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Topic ID 1796

30/07/2006 by Pez

Drinking water

Drew off some water from the tap last night to give the lad a drink to take to bed with him, and it had a sort of balloon shaped milky cloud swirling gently round the middle of the glass. I tipped it out, ran the tap for a while longer this time, and drew off another glassful, but there where still loads of tiny - really tiny - little chalky-looking particles swirling about. I thought they might be little air bubbles and thus would go away, but they didn't. The tap water is still like it today. Anyone noticed this? Is it harmless? I'm down in the Kingsmead area, if that makes any difference.

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Archived Replies

Reply ID 22470

30/07/2006 by James007

My water is the same. From a very reliable source, the New River pumping station at Chadwell/Amwell is contaminated, which would explain your situation. That might be why, like me, your water is cloudy. Get on to the Environment Agency at Hatfield. The New River has very few fish in it and it a massive source of water for London. I hope you get further than I did.

Reply ID 22482

30/07/2006 by Kate

Friends have this problem much of the time with their water, and it's been a long-term thing. They use a Brita water filter that gets rid of it. I just assumed (quite probably wrongly!) it was connected to this being a hard-water area, and the cloudiness being caused by whatever causes limescale.

Reply ID 22483

30/07/2006 by Steve

Are you sure they're particles? Do they settle when you let the water stand? Otherwise, what you're describing is not uncommon. Water can be cloudy as a result of excess air and generally clears from the bottom up in a few minutes if left to stand.

Reply ID 22488

30/07/2006 by Plod

quote:
From a very reliable source, the New River pumping station at Chadwell/Amwell is contaminated, which would explain your situation. That might be why, like me, your water is cloudy.

The New River and the pumping stations are used by Thames Water to supply London, so are nothing to do with water supplied to local area (Three Valleys Water). Not sure where Three Valleys Water get if from though!

Reply ID 22490

31/07/2006 by flyer1

It sounds like air finely distributed in the water, if you let it stand for up to 20 minutes it should clear. It usually happens when there has been an interruption to the supply somewhere locally or they have dug a mains pipe up that feeds into your bit of the system. If it doesn't go away of settles at the bottom of the glass then it could be sludge thrown up during a pipe repair. IF you get that air gap thumping and bubbling in your taps when they have been off for a while it is definately air in the water as it will seperate out in the pipes and rise upwards. It should clear in a day or so dependant upon the size of pipe they were working on.

Reply ID 22491

31/07/2006 by Scouter

quote:
Originally posted by Steve
Are you sure they're particles? Do they settle when you let the water stand? Otherwise, what you're describing is not uncommon. Water can be cloudy as a result of excess air and generally clears from the bottom up in a few minutes if left to stand.