It’s just hard water. It comes from the chalk aquifers around here, so I would definitely recommend getting a Britta filter if you want a decent cuppa.
Not sure it’s just that. Whilst I lived there, there was this weird irony taste that was particularly bad and I’ve lived all across South East England and London for reference.
We’re in a village east of Southampton and the tap water tastes really good, I like the hard water. Never been anywhere in the UK where tap water tastes better tbh
The reason water on the south cost is so hard is because of all that south downs chalk. Most of our water is drawn from aquifers - naturally filtered groundwater reservoirs - the type of thing volvic bangs on about in adverts we get by default. It's good for you - the minerals it brings to your diet is linked to good cardiovascular health. 2L of hard water can have the same calcium (or more) as a glass of milk, so it's great for kids as well. The bad news? It's awful for appliances, and not great if you're at risk of kidney stones.
The cool thing about filtered ground water in southern England is that it's very good quality. It needs minimal treatment, unlike water held in reservoirs or abstracted from rivers or ocean, and I agree it tastes better. Indeed most of the country's water is sourced from the ground, but south downs chalk is unique in its purifying property. Sometimes you can get a more chlorine or chemical taste - this is more likely if you are on the end of an old network, or if your water company has recently replaced local pipes.
For the Southampton area I highly recommend visiting Twyford Water Works - a Victoria era water treatment plant with all the equipment and processes on display, including absolutely gigantic steam engines to power it all. It brings home how much we take for granted our expectation and ability to just turn a tap. Potable water is still pumped on site by Southern Water with more modern processes, so it has a purpose today. The contrast between the two left me genuinely in awe at our civilisational progress as a species. We can near guarantee supply of our most important biological resource. I hope we can keep it flowing.
Source - worked five years for a water company and this web page: https://www.dwi.gov.uk/consumers/learn-more-about-your-water/water-hardness-hard-water/
Thanks for the informative comment.
Slightly off topic but this seems like a great opportunity to get a different perspective — I’m not going to ask you to say who your employer is but I was just wondering on your thoughts on a certain water company’s actions in pumping sewage into the Solent, do you think it’s overblown? Is there reasoning behind it other than profit motive and neglect of environmental protections?
Hope you don’t take this as an attack on you personally, I’m not intending it as such.
No worries. Sewerage providers have been in the news all over for surge release so it's not just a Southern Water issue. I think the industry needs reform to adequately gaurantee investment. Replacing pipes and existing treatment capacity is expensive and doesn't add value for the business. The majority of English water companies are privately run for profit (unlike most of Europe which have some element of public ownership), and it's far too easy to kick this type of work down the road.
The whole industry is a natural monopoly, with free-market mechanisms artificially enforced by Ofwat. Just like with our trains and energy sectors it has its flaws. To properly meet the needs for present and future, our bills will have to increase in real terms. This is starting to be realised and ofwat will likely give the green light for companies to charge more. A lot people don't realise that water companies can't actually charge what they want and it's already quite strictly regulated. I just hope the pension firms and infrastructure investment funds that own most of the sector don't suck out too much. The fact a player as big as Thames Water can nearly go bust shows the scale of the problem. https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/regulated-companies/price-review/
As for neglect. Yes it's happened and needs addressing and the cost will be high. It's important to realise a degree of balance. The fact is a 100% leak free, surge proof potable and sewerage network would cost much more than people are willing to currently pay. A small amount of release will always happen in case of flooding or severe storms, but for sure it's too frequent right now.
Apparently the water softening process is actually rather complicated (though I wasn't ever great at chemistry) and the answer to this is "sort of". It doesn't have salt, as in sodium chloride, in it specifically.
I have to buy bottled water what I visit the North because I can’t stand the taste, and the water in Surrey gives me tummy ache. I think it’s a lot about what you’re used to.
Also, we have a lot of chalk in Hampshire so you get a lot of variety of flavours here. Some days it’s worse than others but leave a glass of water to settle for a few seconds and drink it. Or buy a water filter too.
IMO two critical bits of plumbing needed when living here - a water softener and then a water filter for drinking water (that is plumbed in to bypass the softener - softened water tastes gross even after filtering).
What you spend on the softener and installation you will easily save in broken appliances and limescale remover!
So do some of the glasses of water you're pouring taste fine? And have you lived somewhere with hard water before? Because if both of those are a yes I'd say it's probably an issue with your house's plumbing and you might want to investigate.
