TAP water comes from reservoirs and passes through a water cleansing plant before being piped into your home. This is to reduce any exposure to contaminants or chemicals that may run off land near the reservoirs. It is safe to drink tap water where we live.
Tap water can taste a little different to bottled water because of the water pipes or added minerals, but this doesn’t affect its quality. Bottled water can come from different sources. Some contain tap water that’s been bottled while others use fresh spring water. Mineral and spring water comes from a an underground source that’s protected from pollution so isn’t chemically treated like tap water.
The other source of bottled water is mountain, purified or simply drinking water which can come from the same source as tap water and is treated with chemicals to reduce any contaminants. The cleansing chemicals in tap or some bottled waters are not a cause for concern; this is just an opportunistic selling point for some manufacturers online.
Both tap and bottled water are considered good, safe ways to hydrate. Some smart water brands have minerals (calcium, magnesium, potassium) added to them that can help with bone health, tooth enamel and messages being sent around our bodies. But tap water will have these minerals naturally in very small amounts as will all the different types of water.
If you are concerned about taste, then a water filter may be a potential answer. But it won’t make your water any safer, despite popular belief, as we have one of the safest water supplies in the world.
Females and males should drink around 1.6. to 2 litres of water per day. If you exercise you’ll need more.
• Lee McCusker (BA; MSc; MSc; MSc; ANutr; SENr) is a registered nutritionist from Belfast and can be found on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Email: attentive nutrition@gmail.com
