The drinking water supply should not come from the tank but directly from the mains. That's standard practice, water regs etc. Her landlord's not called Rachm^H^H^H^HVan Hoogstaten by any chance?
Surely it doesn't feed the tap in the kitchen though? It's been a byelaw for yonks that the kitchen tap comes directly off the mains. That's why historically people were always advised only to drink water from that tap, precisely to avoid risks from stored water such as you describe. Although these days, it's very common for other cold water taps to be fed direct too (especially on the bathroom basin, as it gets used for night-time glasses of water and teeth-cleaning).
Check out the system by turning off the main stopcock - any cold taps fed direct from the mains will instantly be shut off, whereas any fed from the offending tank will be unaffected until it runs dry.
The least you can do is ensure that nobody actually drinks water from taps emanating from this tank...!
David
Has that always been so? The only taps in very many houses that are mains fed ar the kitchen and outside ones.
Which is why you were always told not to drink from the bathroom tap - it's not drinking water.
Nope. Never heard that before a year or two ago, possibly here.
I don't see a lot of people brushing their teeth in the kitchen, or outside.
Personally I wouldn't want to drink water stored in such a tank! I would suggest drawing your drinking water straight from the mains.
Mark
Ask the local water supplier what they would charge to test your domestic supply.
Will check this, thanks.
Haymish
I agree too. But a bit of dirt on the floor is very different to having a pound of bacteria growing in your drinking water. Sepsis is one of the top 10 killers.
I'm been polishing up the Darwin award trophy.
NT
You certainly seem to be polishing something.
Maybe you're not old enough. How about running the water in the morning to flush away the lead that leeched into it overnight?
I don't drink water when brushing my teeth - do you?
Don't you put water on your brush, or rinse your mouth, or wash your toothbrush when you've finished?
Yes, but you don't ingest it, do you!? I've lived for large parts of my life in the 3rd world where to drink the tap water would be suicidal. However, we still usually washed our teeth in it (not in remote places, just cities where it was vaguely "treated"). Bottled water for washing out mouth afterwards and a drink, but the brush would go under the tap. The type of bugs in question would need to be swallowed to have much effect (like the sea water too). Also the same reason you shouldn't eat salad or fruit over there that has been washed by locals in tap water. Our stomachs are not immune to the bugs.
As an aside - my cold water tap in the bathroom is mains fed. Gets around the problem! However I still don't drink directly from it - seems wrong somehow!! ;)
a
The point is that someone said bathroom tap water was not drinking water, presumably as it may be contaminated. If it's bacterial contamination, they'll be in your mouth if you rinse your teeth, wet your brush, or wash the brush. To say it doesn't matter because you don't ingest it" is rubbish. Shit, for instance, isn't food, but you wouldn't wash your mouth out with it, would you.
Well, I've lived for some of my life in the "3rd world" and drunk river water. So what?
It's a non-problem.
For some bugs you don't need to drink the water they are in, simply getting the stuff on you hands is suffcient let alone in your mouth. The chances of such a bug being in a tank supply fed from chlorinated mains water is pretty slim though.
It depends on the bacteria obviously! Or the level of toxin as may be the case. Obviously, just skin contact with some bacteria or toxins means instant death. Hopefully these aren't to be found in anyones' cold water tank! Drinking contaminated water had a MUCH higher risk associated with it than washing it around your mouth and spitting it out. Hell - swallowing the toothpaste would make you ill most likely if you didn't spit it out!
So you're either mad or just lucky. Have a look at the rivers running through Jakarta and you'll see that not only does sewage run raw into it (probably the only "alive" part of the river!), but large parts of it are non-opaque light blue/green, etc. from factory contamination. If you want to drink that, more fool you. Of course, you're probably talking about some remote place in the jungle or up the mountains, where nature is going to have kept the water clean, which is irrelevant to the discussion since we're talking about tap water and more specifically (where I mentioned it) in a city.
I don't think 99% of the time it would be. The water isn't stagnant and is refreshed very often by wasteful toilet flushing, washing machines, etc. However - it's just bad practice. I'd rather not drink it all the time and then find that dead rat in the tank and have nightmares forever more about what I've been drinking!!
a
Indeed.
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Nigel Molesworth saying something like:
Probably the same bastards who laid the insulation.
I removed some lead pipe in my parent's house in Aberdeen - a soft water area, so no coating on the inside of the pipes. It was some 40 years old. On cutting through it you could still see the extrusion or whatever marks inside so I wonder how much if any had dissolved in the water?
I didn't say that it actually happened, just that that's what "they" told you to do ... :-)
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