• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Do you drink tap water?

There's nothing fundamentally wrong with tap water anywhere in the UK (or anywhere in the developed world for that matter). What varies is the mineral content, which mostly translates to the 'hardness' or 'softness' and in turn is related to the soil and geology. Water in the south east, especially if groundwater from the Chalk, is quite hard, whereas if your water comes from reservoirs off the Millstone Grit in the north of England or granites in Scotland it will be very soft ('sweet') and taste quite different, as well as not furring up your kettles etc.

We look very carefully at carbs and sugars on food labels. Well, look at the analysis on bottled water. Some will be very low (such as Highland Spring, good for adding to whisky ), others will be harder than limestone water or may even be 'medicinal' in the content of , say, magnesium sulphate (Epsom salts, gives you the runs in excess). So water is by no means all the same, and both tap water and bottled water can vary in taste depending on its origin.
 
I think tap water is fine. I think we are very lucky in the UK to have such great tasting water.
 
That sounds quite horrible. Luckily my tap water tastes exactly the same as 'still' bottled water, rather than that disinfectant taste.
 

Who supplies your water? The disinfectant taste sounds like too much residual chlorine.
 
I'm in West Yorkshire and drink tap water all the time. I keep big chilled bottles of it in the frig. Tastes lovely to me.
 
ne0h said:
If you don't drink tap water can you say why not?
Click to expand...

I do drink tap water where I live and in this part of Yorkshire, where we get soft water from the Pennines, it is very good. However, I had an office in Halifax where the water tasted foul, the result of old pipes in the building. I used to drink bottled water there. It depends entirely where you are.
 

Well my Yorkshire man, I too am a Yorkshire man, came from Rotherham some 44 years ago but now live in Nottinghamshire, My water is from Seven Trent, well that is who I pay for it, Yes I did one say it tasted nasty but well I am still waiting for a reason. I know some of the old residents once said there is a lake under the village and thy used to extract water but well I just turn the tap on and out it comes, mash a cup of tea and yes well feel it is better for cleaning the drains than drinking it, I can not saying it is like this all the time but well I suppose you could say it is the luck of the draw.

Even before I found out I had the dreaded "D" 2 I was told to drink lots of water as I have a Hiatus Hernia so as I have an appointment this the bathroom 4 or 5 times a night I kept a bottle of water on my bedside table so well getting it from the tap in the night was not clever hence why I drink bottled water.
This last week I seem to be having dizzy spells, I do find taking a jelly baby gets me over it but as they seem to be getting worse should I see the Doctor I also get blur vision in my left eye and I stopped using my car for the present, The Doc said in January he did not want to see me till May
but it seems such a ,long time and well I am rather in the dark with this., Yes I know I have lots of problems with my health and I am well over the hill at 83 but having these funny does when you live on your own and you do not know what to do can be very worrying.

" E by gum lad we don't half get in a mess wid tis health thing. Phyden
 

My water also comes from the Pennines, albeit the better side (Lancashire of course!) I always drink tap water, and ask for it in restaurants, lovely and soft, no scum, no cloudy bits, no furry kettles. I drink gallons of the stuff.
 
It depends.

We like fizz, and bought a soda stream last summer, so we carbonate tap water. Lovely. And I regularly just drink a pint un-fizzed.

It is tap water that goes into all hot drinks and cooking, so buying special bottled water while drinking tea and coffee would just seem barmy!

But last month in a holiday cottage the water out of the tap stank of chlorine, and last week I asked for tap water in a cafe, and it tasted very odd. Almost like a disinfectant (if I was in the habit of drinking disinfectant). Didn't drink either of those.
 

Like I said you turn the tap on and get either water that looks like milk or tastes like disinfectant,, Ok I know if I boil it the odd taste go's but well
when I crawl up to my bed or wake up in the night I prefer water out of a bottle than out of the tap.

I know some waters are great I go to my friends in Totly in Sheffield and yes the water is like wine but well I do not live there, well I had not thought of putting the water in the fridge to see if it loses the bad taste but will as I cannot say I enjoy paying twice for the same thing, I did find that keeping my brown bread in a plastic food box in the fridge stops it from going mouldy. I buy brown bread with Wheat, Spelt & rye from Morrisons but our nearest is 7 miles and well I am not always up to driving the car, we only have a co-op in the village and well it only carries general brown bread at £1-85 a loaf.

Today I broke the rules, my friends took me out for my lunch. I had 6small roasted potatoes a large spoon of beans, two of cauliflower one spoon of cabbage, Turkey and ham I added gravy. I only drank water(bottled) that was at 12-30 at 6-30 just had 400gms of rabbit food ( salad), so today has been not a bad day but I have got a large purple bruise on my arm so well I know the Doctor said I had not to go and see him till May but well I will be making an appointment and sod his rules. I shall book a appointment tomorrow.
 
The smell of our water puts me off, before we even drink it. (Brecom Beacons) Even in hot drinks. We filter our own and keep the jug in the fridge.
In the past, I have had a very upset tum when I went on a holiday and the local doc said it was probably the change in the water, so now we buy bottled when we go somewhere just in case
 
It all depends on the quality of supplied mains water. I live in Aberdeenshire and the water comes from the Grampian mountains. Soft water with very little calcium.
 
STEWBRU said:
It all depends on the quality of supplied mains water. I live in Aberdeenshire and the water comes from the Grampian mountains. Soft water with very little calcium.
Click to expand...

Snap! I'm happy to drink our water


Blogging at drivendiabetic.wordpress.com
 
Tap water with a slice of lemon. Would never waste my money on bottled still water, but do occasionally buy the fizzy stuff


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
I am with you on that one Phyden. Its a a personal choice but I live in a hard water area and my tap water tastes metallic and very chemically although if I run out of bottled water and can't get to the shops then I will drink tap water but I would rather not.
 
Indiana91 said:
Council pop! My nan calls it that too

Indiana x

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
My ex used to call Freeview Council Telly!

Tom
 
When I lived in London, it was always bottled water. Now I live in Edinburgh, where the water is exceptionally pure and clean, always tap water.

Tom
 
I drink tap water but I find the water at home has a funky aftertaste to it so I asked my practice nurse if it was okay to drink robinsons no added sugar.

She said it was okay but only a touch to add a little flavour to it.


Works for me
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…