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UK Tap water

or more specifically, London tap water is absolutely disgusting, its ok when you make tea, soup and what not but drinking it straight from the tap is just nasty.

I have been to Yorkshire and it isn't much different there, now scandinavian tap water is so delicious, actually taste so good it makes you want to drink it all day, and it so refreshing to have a glass of water over there, sometime there is an issue with the water and the government over there sends out message on the news not to drink the water until the issue is fixed, now I have never heard of that in London, so I wonder why that is, does the government provide perfect water supply year around ? I don't believe that, there must be issues every now and then, I think they just don't bother telling us this.

most of my mates drink water from bottles, and whiles it is slightly better in taste, I haven't got the money or the interest in constantly buying bottles and throwing them away as it is bad for the environment.

I don't know what to do to be honest, I work out at home, jogging and that stuff, and I need water, so I endure the disgusting water that makes me feel sick sometimes(to be fair it isn't always disgusting).

any advice ?

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Reply 1
Original post by Maths&cheesecake
or more specifically, London tap water is absolutely disgusting, its ok when you make tea, soup and what not but drinking it straight from the tap is just nasty.

I have been to Yorkshire and it isn't much different there, now scandinavian tap water is so delicious, actually taste so good it makes you want to drink it all day, and it so refreshing to have a glass of water over there, sometime there is an issue with the water and the government over there sends out message on the news not to drink the water until the issue is fixed, now I have never heard of that in London, so I wonder why that is, does the government provide perfect water supply year around ? I don't believe that, there must be issues every now and then, I think they just don't bother telling us this.

most of my mates drink water from bottles, and whiles it is slightly better in taste, I haven't got the money or the interest in constantly buying bottles and throwing them away as it is bad for the environment.

I don't know what to do to be honest, I work out at home, jogging and that stuff, and I need water, so I endure the disgusting water that makes me feel sick sometimes(to be fair it isn't always disgusting).

any advice ?


It seems to taste better cold - have you tried chilling/freezing it?

EDIT: And yes - to answer your question, I believe all of our water is drinkable. Unlike a few other countries, we use "drinking water" to flush toilets! (Naturally it's treated again before it's used elsewhere...)
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 2
My family boil the water and then pour it into a bottle and store it in the fridge. Apparently helps kill bacteria and make it more pure or something..
Original post by Zuki
My family boil the water and then pour it into a bottle and store it in the fridge. Apparently helps kill bacteria and make it more pure or something..

That's what my parents do! :smile:
Or just buy the 5 liter bottles(inexpensive), instead of buying a new one frequently.
Original post by Zuki
My family boil the water and then pour it into a bottle and store it in the fridge. Apparently helps kill bacteria and make it more pure or something..

how does it taste ? silly me, I have never actually tried it. :frown:

this actually sounds like a good idea, was there some research behind this that you know about, or was it just a decision made on whim.

I heard about the effectiveness of filters being insignificant and sometimes even counter productive.
Reply 5
Original post by Maths&cheesecake
or more specifically, London tap water is absolutely disgusting, its ok when you make tea, soup and what not but drinking it straight from the tap is just nasty.

I have been to Yorkshire and it isn't much different there, now scandinavian tap water is so delicious, actually taste so good it makes you want to drink it all day, and it so refreshing to have a glass of water over there, sometime there is an issue with the water and the government over there sends out message on the news not to drink the water until the issue is fixed, now I have never heard of that in London, so I wonder why that is, does the government provide perfect water supply year around ? I don't believe that, there must be issues every now and then, I think they just don't bother telling us this.

most of my mates drink water from bottles, and whiles it is slightly better in taste, I haven't got the money or the interest in constantly buying bottles and throwing them away as it is bad for the environment.

I don't know what to do to be honest, I work out at home, jogging and that stuff, and I need water, so I endure the disgusting water that makes me feel sick sometimes(to be fair it isn't always disgusting).

any advice ?


I think you're likely to get used to it after a while, but if you want you could always try using a Brita filter jug, meant to make the water taste better.

xxx
Basically, you- like I -come from a place that have soft water, whereas a lot of places have hard water: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_water

Personally, having grown up in an area with soft water, I would never drink hard water and even things like showering using hard water is rather unpleasant imo.
Manchester water is fine. I hate London water too used to live there and we used to have to buy nestle water every while. Apparently its toilet water recyled
Original post by Doc.Daneeka
Basically, you- like I -come from a place that have soft water, whereas a lot of places have hard water: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_water

Personally, having grown up in an area with soft water, I would never drink hard water and even things like showering using hard water is rather unpleasant imo.