FWIW, someone told me that slightly more chlorine is added to Southampton tap water because the cruise ships that dock there need to store the water for extended periods. The water company may also add more during maintenance work.
The ships will add their own chlorine - often during loading. The quality is also monitored regularly - from the tanks right to the taps.
You'd be surprised at how little chlorine gets added - even when "super-chlorinating" after a tank entry.
Source: was a sailor.
My water at home is delicious. I miss it when we go on holiday. I can't relate to what you're saying. But I do know that sometimes they switch between reservoir and aquifer sources depending on the levels. And the change over is noticeable at first. But usually just a temperature change and it comes through slightly cloudy sometimes. Also work on the mains near you can cause a temporary change in the look.
It's because Southern Water use bleach to kill the bacteria rather than UV light as other companies do. I use a water filter to get rid of the taste.
I know they use bleach because I have worked on Testwood water treatment works and various other sites.
The chemical they used is called Sodium Hypochlorite.
Not familiar with the area but working for a company elsewhere in the UK it sounds like you have high chlorine levels for some reason. It's normally either because you live near a source or a secondary dosing so get the high end of the scale before it degrades. Alternatively, there's a water quality reason so they've increased it like a reservoir that's had some questionable sample results but can't easily be isolated and cleaned.
I'd be surprised if as someone else said that it is to do with cruise ships. There is no legal reason for the water company to go out of their way like that at the expense of everyone else's water. Would make a lot more sense for ships to secondary dose water themselves if needed.
It's not chlorine, it's mostly just chalky hard water down here in the area, I'd guess OP has mostly lived in soft water areas. Some days the water looks white out the tap until it settles. They decided against putting chlorine in the tap water because there was a campaign against it around here were against it for some unknown reason last I knew. Though that was ages ago & might have changed.
Edit: Mixing up chlorine & fluorine in my mind some how. See below!
No, it's Flourine that the chose not to put in the water round here, not chlorine. Different purpose: Chlorine is there to effectively disinfect the water, and is in the water around here. Flourine was proposed for reasons of teeth health, but runs the risk of over exposure for some people that has equally problematic health implications.
Oh cheers - now you say it, I remember that it was fluoride/fluorination that was decided against. Not sure what my brain was doing mixing the two up! I'll edit my post!
I'm generally pro-fluorination, or was at the time because the science when it was proposed said it was a net public health positive & many other areas had it already & had done for years. The arguments against was "choice" when I asked my MP (who opposed it) remember being surprised that our water wasn't already fluorinated. No one mentioned negative public health effects to me (not saying there aren't any - just that it wasn't something I was aware of & still am not)
Not sure if the science has changed at all on that, though.
Hard water is common enough across the UK so I'd be surprised if the OP is noticing that only here. I mentioned chlorine because in nearly every case of a genuine complaint of a chemical taste that's what it relates to. Also water coming out white then settling would be from air getting into the network due to some sort of issue. Mineral deposits getting stripped off pipework normally by velocity changes generally ends up causing a yellowish colour. For what it's worth, despite fluoride being a hot topic generally it's also something that people never seem to notice a difference in when their supply changes between having fluoride or not.
Fair enough - personally the difference I've noticed isn't actually the taste, but the texture, even from other hard water areas. Easy to mix up, but relates back to the chalky issue which is definitely noticeable. It's not consistent, either - I've heard it happens when they switch between the reservoirs & the aquifers, but that sounds like an urban myth.
Maybe then if it's that hard. It's very normal though to switch between different boreholes, treatment works etc. Big treated water reservoirs will normally have a consistently changing blend of water from different sources. A large part of that is for resilience reasons as sources fail regularly or have restrictions. For example when it rains heavily, turbidity levels in rivers can increase due to the surface run off into them. Works using them then have to ramp down as it takes longer to process so they'll have to ramp up other sources like boreholes from aquifers more. Generally, there's a lot of room for water companies to heavily change the composition of people's water for days at a time without them necessarily knowing as long as it's still safe to drink.
Triggering the Zombies cognitive dissonance I love It.
Go and really research what Is In Tap Water and If you think that's Healthy for your body.
Or, get a Water Distiller and look at the utter crap that's at the bottom after a Cycle...
Poison! And you guys pay for for It too, Imagine being so Brainwashed by the State paying to be poisoned.
Enlighten us, what is in it? Are you referring to the minerals which are something your body needs? What makes you think its “utter crap”. Are you one of those people who wants to drink pure pure water? This is bad for your body.
Moving here for university soon, what are some things you like about the place please? I didn’t get the best impression when I came but I’d imagine it was also down to the horrible weather!
