4 ms·

I get my water from dŵr cymru (a non-profit company), and they publish PDFs of their water testing -- as of recently every single test for bacteria, chemicals,

by fao_ 2y ago

I get my water from dŵr cymru (a non-profit company), and they publish PDFs of their water testing -- as of recently every single test for bacteria, chemicals, and toxic elements come out at exactly 0. Out of over 100 readings, the average number of colioforms comes out at 0.01 per 100ml. There are no pesticides, and no trihalomethanes. Even ammonia comes out to 0.01mg/l (the legal limit is 0.5), which is startling given that this is coming from a reservoir that people can walk along. Perhaps this is because of a coincidence, or perhaps this is because the company has one job to do -- one that isn't "make money for shareholders", but instead to "ensure the water is drinkable".

nradov 2y ago
That's nice, but we're not discussing tap water here. Just about every open body of water has some detectable level of bacteria. This is normal, and a sign of a healthy ecosystem. Water utility companies then process and filter that "raw" natural water to make it safe for humans to drink. The drinking water in Paris is fine. The problem is that they have failed to properly maintain their sewage system for decades and are still letting it overflow into the Seine river. This makes it unsafe for swimming at times.
- fao_ 2y ago
  Unfortunately you and other posters have misread my post. The claim was "I can’t imagine many bodies of water in Europe have less than 100 units of e coli.", and yet, the open reservoir that supplies all our water local to me, that anyone can go to and walk alongside, provably has 0 units of e coli. Either I'm a statistical outlier, or the supposition is incorrect.
  - amenhotep 2y ago
    This is difficult to authoritatively respond to without knowing the exact source of what you're talking about, but I suspect you'll find that those tests are on the water from the pipes, not in the reservoir, and that there are in fact processes the water goes through while being transferred from one to the other. They have, like, videos of it on their website, they're very proud.

by fao_ 2y ago

nradov 2y ago

That's nice, but we're not discussing tap water here. Just about every open body of water has some detectable level of bacteria. This is normal, and a sign of a healthy ecosystem. Water utility companies then process and filter that "raw" natural water to make it safe for humans to drink. The drinking water in Paris is fine. The problem is that they have failed to properly maintain their sewage system for decades and are still letting it overflow into the Seine river. This makes it unsafe for swimming at times.

fao_ 2y ago
Unfortunately you and other posters have misread my post. The claim was "I can’t imagine many bodies of water in Europe have less than 100 units of e coli.", and yet, the open reservoir that supplies all our water local to me, that anyone can go to and walk alongside, provably has 0 units of e coli. Either I'm a statistical outlier, or the supposition is incorrect.
- amenhotep 2y ago
  This is difficult to authoritatively respond to without knowing the exact source of what you're talking about, but I suspect you'll find that those tests are on the water from the pipes, not in the reservoir, and that there are in fact processes the water goes through while being transferred from one to the other. They have, like, videos of it on their website, they're very proud.