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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Do people drink water from the bathroom tap tap

158 replies

KW33 · 25/02/2025 18:58

Back story is I work in a perdomately male work place. We have a small coffee machine that needs to be filled up with water every so often. The unisex toilets are not too far from where the team sit. On two separate occasions, one male manager went into the bathroom to fill up the water. I interjected and said no, I will get water from the water despenser in the kitchen which is not close to where the team sit. Then the same thing happened today, another male colleague went to do the same thing. I again interjected and got the water from the kitchen water despenser. When I asked the colleague today, he said it's the same water tank so why wouldn't you use the tap water from the bathroom. I said no that's disgusting at which point another male colleague said there's no difference. He would use his tap water in the bathroom at home. Again I was lost.

So now I want to know is this a thing? I have never used the bathroom tap water as drinking water and never would. However this might be a me thing, or is it a woman thing. I have now started asking everyone....even though what one of them said about it being from the same tank may be true. In my head the kitchen tap water can be used for drinking and the bathroom tap water is for washing your hands etc. Has anyone else had a similar experience or thing to be amazed at what some people class as normal and you class as disgusting.

OP posts:
Magnastorm · 26/02/2025 14:31

AProfessor · 26/02/2025 13:41

Best to use bottled water with the lowest calcium content, as under heat the calcium content will slowly harden and block the internal coffee machine water parts.

Or you just descale it.

henlake7 · 26/02/2025 14:36

I would at home because I dont have a tank but I def wouldnt at work as its a Victorian hospital with dodgy plumbing!

So I think its less about the location and more about the state of the plumbing!

ManyATrueWord · 26/02/2025 14:57

Home is mains fed. A big office building - I probably wouldn't because it probably comes via a tank.

whatapalarva · 26/02/2025 15:09

I don't drink the bathroom tap water, no rhyme or reason.. maybe goes back to childhood with water tanks in the loft but don't know why. Same in hotel rooms, I use bottled water to fill the kettle and make sure I have bottled water next to the bed. Silly really but habit now I suppose.

1SillySossij · 26/02/2025 15:19

Also up til the 70s some water pipes were made of lead. When fears about lead poisoning became more prevalent, sometimes just the kitchen tap was replaced with copper

sueelleker · 26/02/2025 15:28

My cold water comes straight from the mains, so it makes no difference which tap I use.

usersdlkgp099uohlk · 26/02/2025 15:31

. The unisex toilets are not too far from where the team sit. On two separate occasions, one male manager went into the bathroom to fill up the water.

The issue isn't the water, it's the fact that the taps are in the loo. If unisex, men will have touched their cocks and then the taps, there are likely to be microscopic faeces and fith all over the taps as well as in the air. Google how much stuff gets spread around public bathrooms just from a flush after a shit without putting the loo seat down.

The person filling up will be touching those taps, potentially touching the jug to the tap or into the sink.

It's revolting and unhygenic. Tiny bits of shit urine and menstual blood with your water? Mmm yes please.

AntiHop · 26/02/2025 15:31

A few decades back, bathroom taps often drew water from water tanks in attics. Things like mice may get into the tank, hence bathroom water not being suitable for drinking. These days, you can get sealed tanks that are totally safe.

In a work place or a public place, if water in toilet basins is not safe to drink, it should be labelled as such.

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