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Is tap water safe to drink? The main consensus is yes but filtering your water might just be an extra precaution or a means of improving on the flavour of the water from UK taps. Though there is nothing to be alarmed about it always helps to be aware about what you put in your body, and water is no exception. Londoners are some of the luckiest among the world’s populations, with clean water available to everyone.

Truth about the taps

The Environmental Protection Agency has become stricter on drinking water standards, hoping for more limits on a few contaminants that reportedly cause cancer. In March guardian.co.uk published an article about the restrictions placed on the four chemical compounds:  tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethylene, acrylamide and epichlorohydrin.

‘Trichloroethylene, also known as TCE, and tetrachloroethylene are used as industrial solvents and can seep into drinking water from contaminated groundwater or surface water. The other two compounds are impurities that can be introduced into drinking water during the water treatment process,’ the report stated. ‘TCE is especially problematic. The compound was used to clean nuclear missiles and was frequently dumped at missile sites.’

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So this is in our water, and exposure to high concentrations of it can apparently cause liver and lung damage, abnormal heartbeat, coma, and even death – according to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

An article on thisislondon.co.uk says that the safest tap water in the UK is in London but that on average all the water is safe, with Brits drinking clean water straight from the taps.

What about the bottle?

Bottled water has not only replaced tap water as water safe to drink but has also become fashionable. But Green campaigners are objecting to the environmental costs of bottling and transporting water, while bottled water manufacturers argue that they are providing consumers with something they need: fresh, pure water.

So what should quench thirst then?

Research shows that there is water safe to drink dripping from the taps in UK homes, but tap water is at the same time being tested constantly for new contaminants such as TCE and more restrictions are adopted to make water safer. To be sure, and seeing as it isn’t that ‘green’ going with bottled water, filter your tap water with water purifiers. This could take out whatever may not have been removed through the water works system, but it also improves the taste of the tap water. Remember to change the filter regularly though, so you can be sure of enjoying clean drinking clean water.

Tags: drinking water, safe water, water