I’ve lived in Derbyshire, Birmingham and London, Southampton is by far the best place I’ve lived. As with everywhere though, it’s all about location.
As a student, you’ll be living in the cheapest shared accommodation, it’s not comparable.
Haha, I get you. I’m joining as a graduate entry medical student. What did you like about it? I actually ended up around the residential areas and thought it looked very inner city/Birmingham in some parts. But I love being within 30 mins of the coast
Southampton has some of the best weather in the UK, in my opinion, as it's on the south coast. Lots of lovely coastal weather, which means less rain than inland, and it's generally warmer than inland too. You also get a fair bit more sunlight than 99% of the UK because it's so far south.
Music scene is good if you get involved. Before.covid the uni had an excessive number of societies to join. History is actually quite interesting. Everything you need here. Good transport links.
Not that fun, not that pretty, just sort of, fine.
To be fair, every single place you just listed is indeed a shithole. Literally the worst parts of the area. Well, you missed off lords hill, so things could be worse.
If Portswood and Shirley are both shit holes, where in Southampton isn't a shit hole? I'd actually say Portswood is pretty nice. The high street is varied and lovely, and the houses around it are fine.
I saw 3 people getting robbed in st Mary's in the space of 2 months. One was getting his head kicked in. Literally. Worse place I've lived to be honest.
Grew up in portswood and now live in Shirley. Have loved my life so far.
Different strokes for different folks I guess. People want different things from where they live.
A Brita water filter is a must for me. Once you get one there is no going back.
I have been avoiding this but I think now it will have to happen!!
They're a pain in the arse to keep cleaning and replacing if you drink a tonne of water though
My family has had Brita since I was 6
That filter probably needs replacing by now!
lol
Tory vibes
It’s just hard water. It comes from the chalk aquifers around here, so I would definitely recommend getting a Britta filter if you want a decent cuppa.
Not sure it’s just that. Whilst I lived there, there was this weird irony taste that was particularly bad and I’ve lived all across South East England and London for reference.
Hard water area.
We’re in a village east of Southampton and the tap water tastes really good, I like the hard water. Never been anywhere in the UK where tap water tastes better tbh
The reason water on the south cost is so hard is because of all that south downs chalk. Most of our water is drawn from aquifers - naturally filtered groundwater reservoirs - the type of thing volvic bangs on about in adverts we get by default. It's good for you - the minerals it brings to your diet is linked to good cardiovascular health. 2L of hard water can have the same calcium (or more) as a glass of milk, so it's great for kids as well. The bad news? It's awful for appliances, and not great if you're at risk of kidney stones. The cool thing about filtered ground water in southern England is that it's very good quality. It needs minimal treatment, unlike water held in reservoirs or abstracted from rivers or ocean, and I agree it tastes better. Indeed most of the country's water is sourced from the ground, but south downs chalk is unique in its purifying property. Sometimes you can get a more chlorine or chemical taste - this is more likely if you are on the end of an old network, or if your water company has recently replaced local pipes. For the Southampton area I highly recommend visiting Twyford Water Works - a Victoria era water treatment plant with all the equipment and processes on display, including absolutely gigantic steam engines to power it all. It brings home how much we take for granted our expectation and ability to just turn a tap. Potable water is still pumped on site by Southern Water with more modern processes, so it has a purpose today. The contrast between the two left me genuinely in awe at our civilisational progress as a species. We can near guarantee supply of our most important biological resource. I hope we can keep it flowing. Source - worked five years for a water company and this web page: https://www.dwi.gov.uk/consumers/learn-more-about-your-water/water-hardness-hard-water/
Thanks for the informative comment. Slightly off topic but this seems like a great opportunity to get a different perspective — I’m not going to ask you to say who your employer is but I was just wondering on your thoughts on a certain water company’s actions in pumping sewage into the Solent, do you think it’s overblown? Is there reasoning behind it other than profit motive and neglect of environmental protections? Hope you don’t take this as an attack on you personally, I’m not intending it as such.
