What brand of water do you like!

[malfunction]

I am aware I probably sound like a right ponce but I can tell the difference between some brands. Personally I don't like the taste of Volvic. I quite like San Pellegrino but that's probably more to do with the fact that it's only slightly fizzy rather than the normal high level of fizz so it's nicer with a meal. Generally speaking though I drink either nasty fizzy pop (i.e. something with a flavour already in it) or squash / cordial with tap water or fizzy water from whichever supermarket I've been too recently depending on mood and how bad the tap water tastes / whether or not I can taste the tap water through the squash - as the tap water here also goes through phases of tasting like it's got far too many chemicals in it (i.e. it can taste like bleach / detergent, not that I've drunk either of those!)

Edit - interesting we've had a few mentions of a north south divide in tap water taste. I never had a problem with tap water when I lived in Nottm, Stoke or York but around here (Wokingham) it definitely has some pretty minging spells though it's been OK for months now. That said my level of water consumption has probably increased (in line with a decrease in beer consumption) as I've gotten older and (slightly) more sensible so maybe I'm just noticing it more?

[shadowmaster]

I heard somewhere that tap water is beginning to contain high levels of oestrogen due to increased usage of the pill.

[Lee H]

I heard somewhere that tap water is beginning to contain high levels of oestrogen due to increased usage of the pill.

It could... That explains the boom we're seeing in "moobs" at the moment.

Any water workers or engineers about who know more about this?

Oh and the daily fail has a hillarious take on this subject (water & hormones) Here

[shadowmaster]

It could... That explains the boom we're seeing in "moobs" at the moment.

Any water workers or engineers about who know more about this?

Oh and the daily fail has a hillarious take on this subject (water & hormones) Here

Daily mail at its best

[TooNice]

Evian now and then (it's expensive, so I usually only buy on sale), otherwise supermarket brand. I don't mind tap water that much, but I prefer filtering it, and filter cartridges aren't that cheap.

[SeriousSam]

You can taste the difference between bottled waters, though from experience they are more similar than tap water from different regions. Me I'll stick to corporation pop... no way I'm buying something thats more p/litre than petrol to drink. If the local tap water tastes naff (soft water is the worst as it has no taste) then I'll bung something else in it, usually the king of cordials VIMTO

[Lucio]

Water isn't just water, and I agree that the tastes do differ depending on the area. Personally I like our local tap water, but prefered the one back home, even if it was often cloudy due the chalk in it.

[steve threlfall]

Lol Daily Fail. Im surprised they didnt try to blame it on immigrants.

Euggh tap water, its got to be Dasani for me

[AledJ]

Water from a tap is fine!!! Why would you pay for water that you already have plenty of access to at home?? Ok slightly different taste but not worth paying for it!!

[dangel]

It could... That explains the boom we're seeing in "moobs" at the moment.

Wishful thinking - more likely too much beer and pies

[Funkstar]

For flat water, the local stuff is pretty good, but the water out Deeside (inland from Aberdeen) is lovely. Tastes fresher and seems to have more minerals, a lot more like it has come from a stream.

I do like fizzy water though, most of the time it's more refreshing. Highland Spring is nice.

[HSK]

I like water. But don't like paying for it.

[Whiternoise]

Tap, though the water here is so hard that we filter it (at least we do when my gran visits, i tend to drink it with squash anyway).

[Vroomparrot]

I always drink tap water if possible, but then the tap water in Leicestershire is probably the best in the country.

There was a taste test of tap waters last year:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...watertastetest

Severn Trent (East Midlands) came out on top.

Also, Leicesterhire is the only area in the country (as far as I know) that doesn't have flouride added to the water.

[GheeTsar]

I guess as I work in the water industry that I ought to clarify a couple of points.

I live like 2miles (East Ham) from a sewage works(Beckton), the one that does the whole of north of the thames. That's probably why i dislike tap water. Due to me being located not to far from it you can taste the chemicals used to clean the water.

London's tap water comes from the reservoirs around Staines and those near Tottenham (previously the River Lee and Thames upstream of the Tideway). Any chemicals you can taste is chlorine used to ensure that no bugs could survive in the distrubution system. A simple trick to stop that (and make tap water taste better generally) is to leave it to air for 30 mins before drinking as all the chlorine will evaporate off. It's better still if you chill it in the fridge - then you would be very hard pushed to tell the difference with bottled water. I've fooled fussy bottled water drinkers this way for years.

I heard somewhere that tap water is beginning to contain high levels of oestrogen due to increased usage of the pill.

Nope, not true. Drinking water is treated with granulated activated carbon which is extremely effective at removing any organic chemicals inc. oestrogen and steriodical oestrogen. What is happening though is that in certain rivers where dilutions are low, oestrogen in treated sewage effluent can feminise male fish. This isn't new though - the effect has been noticed for over 30 years. It's just not worth putting drinking water treatment on the end of a sewage works to save a few fish.

Euggh tap water, its got to be Dasani for me

Lol. Dasani had that epic fail where they took perfectly drinkable tap water and treated to make it fail drinking water standards. Spectacular.

[pauldarkside]

I pay enough for water already thanks, I don't see the point in paying for it twice (not sure on the probability of drinking water you've already flushed etc). If it doesn't taste right, I'll make add something to it.