Tap water has to be one the most familiar commodities around so it doesn't need too much of an introduction. It is all around us and better still it is free. I know some of you will disagree with this statement but I believe that the price we pay on our annual water rates is largely a service ... Read review
Advantages: Very Cheap, Refreshing Disadvantages: Taste Can Vary From One Region To Another
Tap water has to be one the most familiar commodities around so it doesn't need too much of an introduction. It is all around us and better still it is free. I know some of you will disagree with this statement but I believe that the price we pay on our annual water rates is largely a service charge for transporting the water from the reservoirs to the taps in our houses. It is true that the water has been treated, cleaned and purified but on the ... ...mere mention of the word tap water I have decided to write a review in its favour, destroy some of the myths and set the record straight.
The Taste
Personally I can drink a glass of tap water straight from the tap but I prefer to chill it first and always keep a jug in the refrigerator. Chilling the water prior to consumption has several advantages. Refrigeration improves the taste quality of the product by dispersing ... more
Tap water has to be one the most familiar commodities around so it doesn't need too much of an introduction. It is all around us and better still it is free. I know some of you will disagree with this statement but I believe that the price we pay on our annual water rates is largely a service charge for transporting the water from the reservoirs to the taps in our houses. It is true that the water has been treated, cleaned and purified but on the whole I believe that if you drank it straight from the reservoir that it would do you no harm and the taste would not be that that much different.
So we all rely on the water flowing from our taps and we take it pretty much for granted, without it we could not function and go about our daily lives, water makes up 80% of our bodyweight so put simply without it we wouldn't exist. Yet so many people moan about this essential commodity and turn up their noses at the mere mention of the word tap water I have decided to write a review in its favour, destroy some of the myths and set the record straight.
The Taste
Personally I can drink a glass of tap water straight from the tap but I prefer to chill it first and always keep a jug in the refrigerator. Chilling the water prior to consumption has several advantages. Refrigeration improves the taste quality of the product by dispersing the chemicals within the water, in particular chlorine which has been added for its cleansing and disinfecting properties. Refrigeration also leaves the water tasting much fresher and gives it a more crispier edge. To enhance this further I find it particularly good to add ice cubes to a glass of chilled tap water on a warm day as the re-hydration properties of water, when compared with any other drink are second to none.
Regional variations
For such a simple thing the actual taste of tap water can vary greatly from not just one region to another but also from different parts of the same town. Variations in taste are a result of many different factors but are based mainly on the amount of chemicals within the water, which in turn is based to a large degree on the origins of the water. The water from our taps comes from various different sources. I live in Sheffield on the edge of the Peak District surrounded by huge reservoirs like Ladybower and the Dams of Derwentdale so common sense would assume that these tranquil, picturesque reservoirs are the source of the water from my tap, but this is not true, these reservoirs supply Leicester, Lincolnshire and further south to the Home Counties, whilst the water from my tap is pumped from a further 100 miles north from the Lakes of the Lake District and Lancashire.
Water collected from reservoirs tends to be softer and purer than that collected from underground bore holes which has soaked through the layers of rocks and collected a larger amount of sediments. Geographical location does have a big influence on taste as the rock type and soil type from where the water is sourced is very important. Water from limestone areas is harder and has a chalkier taste than that from clay areas, whilst that from granite regions is much richer in minerals especially magnesium. Some areas of the UK are supplied with water that is sourced from natural springs.
I remember as a child camping in parts of Scotland and Wales and being horrified to find the tap water had a brown tinge to it and sediments were visible in the bottom of the glass. One thing that is worth remembering is that all water that comes out of British taps has been through very strict cleansing processes and is perfectly safe to drink.
Can The Taste Of Tap Water Be Changed?
The simple answer is to this is yes. There are several things that can be done to modify the basic properties of tap water. For drinking purposes refrigeration as described earlier above is an excellent way of improving the quality of the tap water and reducing the taste of chlorine which may be present. If you live in an area where there is a high level of calcium or other minerals then filter jugs are useful for reducing these deposits. It is however worth noting that some variations in taste may only be temporary measures introduced by your local water authority. For example, following a burst pipe or local flooding additional chlorine is pumped into the supply but this is still well within safe limits. During dry spells and droughts water pressures are reduced and when these are re-adjusted some people complain of cloudy or milky looking tap water, this is usually just a result of the high water pressure creating air bubbles within the water. If you leave a glass of water on the side for a few minutes you will see it clear upwards as the bubbles disperse.