Are you also from scandinavia ? showering is a nightmare too, I use to enjoy extremely hot showers but here if I take a hot shower, my skin and hair die ! lol they dry up so fast, so I am forced to take cold showers which I hate but got use.

I can never get used to drinking this water though, believe me I don't touch the water evening time, it is like toxic waste Lol, and I always let the tap run for atleast 30 seconds before I use it.
Reply 9
Original post by Maths&cheesecake
how does it taste ? silly me, I have never actually tried it. :frown:

this actually sounds like a good idea, was there some research behind this that you know about, or was it just a decision made on whim.

I heard about the effectiveness of filters being insignificant and sometimes even counter productive.



This is the best I could find; http://www.healthunit.org/water/bwa_faq.html, I'm really not sure though, my mum would just preach that this was the way to go so we just sort of grew up with it.
Original post by Maths&cheesecake
Are you also from scandinavia ? showering is a nightmare too, I use to enjoy extremely hot showers but here if I take a hot shower, my skin and hair die ! lol they dry up so fast, so I am forced to take cold showers which I hate but got use.

I can never get used to drinking this water though, believe me I don't touch the water evening time, it is like toxic waste Lol, and I always let the tap run for atleast 30 seconds before I use it.

Scotland, and it was in Brussels where I endured their terrible hard water. Luckily I was only there for a week or so at a time, but my girlfriend was having to avoid washing her hair as the water was really harsh on it and her scalp.

Taste wise it pretty much destroys anything good about any drink ever.
London has the worst tasting water ever!
Reply 12
Original post by Maths&cheesecake
or more specifically, London tap water is absolutely disgusting, its ok when you make tea, soup and what not but drinking it straight from the tap is just nasty.

I have been to Yorkshire and it isn't much different there, now scandinavian tap water is so delicious, actually taste so good it makes you want to drink it all day, and it so refreshing to have a glass of water over there, sometime there is an issue with the water and the government over there sends out message on the news not to drink the water until the issue is fixed, now I have never heard of that in London, so I wonder why that is, does the government provide perfect water supply year around ? I don't believe that, there must be issues every now and then, I think they just don't bother telling us this.

most of my mates drink water from bottles, and whiles it is slightly better in taste, I haven't got the money or the interest in constantly buying bottles and throwing them away as it is bad for the environment.

I don't know what to do to be honest, I work out at home, jogging and that stuff, and I need water, so I endure the disgusting water that makes me feel sick sometimes(to be fair it isn't always disgusting).

any advice ?



How about a Britta Water filter and a sports bottle? Also, I don't recall the London tap water being bad, it's just tap water. I've had bad tap water it has sulfur taste or salt water taste and sometimes it has a bad color to it.
Reply 13
Original post by Bill_Gates
London has the worst tasting water ever!



I don't see how someone could make this comment unless they only drank from a fresh glacial spring high in the mountains before that.
Original post by johnh1983
I don't see how someone could make this comment unless they only drank from a fresh glacial spring high in the mountains before that.


Erm after tasting London water and noticing everyone has a Brita filter kind of shows how disgusting it is.
I did some research and I found out that boiling tap water kills bacteria, viruses and other germs, but it also concentrates minerals and impurities which isn't ideal, so there is pros and cons. It takes out oxygen absorbed in the water, so will taste flat but we don't need oxygen in our water as we cannot digest that anyway, it comes back out through burping and what have you.

filters apparently remove the minerals, smell of chlorine and also some of the chlorine. It improves taste vastly.


also, did some research on Scandinavian water, and apparently their companies water providers compete to provide the tastiest water.

conclusion: I think I will buy a filter, right now I am thinking about brita filter, I might try boiling and mix it up once in a while, but since there probably isn't much bacteria/germs in the water, it is a question of taste rather than safety, and boiling doesn't improve taste much.
London Water :thumbsdown: Birmingham Water :top: London Water is truly disgusting... Been to Wales, Oxford, Luton, Leicester and the Lake district and none of them were as bad as London...
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 17
Dk London tap water bigup

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When I lived in Hendon, London, water was disgusting. Stayed in Marylebone last year and was the water was ok.
Reply 19
I'm from near blackpool where the water is great but then I came to Leeds Met and the water is horrible! The change in water made me feel really sick at first but I got a water filter jug to help ease me into the water and that helped a lot!

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