Is tap water safe to drink? 4 ways to make tap water drinkable

Throughout the course of your life, the subject of ‘is tap water safe to drink’ is going to come up and be talked about. Whether that’s with people who normally live in the UK or those just visiting.

Tap water is a very subjective topic with some people telling you it is safe to drink tap water and some people telling you to avoid it at all costs.

We’ve been in the business of water filtration since 2011 and have heard it all! That’s why, as water filter specialists we can help guide you towards making decisions that are right for you about your household drinking water.  

We are lucky in the UK, in that household tap water is potable. Potable water is a term commonly used to refer to water that is safe to drink, cook with, and wash in. It has normally been treated and tested to ensure its of high enough quality for human consumption.

But just because it’s met the strict standards for drinking water set by the relevant authorities in the UK (World Health Organisation (WHO) and the English, Welsh, and Scottish governments) that doesn’t mean you have to like drinking tap water.

Those same authorities will happily tell you that you don’t need a water filter or drinking water tap either.

It wouldn’t make sense would it, that on one hand these authorities are telling you that tap water in the UK is safe to drink and then on the other hand telling you to filter your water.

That’s why we are here!

In this article, we’ll take you on your very own UK tap water journey so that you can answer that burning question ‘is UK tap water safe to drink’ and be armed with knowledge on ‘why not to drink tap water in the UK’ without putting it through a water filter first.

And at the end you’ll find four ways to make your tap water more drinkable.

What’s in UK tap water?

If you want to know more about your water, a good starting point is your local water company. If you’re unsure who that is, look at one of your water bills or this handy tool will tell you.

The standards for water quality are there to protect you. They cover metals such as lead and copper, micro-organisms, chemicals such as pesticides and nitrates, and the way the water tastes and smells. Your local water company can give you the breakdown of the water that’s supplied to you.

Let’s now go through the different kinds of things that may or may not be in UK tap water. 

Discolouration

Have you ever poured a glass of water straight from the tap, without it having gone through a water filter first, and it appears cloudy? We get calls from people who say their water looks ‘milky’, closely followed by ‘is tap water safe to drink?’. It’s really nothing to worry about as it’s nearly always air or small deposits of naturally occurring chalk.

You often get the same even if your tap water has been through a water filter, and again it’s just air and absolutely nothing to get worked up about. Try running your tap slowly for a few minutes and the water should clear. In almost all cases, discoloured water may look weird but it’s perfectly safe.

Sometimes your tap water can be brown, black, or orange, and this is normally due to harmless deposits if there has been a disturbance in the water mains such as repairs to a leak or burst pipe. 

Taste and smell

You may have travelled throughout the UK and decided that you don’t like the taste and smell of the tap water in different locations and think to yourself is UK tap water safe to drink? Before you go rushing to the supermarket to clear the shelves of bottled water, keep on reading.

That tap water you are drinking is safe, but your tastebuds get very used to what you have at home and that makes you very aware of anything that tastes or smells different.

Back at home, there are a few reasons why you might occasionally become aware of the changing taste and smell of your tap water.

Chlorine

Chlorine is used to keep your water supply safe by killing harmful bacteria. The levels of chlorine may fluctuate to ensure your tap water is meeting quality standards, and the closer you live to the treatment works the stronger the smell and taste of chlorine.

Water source

Where your water comes from can change. For example, some water companies are increasing their use of boreholes so in areas that used to have soft water – people are experiencing more difficulties with limescale.

Time of year

Seasonal weather changes can alter the way water tastes and smells. Reservoir catchment areas are mainly in rural areas, so winter animal stock movements require increasing the amount of chlorine added to the water to ensure microorganisms don’t contaminate the supply.

Your plumbing

The materials used in your plumbing system, or a breakdown of components used may cause your tap water to taste and smell differently.

Limescale

The focus of this article isn’t about the annoying effects of hard water, but we do need to highlight that no matter where you live in the country your water is going to be hard or soft, or somewhere in between. Find out how hard is the water in your area here.

The general rule of thumb, working from the top of the UK down, is that tap water becomes harder the further south and east you live.

The naturally occurring minerals of calcium and magnesium are the culprits here. Although tap water containing these two minerals is safe to drink, they are also the cause of all the furring and scaling on your kettle and other household appliances.   

Lead

If you have lead lurking in your water that’s a very good reason why not to drink tap water in the UK, and you need to do something about it. Lead can be particularly harmful to young children and pregnant women.

However, before you start panicking, you only need to worry about this if you have old lead pipes in your house. We know that ripping out and replacing old lead pipes can be time consuming and costly, so we would always encourage you to start with the simplest and most cost-effective solution first and that would mean filtering it out. 

It’s very quick and easy to check if you have lead pipes.

• Find the point where the external water pipe enters your house. It’s usually under your kitchen sink at the stop cock.
• Lead pipes that haven’t been painted will appear dark grey or black in colour and the joints may appear swollen.
• With a coin, scrape the metal and if it’s lead it will leave a shiny silver strip. Lead is quite a soft metal.

Fluoride

Aside from the naturally occurring fluoride in your tap water, if the area you live in hasn’t had the water supply artificially fluoridated then you don’t need to worry about it.

We respect people’s decisions on whether they agree or disagree with artificial fluoridation as an aide to reduce tooth decay. If you disagree, then it’s easy to do something about it with our easy to install drinking water solutions.

The quality of your water isn’t always the same

As with anything in life, stuff happens.

