Water

[Goldfynche]

What is the water like, where you live? Are you happy with your local water supply? Have you ever even thought about it? Is your local water, Hard or soft?
Here in London. Our water is drawn from local rivers. Stored in reservoirs, dotted all over the London area. Treated with vast amounts of chemicals. And it is so hard. That you have to filter it, to make tea or coffee. If you don't use water softeners in your washing machine or dishwasher. The machine won't last 2 years. And yet. Here in the UK. We are reputed to have the purest water in Europe.
My daughter, who lives in Scotland, where the water comes straight off the mountains. She has an electric kettle which is about 6 years old. Yet the element still looks as if it is brand new, straight out of the box. Here in London. A brand new kettle will have 'bits' in it, from the moment it is first filled and used.

 

[jpshaw]

Here in north Louisiana we're on a secondary water system out of town. It uses well water but is heavily salted. Our water heaters don't last very long and we always use bottled water to drink or cook with.

 

[The Ironic Chef]

I grew up with really strong Sulfur Water. It was a challenge just to brush our teeth in the morning. Just walking into the house you were greeted with the rotten egg smell.
Here in NJ the water is scary in this town. We have a major chemical company with much political power. Their site includes what is called a super fund site and hasn't been cleaned since labled. The company has a pipe line that pumps chemical remnants overland 10 miles and then under our bay and then several miles out to sea.
This pipeline has been in use for 30 years that I know of. It has never been replaced and I don't ever see areas along it's route being dug up and serviced.
Regular water mains break all the time....

Several years ago we had what was called a cancer cluster here. Many children were being diagnosed with cancer. It was blamed on the water supply. Me personally, I think the chemicals leaching into the ground due to the chemical leaks is the culprit. New water pumping stations were put in but the new water supply is being pumped through the existing pipes.

We pay a pretty hefty water bill, use bottled water for consumption purposes, the water company wants to raise rates by 800% to cover expenses occured for new wells. Not a peep frpm the government regarding the cause of the childhood cancer cases. The chemical company is still operating as normal.

 

[chubbyalaskagriz]

I'm really lucky, goldf... our tap water here is delicious! And I grew-up on wtaer from a well in a tiny farm-town and that water was delicious as well.

But I have been some places where the tap water was absolutely awful!

 

[Goldfynche]

I am really shocked by what you say about your water, over there. I thought the USA would have been one of the more 'enlightened' nations, when it came down to what is humanities most basic need. But like everywhere, it seems, and in most aspects of life. Politics and greed will always remain, intimate bed fellows.
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Take only memories. Leave only footprints

 

[Dilbert]

well, one may be 'enlightened' to the issues now-a-days, but it was not always so. regrets, once the ground water has been 'polluted' it'd not going to go away tomorrow.

we lived next to a state park once upon a time. park had a big lake. big lake collected lots of 'debris' - the "natural" kind - leaves, twigs, dead mobsters, etc. as a result of the lake water chemistry we had nitrates and nitrites in our well water - we had to install a specific treatment system.

some of this 'schufft' is man-made, but some 'schufft' also occurs in nature. the UK hard water issue as I've read is attributed to the underlying chalky rock structure. white cliffs and all that . . .

 

[ricksrealpitbbq]

I grew up with great water when I lived in Rhode Island. But most other places I've lived the water has been terrible. I used to laugh at people buying water until I couldn't drink the tap water. Now I buy all our drinking water.

 

[Cook Chatty Cathy]

I grew up with great water in Miami, Florida it was city water but tasted fine and we are healthy and have great teeth and bones. Water in that part of Fl had alot of hardness to it, and sulphur, there were lots of minerals in the water. My grandparents used well water there to water the lawn.

In a little beautiful place in central Florida there was a little place called appropriately "Crystal Springs" it was near Tampa/Thononassa, Florida it had a beautiful park, swimming area, and hiking trails, it was supposed to be some kind of a "State Preserve" so much so that even when we spotted a gigantic Water Moccasin snake they would not remove it or relocate it, under the local & Federal regulations to protect wildlife at a State Preserve. So what happened to this georgeous little piece of "heaven on earth"? Well a greedy freaking water bottling company came rolling into town and they somehow managed to secure a permit to start pumping water from the spring. They closed down the park, put up 12 ft. high fences with this green tarp like cloth so you could not see in. And continued to pump & pump & pump away. No matter how much the local people protested and lobbied the big water bottling company won out (Nestle' & Perrier). Friggin politics and the ever loving money grubbing greed mongers managed to ruin that spring. Individuals that somehow snuck in and took photos showed the once lovely spring was full of stagnant looking (algea floating on top) water. It was no longer the georgoeus fountain of crystal clear water it once was! If I sound angry I am, it was a family vacation spot for my children when they were growing up. They now have young children of their own, my grandchildren will never be able to enjoy that particular spring as we once did, and that is simply WRONG!!! Thank you greedy *******s and politicians, you have had your wealth and riches at a great cost to our environment and to our future generations deterement. If any of you are reading this : I wish you would spend all eternity in the filth you have created, that would be justice!!!

Despite the Hype, Bottled Water is Neither Cleaner nor Greener than Tap Water

Save Our Springs (formerly located at: www.SaveOurSpringsInc.org)

That is the sad state of affairs in our nation Sir Goldfynch. So it sounds like it is about the same in London and England as in the USA, I kind of have to believe it is that way all over our planet!

As for our personal water use at home we have a PUR filter system that is attached to our water faucet! Works like a charm.

 

[Goldfynche]

Actually, and thankfully. It is not quite that bad, over here. First and foremost. All reservoirs in the UK automatically become nature reserves and wildlife habitats. And fishing (by permit) is always allowed. Since we are a much smaller country. Our resources are given greater protection. And are a lot easier to police. Any company is heavily penalised for polluting water supplies. And companies that draw water from a river, as part of their manufacturing process. Have to place their outflow back into the river, upstream from their intake.
Did you know, btw. That the furthest you can get from the coast, in the UK, is just 72 miles? And while we don't have such wild and desolate terrain over here. A comforting thought is, that no matter where you go in this country. You will always be top of the food chain.


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Take only memories. Leave only footprints