and north also have hard water.    It tends to be much softer in the west of England, in Wales, and in Scotland.

Unfortunately, some districts are still running with antiquated distribution systems and the water companies tend to chlorinate the supplies more frequently as a safeguard.  The water where I live, for example, while extremely hard is still quite palatable.   Five miles away in town it's coming from the same source yet they chlorinate it so often that it tastes awful.

That limescale is a big problem here in eastern England though.