Water supplies with high limestone levels can be modified by adding softening agents and there are a whole range of products on the market which can be added to your kettles or washing machines to reduce the build up of Limescale. Sterile tablets are not necessary in this country but are useful if travelling abroad.
How Safe Is Tap Water?
The UK set some of the highest criteria regarding the quality of tap water anywhere in the world. For further information I would recommend that you visit the Drinking Water Inspectorates website at http://www.dwi.gov.uk/ . All water goes through various stages of purification before it reaches our taps. These stages are:
Clarification - This involves adding a coagulant (often in the form of aluminium or iron), to the water which removes about 90% of pathogens from the raw water by either sedimentation or floatation. Pathogens contain many viruses and different types of bacteria and usually enter the water through human or animal waste.
Filtration - This involves the water being passed through a bed of sand which removes the majority of any remaining particles. Chemical Addition - This is the final treatment process used to kill any remaining bacteria. This is done by adding chlorine to the water. It is at this stage that some local water authorities also add fluoride to the water.
The water is tested constantly throughout these processes and by the time the water reaches our taps it will have been tested over 1000 times. These checks are actually much more rigorous than the checks carried out on bottled mineral water.
Conclusion
Tap water is cheap and highly refreshing, I do not live in a home with a water meter so providing that I pay my annual water I can drink and use as much of it as I want. It is consumer preference to buy bottled mineral water or not but personally I rarely do, other than when I am abroad because I believe that the taste of the water from my tap is just as good as anything that comes out of a bottle. In fact tests carried out on blindfolded volunteers have proved that many people can not tell the difference between the two, and recently Coca-Cola had to admit that its latest range of Dasani bottled water was in fact tap water, it is interesting how many consumers had been fooled by the picture on the front of the bottle of mountains and streams.
Advantages: Necessary for life, Refreshing, You can often solve problems with the taste or appearance yourself Disadvantages: Not everyone is satisfied with their drinking water
...come across a category for tap water, but then it got me to thinking... I used to work in Customer Services for a water company and for about 6 months of the five and a bit years I worked there I worked in the operational call centre dealing with customer calls related to their actual services (i.e. water and sewerage) as opposed to their bills and the likes. I picked up quite a bit of information about water during that job allbeit some time ago, ... ...not mind the taste of tap water and am generally happy to drink water straight from the tap no matter what part of the country I'm in. It's true that water can taste different depending on where in the country you live. In fact, it's possible to have slightly different tasting water from someone who lives in a different area of the same town from you. The reason for this is that water is sourced from different locations - some water comes from bore ...
angeelu 13.10.2004
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Tap Water
Advantages: Very low cost Disadvantages: May be a tad bland
...to strengthen their bones.
Tap water is my preferred method on drinking water. When I am abroad, in particular in Europe, I get quite confused with why we shouldn't drink the water. I usually spend the first day avoiding it like it would be sudden death to swallow any when I clean my teeth. I avoid the ice cubes and washed salad, also. By day two, I am boiling my water for cups of tea, or using cooled, boiled water for pouring into empty bottles ... ...and start to filter my tap water. On average this lasts a week, and then I get back to fresh tap water. The point I am making is, that we pay a small fortune in this country to have water provided to us through our taps that is healthy for us to drink. There are guidelines for this, and it is regularly checked and sampled to ensure that it meets the standard required. The bottles that you purchase in a supermarket, have often come from a country ...
orlando 04.11.2006
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Tap Water
Advantages: Fairly cheap, unlimited supply into your home. Disadvantages: No real taste.
...= How safe is tap water? = The UK set some of the highest standards regarding drinking water in the world. The levels are monitored by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), who has the duty to make sure that all the UK’s water suppliers enforce the stringent regulations to protect us consumers. Results published show that levels in the UK have risen every year for over ten years and my local supplier boast a quality level of 99.9%, slightly above ... ...from agriculture or industry. Tap Water is NEVER taken from highly polluted areas.
The first level of treatment is clarification. This involves adding a coagulant (likely to be aluminium or iron), which removes around 90% of pathogens from the raw water by either sedimentation or floatation. Pathogens usually enter the water through human or animal waste and include bacteria and viruses.