And that goes for water too, with incidents that may have a negative effect on the quality of your tap water and make you question is water from the tap safe to drink.

The causes of these incidents vary, but may include:

• Poor weather – significant periods of poor weather can whip river sediment up into a frenzy thereby decreasing the raw water quality. Raw water is untreated water, i.e., the stage before the water treatment works.
• Mechanical failure – if pumps stop working or the power fails at the treatment works this can have an impact on the water quality.  
• Journey through the mains – leaks and bursts in the water mains can make the water unclear due to the disturbed sediment inside the pipes. Did you know that there are approximately 348,723km of mains water pipes looked after by the various water companies and that 3,031 million litres of water were leaked each day between April 2019 and March 2022. That’s the equivalent of 1,212 Olympic swimming pools per day.

Incidents may result in you receiving a ‘boil notice’ from your water company.

What is a boil notice and what should I do if I get one?

One of the best ways to kill bacteria or viruses in tap water is to boil it. If you get one of these notices it means that your tap water might contain harmful bacteria or viruses and you shouldn’t use your tap water for drinking, cleaning your teeth, making food or ice cubes, or giving it to your pets. You can still shower or have a bath – just don’t drink the bath water!

However, think about the following.

If you had one of our bacteria water filters with one of our 3-way water filter taps or a drinking water filter with your favourite from our wide selection of drinking water filter taps then you wouldn’t need to boil your water.

You also must take some responsibility!

It’s probably unlikely, but there is a small possibility that your internal plumbing may be causing some issues and therefore making your tap water unsafe to drink and cook with. If your plumbing hasn’t been fitted or maintained properly this can cause taste issues and water discolouration. While the poor taste and colour of the water may not mean it’s unsafe to drink, a build-up of bacteria and micro-organisms at the tap ends may. So, keep on top of your cleaning!

We’ve also had a few customers who’ve had a new water filter tap installed and then had a water analysis done and they find that they have low levels of nickel in their water. That’s because nickel can be leached from the new tap for a short period of time after installation.

What’s the difference between kitchen water and bathroom water?

Unless you are on a private water supply there is no difference between water that comes out of the bathroom or kitchen tap on a mains supply.

So, it’s perfectly safe to drink from either tap as the water quality is the same.

I remember as a child hearing conversations about bathroom tap water and is bathroom tap water safe to drink. I spent a lot of years thinking that I couldn’t. Experience has taught me a lot and I now happily drink water from the bathroom tap if I’m thirsty.

Drinking warm water or cooking with warm water directly from your kitchen tap is a different thing altogether.

Drinking warm tap water

It doesn’t sound that appealing, does it?

Can you drink warm tap water? The most straightforward answer to this is MAYBE. We would suggest avoiding it depending on the following reasons.

• When your house was built – in a modern house you’ll probably be ok to drink warm tap water, but in older houses there may be lead pipes or lead solder to hold the pipes together. If there are lead pipes or lead solder, warm water will dissolve the lead more easily causing lead contamination. It is unsafe to drink that.
• What type of plumbing system you have – with old fashioned, unsealed heating systems there is usually a cold tank in the loft where water is stored. This can become contaminated with bacteria and other microorganisms. You don’t want to drink that.

To be quite honest, we would recommend avoiding drinking warm water from any tap. 

What are the alternatives to drinking tap water in the UK?

If you are toying with the idea of whether tap water is safe to drink in the UK, there are a few alternatives that should only be used on a temporary basis due to the financial cost and lack of environmental sustainability.

• Bottled water – an eye watering 2.51 billion litres of bottled water was consumed in the UK in 2021, worth an estimated 1.64 billion British pounds. Plastic bottles are the most common form of packaging with less than 5% of water being sold in glass bottles. Contrary to popular and misguided belief, bottled water is no safer to drink than tap water in the UK. The UK has some of the highest standards in the world when it comes to water hygiene.
• Canned water – the supermarket shelves are rapidly filling up with flavoured and non-flavoured canned water. It’s a slightly more sustainable option than plastic bottles, but the major brands all argue over who does it better!

How to make tap water taste better

1. Add some fruit such as lemons, strawberries, kiwi fruit, or some cucumber and mint. These will drown out any bad tastes or smells.
2. Allow the tap water to sit for a bit before drinking it. Did you know that chlorine dissipates after 24 hours.
3. Fill a water filter bottle so you have fresh filtered water while on the go.
4. Install one of our stunning water filter taps for home along with one of our drinking water filters and you’ll never have to have that debate ‘is tap water safe to drink’!

We’re lucky in the UK to have such good access to predominantly safe and clean water for most of the time. We have robust laws that underpin the expected high standards of the public water supply in the UK so that residents have access to potable water. So, please enjoy the fact that you can turn on the tap and the water isn’t going to harm you. We realise it’s all down to personal preference and you have a multitude of options at your fingertips to treat your water in whichever way you choose. That’s why we are here to help in any way we can, providing solutions to all water related problems.

FAQ

What is potable water UK?

Potable water UK is water that has been treated and tested to ensure it is safe to drink, cook with, and wash in.

Can you drink bathroom tap water UK?

Yes, bathroom tap water in the UK is safe to drink if you are on mains water. The water is the same whether it comes from the bathroom or kitchen tap.

How clean is tap water UK?

Tap water is clean in the UK. You are fortunate in that UK water has been treated to some of the most stringent levels in the world, overseen by the Drinking Water Inspectorate.