Is Tap Water Safe To Drink?

The Problem With Tap Water

Many prominent scientists have looked at every day water and noted the amount of substances that is contained in the average glass of tap water.

Sadly, the most significant dangers in the water you drink cannot always be detected by smell, taste, or sight.

Of course, there are many natural minerals and nutrients that organically occur within water but most drinking water (especially tap water) have had many things added to them.

In most cases these chemicals have been added to clean and purify the water, but in some cases government authorities add things to tap water to improve the health of the population e.g. fluoride.

There are also many substances routinely added to the water supply such as liquified chlorine, calcium hydroxide sodium silicofluoride and aluminium sulphate.

You should get a comprehensive water test if you want to be certain of what is in your tap water.

Even if the water leaves the source in a reasonably clean state, you must remember that water travels through pipes, and the cleanliness of the pipes is pivotal to the cleanliness of the water you receive from the tap, especially tap outlets that suffer from both rust and limescale.

What’s in Tap Water? (Comprehensive List)

Tap water is treated with many chemicals that kill bacteria and other harmful microorganisms.

The following list is a more comprehensive list of some of the typical content that you might find in tap water:

Typical Tap Water Content

• Trihalomethanes (THMs).
• Fluorine compounds.
• Chlorine.
• Pesticides.
• Hormones.
• Nitrates.
• Salts of:
  • mercury
  • arsenic
  • barium
  • aluminium
  • copper
  • cadmium
  • lead
  • radium

Water Quality: Contaminants in the Pipes?

In rare occasions, your tap water could become contaminated due to damage in the water supply line.

One of the most dangerous problems that could occur is lead getting into the water from pipes.

Even ”lead-free” pipes can contain around 8% of lead.

The best way to avoid lead contamination entering your tap water is to get an under sink filter (reverse osmosis) or a whole house filter that also treats lead like this one.

Tap Water vs. Bottled Water

The first thing to note is that both forms of water are safe to drink although bottled water is likely to have gone through a further filtration process.

Some people consider that bottled water tastes better then tap water and doesn’t create limescale if used in your kettle.

However, the biggest disadvantage of bottled water is the cost both in terms of finances and to the environment.

It is thought that imported water brands use 300 times the CO₂ emissions per litre when compared to the energy used to create tap water. It also takes around 162g of oil and 7 litres of water to manufacture a 1 litre bottle.

The other side of this are pitifully low recycling rates. For instance, some 14 billion plastic bottles still end up in the UK landfill every single year.