The water is passed through a bed of sand which removes the ...
Benniash 31.05.2003
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Tap Water
Advantages: It is free, well sort of Disadvantages: You may be on a water meter like me
THE WORLD OF TAP WATER
Due to the fact that I spent this afternoon installing a new set of taps in our kitchen I got thinking about water and what a wonderfully versatile and clever thing it is. Due to the fact that I was thinking about tap water and also due in part to a challenge set me by my friend Lwperkins, I decided to write a brief op on tap water. So welcome to...THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF TAP WATER!
Drip, drip, drip, drip went our tap before, ... ...system and still the crafty tap would wait the mandatory 30 seconds (time enough for you to settle on the couch and resume watching Murphy's Law) before it would start again...DRIP! DRIP! DRIP...
So anyhow I fitted a new set of taps and got soaked in good old unfashionable and forgetable tapwater in the process. It made me think that I should write a piece for Chow. So what is so great about tap water? Well for a start, it is FREE. Now your fancy ...
andystrong 12.05.2003
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Tap Water
Advantages: cheap, seems unlimited, healthy Disadvantages: people waste it; may not be as clean as you think
...of water (filled from the tap at my home) to work every day and finish it by lunch. For my first few days on the job, I’d fill the bottle up from the bubbler (we call them ‘water fountain’) and drink another 20 ounces in the afternoon. I never noticed any ill effects, but a co-worker warned me that I shouldn’t drink the water. Julia’s family uses a BRITA filter, but I thought that those mainly affected the taste. If H2O comes from a bubbler, I usually ... ...the corridor with a nicer tap with colder water, but I sometimes drank the water in my room because no one had ever told me not to. My stomach often felt kind of uneasy, but I blamed the dodgy food in the cafeteria and all the beer I was drinking at the student pubs. One day, some workmen showed up at my door to fix something or another that had broken in the hall. I had just returned from a long stroll in the park, so I was drinking a glass of water.
...
OKkaraoke 20.10.2003
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Tap Water
Similar reviews »
Reviews which might be of interest for "Tap Water"
Advantages: A soft, neutral-tasting water at a reasonable cost. Disadvantages: Not yet as widely available as it should be.
Few of us drink enough water. Depending on which expert you read we should all consume something like 2 or 2.5l of water each day. That's at least eight glasses. It would be nice to think that tea, coffee or alcohol could make up part of the total, but they're diuretics and rid the body of water. In fact, drinking tea, coffee or alcohol means that you should be consuming even more water to replace the liquid you've lost. You could, of course, drink tapwater but for most of us this will mean drinking recycled rainwater which has been stored in a reservoir and which could well contain industrially-polluted water and recycled sewer water.
This probably explains why two billion litres of bottled water were sold last year. Twenty years ago the idea of paying money for a product which you could get from the kitchen tap would have ...
Advantages: Very refreshing and good for you Disadvantages: a bit on the expensive side
Ok, I used to say to myself, why but water from the supermarket when you can get it from the tap. Why buy ready made ice cubes in bags when you can make your own? I still agree with the ice cube theory but having tried Volvic mineral water, I can finally understand why people prefer to buy the bottled water than tapwater.
Firstly, I think there is a marked difference in the taste. Tapwater tastes "treated", or at least it does from my tap! Volvic is refreshing and best when served ice cold.
*History*
Thousands of years ago, the Auvergne colcanoes erupted in a spectacular demonstration of their power. Apparently, in the volcanoes of the Auvergne National Park, volvic mineral water filters through layers of volcanic rock. This natural purification and the precious minerals absorbed are what give Volvic its unique ...
. The packaging does look quite up market in my opinion which is exactly what Danone intend it to do! The bottle has a simple screw cap and can be recycled.
Next for the all important taste test. The water does taste good, especially when it is really cold on a hot day. However I really can?t tell the difference between Evian bottled water and most other brands I have tried.
Water is essential for life as we all know and our bodies are almost entirely made up of water. It is very important to keep well hydrated and water really is the best drink available, containing no sugar or salt. A failure to drink enough water can result in lots of problems including headaches. However do we really need to go to the expense of buying bottled water? In my opinion out tapwater is perfectly fine to drink and has the same health benefits as bottled waters. In fact ...
