Tap water is perfectly safe. But it does not always taste, look or smell as good as many of us would like. Impurities that affect your tap water's taste, odour, and colour include:
Chlorine: Chlorine can be used in water supply as a safe disinfectant. It has a bad taste and odour.
Sediment: This is inorganic matter or natural vegetation. Sediment can cause build up in household pipes and bad tastes and odours.
Water Hardness: Hard water contains dissolved minerals such as magnesium and calcium. These two elements in time cause limescale to build up in kettles, hot water appliances.
Metals and Heavy metals such as lead and copper are often present, depending of (older) housepiping.
Filtered water Filtered water will provide you and your family with clean, clear, and fresh tasting drinking water and:
Makes great tasting coffee and tea.
Reduces limescale build up in kettles and coffeemakers.
May improve the colour and texture of foods cooked with water and can reduce the amount of scum produced during cooking.
Costs much less than bottled water.
Helps cut flowers to last longer and household plants thrive.
Bottled water There are three main types of bottled water - mineral, spring and table. Each is subject to strict regulations. The table below sets out the differences between the three.
On the Label
Source
Treatment
Mineral water
Single underground source
No chemical treatment permitted.
Spring water
Single underground source
May be treated before bottling.
Table water
No regulations on source (can in fact come from tap)
May be treated before bottling, is often filtered tap water which has been bottled.
In fact, there is no legally required minimum content for minerals in mineral water, and levels in some bottled water have been found to be similar to those in tap water.
Research into 28 mineral and spring waters (and one table) published in 1995 found that all had what the regulations defined as a low mineral content. You really cannot rely on these waters to make a significant contribution to your mineral intake, its report concluded.
The BRITA water filter jug uses replaceable cartridges that reduce chlorine and other impurities such as lead and copper and that affect the taste of your tap water. The BRITA cartridge also reduces limescale that creates the unsightly scum on tea and coffee and the fur in your kettle.
