What water do you drink at home?

[ana7887]

What water do you drink at home? Do you buy bottled water? Do you have a filter system? Do you have water delivery arranged?
With two active boys I noticed that lately we go through racks of bottled water and looking to change to either water filter like virgin or water2 or get a water dispenser. I haven’t done any research yet on any filters but worry if we install any it wouldn’t change how tap water tastes and we will still need to buy bottles.
Has anyone installed filter and happy with it after at least a year of use?

Tap. Im in a hard water area but I quite like the chalkiness!

We have had a Water for Health filter with filter tap for almost 10 years now I think. It’s brilliant. Water tastes amazing and we had before and after testing and it’s a vast difference. We change filters every year I think. Works out way cheaper than bottled and no microplastics.

https://www.water-for-health.co.uk/

I don't think bottled water is necessarily better quality and it's likely to have residue leached from plastic in it because of the bottles themselves.

My children, DH and I have always drunk the tap water here in the UK. All of us are perfectly fine and nobody has died. The only time we buy bottled water is if we are abroad and aren't certain of the local water quality.

You are spending needless money on something that is totally unnecessary and you are contributing significantly to the dangerous plastic waste in the environment, even though you may recycle it. That still takes energy and power. We should be minimising use of plastic for this sort of thing, not maximising it.

I did once have a filter system which fitted under the kitchen sink to a drinking water tap. We needed it because we have a water softener and shouldn't really drink the water from that. The filters were so tight fitting under the sink that we couldn't get them out to change them. So we ditched that idea and now just have the drinking water tap which comes off the rising main before it reaches the water softener. No filter so no farting about there.

Tap water which we put into 1L glass bottles & keep in the fridge. We have two so always have cold water.

Filtered tap water from a dispenser on the fridge, plumbed into the mains. We’re in a v hard water area and I’ve found (after the initial outlay for the fridge freezer) it’s the most cost-effective option. No microplastics from bottles either.

Straight out of the tap. Ours is nice.

Because even if it’s safe it often tastes awful.

That’s interesting.. can you explain in more details, please. Is filter installed through fridge or you have whole home water filtration and fridge is a dispenser?

The latter - it’s all part of the fridge. Basically, when you buy a fridge with an ice /water dispenser, you either get one that you fill up from the tap from time to time or you buy one that you plumb in.

Thank you. I googled quooker taps just now, never heard of them before. Seems like smth I’m looking for. Do you need to change filters? Also they mention reservoir, does it take space under the sink? Is it big?

Tap. Can’t imagine how expensive bottled water must be all the time! Are you based in the UK?

Sparkling. Preferably Buxton but sometimes San Pellegrino. I don't drink alcohol, soft drinks, tea or coffee so I don't find bottled water adds much to my shopping bill.

@CurlewKatepossibly. That’s what I assumed at first. But this went on for many months. Many blood tests and hospital trips. I wonder if it could be a sensitivity to something like chlorine in water. Have you studied tap water yourself? I would love to know your conclusions if you have.

Tap water, but we keep it in the fridge

This ^

We moved from an area where tap water tasted awful to somewhere with no water supply at all. I don't really drink much except water and I'd got used to drinking bottled, so continued doing this till we had a borehole drilled, thinking that this water would taste better. It didn't, so we carried on buying bottled.

Now we've moved again and the water doesn't have that horrible taste, but I still can't drink it.

What do you mean by “better quality”? Mineral water is considered unsafe for young children because of the high concentrations of some minerals. A lot of other bottled water is just filtered water and you can filter it yourself.

It’s shocking that you have spent years drinking bottled water. Have you ever calculated how much plastic waste you have generated despite living in a country where tap water is perfectly safe to drink?

I think water in plastic bottles should be banned.

In the uk, I drink cold water straight from the tap. DH drinks tepid water from the kettle which was boiled earlier for his cup of tea.....

Abroad: we used to get the 20l bottles delivered each week, and drink and cook from those. Tap water wasn't fit for consumption.

Tap - I've never lived in an area where I thought the tap water tasted bad.

As others have said, bottled water is just as or more likely to contain micro plastics.

I have looked at water filters because my main concern would be microplastics and PFAS, but the only systems that have research that suggests they can actually reduce these are very expensive.

I have never once been concerned about parasites in UK tap water...

Dh likes bottled water for his coffee machine so he drinks that. He's not bothered which brand usually cheapest supermarket own. I'm happy with tap water.

Tap water, Welsh water is the best

Tap, we love ours and miss it when we travel! But I’m very interested in trying Scotland’s much lauded tapwater…

Eau de Thames

Can’t believe how much plastic people use with abandon. I like sparkling water so invested in a soda stream many years ago to reduce my plastic waste.

Me too @ThePoshUns. Actually mainly for DS but then he went off sparkling water so we hardly ever used it so I gave it away to a neighbour. For the odd time I want sparkling water Waitrose do it in glass bottles so I normally have that. It’s very rare though.

I would like a water filter tap by the sink but we have a waste disposal unit so there isn’t room.

Tap water! SE London and it tastes fine to me. I do put a jug on the fridge in the summer (if there’s room) but it’s quite cold out if the tap.