• Question: Why does tap water tase really bad.

    Asked by yawn46gap to Amy Heather, Annette, Ann, Jake, Maxime, Philip on 12 Nov 2019. This question was also asked by bump46pie.
    • Photo: Jake Cunningham

      Jake Cunningham answered on 12 Nov 2019:

      Well, I suppose it depends on the area that you are in and where you get your tap water from. It can depend on what chemicals they put in to help clean it out and how old the water treatment plant is. Personally I love the taste of my tap water, but sometimes when I go to other peoples homes I don’t enjoy the tap water as much.

    • Photo: Maxime Savatier

      Maxime Savatier answered on 12 Nov 2019: last edited 12 Nov 2019 1:45 pm

      Usually, a small quantity of chlorine is added to tap water to kill any disease. This makes the water safer but may give a taste to the water. Luckily, chlorine degas naturally from water, so you can remove most of it by putting a bottle full of tap water in the fridge or a cold room overnight. This improves the taste a lot. I do this every day. The best for this is a glass bottle:)

      Then it also depends where your water came from. If the water come from an area where there is limestone (a type of rock common in ireland) then this may give the water a different taste than if it come from an area where there is sandstone for instance (another type of rock), or volcanic rocks (Like for Volvic).

    • Photo: Ann Reen

      Ann Reen answered on 12 Nov 2019:

      Just as Maxime said chlorine gives water a bad taste. so if you are lucky enough to live in the countryside & have your own private well be sure to protect it from contamination so you will never have to add chlorine to it!

      Algae can also give water a bad taste – like a musty metallic taste. Algae release toxins when they burst & some of these toxins have a bad taste. This scenario only happens at certain times of the year when algae is present in the lake where the water is abstracted from.

    • Photo: Amy Heather Fitzpatrick

      Amy Heather Fitzpatrick answered on 14 Nov 2019:

      Hi. I love the taste of the tap water in the area where I am from in Kildare, where the water is very hard. Now, where I work the water doesn’t taste that nice, so my solution is to fill my glass water bottle ( as Maxime suggested) and put it in the fridge. It makes the water taste much nicer. I also grow some herbs on my balcony, so I sometimes add rosemary or mint to my water to give it a nicer flavour. I know its important to drink 3 L of water a day so I try to find ways to improve the taste.

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