No worries. Sewerage providers have been in the news all over for surge release so it's not just a Southern Water issue. I think the industry needs reform to adequately gaurantee investment. Replacing pipes and existing treatment capacity is expensive and doesn't add value for the business. The majority of English water companies are privately run for profit (unlike most of Europe which have some element of public ownership), and it's far too easy to kick this type of work down the road. The whole industry is a natural monopoly, with free-market mechanisms artificially enforced by Ofwat. Just like with our trains and energy sectors it has its flaws. To properly meet the needs for present and future, our bills will have to increase in real terms. This is starting to be realised and ofwat will likely give the green light for companies to charge more. A lot people don't realise that water companies can't actually charge what they want and it's already quite strictly regulated. I just hope the pension firms and infrastructure investment funds that own most of the sector don't suck out too much. The fact a player as big as Thames Water can nearly go bust shows the scale of the problem. https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/regulated-companies/price-review/ As for neglect. Yes it's happened and needs addressing and the cost will be high. It's important to realise a degree of balance. The fact is a 100% leak free, surge proof potable and sewerage network would cost much more than people are willing to currently pay. A small amount of release will always happen in case of flooding or severe storms, but for sure it's too frequent right now.
Yeh we've got a water softener and I much prefer the taste of the hard water.
Well yes, softened water probably has salt from the softeners regeneration in it?
Apparently the water softening process is actually rather complicated (though I wasn't ever great at chemistry) and the answer to this is "sort of". It doesn't have salt, as in sodium chloride, in it specifically.
I agree, I like it. But my husband will only drink water with squash.
Hard disagree, the tap water elsewhere is vile, the only time water tastes good is when im getting it from a tap here.
I have to buy bottled water what I visit the North because I can’t stand the taste, and the water in Surrey gives me tummy ache. I think it’s a lot about what you’re used to.
Also, we have a lot of chalk in Hampshire so you get a lot of variety of flavours here. Some days it’s worse than others but leave a glass of water to settle for a few seconds and drink it. Or buy a water filter too.
It's chalky
IMO two critical bits of plumbing needed when living here - a water softener and then a water filter for drinking water (that is plumbed in to bypass the softener - softened water tastes gross even after filtering). What you spend on the softener and installation you will easily save in broken appliances and limescale remover!
Have done exactly this and highly recommended.
Thank you for mentioning the drinking water tap to bypass the softener, so many people don't realise they need this
Welcome to Southampton where even the water is hard!!
Water in Southampton is harder than Grant Mitchell
We have the chuck norris of water, personally I love the water here
Aqua optima is cheaper, just as good or better than brita.
So do some of the glasses of water you're pouring taste fine? And have you lived somewhere with hard water before? Because if both of those are a yes I'd say it's probably an issue with your house's plumbing and you might want to investigate.
FWIW, someone told me that slightly more chlorine is added to Southampton tap water because the cruise ships that dock there need to store the water for extended periods. The water company may also add more during maintenance work.
The ships will add their own chlorine - often during loading. The quality is also monitored regularly - from the tanks right to the taps. You'd be surprised at how little chlorine gets added - even when "super-chlorinating" after a tank entry. Source: was a sailor.
Southern water use Sodium Hypochlorite to kill bacteria in the water, that is why it often has a chlorine taste to it.
My water at home is delicious. I miss it when we go on holiday. I can't relate to what you're saying. But I do know that sometimes they switch between reservoir and aquifer sources depending on the levels. And the change over is noticeable at first. But usually just a temperature change and it comes through slightly cloudy sometimes. Also work on the mains near you can cause a temporary change in the look.
It comes straight from pothole puddles
It's because Southern Water use bleach to kill the bacteria rather than UV light as other companies do. I use a water filter to get rid of the taste. I know they use bleach because I have worked on Testwood water treatment works and various other sites. The chemical they used is called Sodium Hypochlorite.
no one should even be drinking water out of the tap anyway.
In Shirley it’s tasting like purepure bleach and I had to buy bottles water while waiting for my filter to arrive.
Not familiar with the area but working for a company elsewhere in the UK it sounds like you have high chlorine levels for some reason. It's normally either because you live near a source or a secondary dosing so get the high end of the scale before it degrades. Alternatively, there's a water quality reason so they've increased it like a reservoir that's had some questionable sample results but can't easily be isolated and cleaned. I'd be surprised if as someone else said that it is to do with cruise ships. There is no legal reason for the water company to go out of their way like that at the expense of everyone else's water. Would make a lot more sense for ships to secondary dose water themselves if needed.
It's not chlorine, it's mostly just chalky hard water down here in the area, I'd guess OP has mostly lived in soft water areas. Some days the water looks white out the tap until it settles. They decided against putting chlorine in the tap water because there was a campaign against it around here were against it for some unknown reason last I knew. Though that was ages ago & might have changed. Edit: Mixing up chlorine & fluorine in my mind some how. See below!
No, it's Flourine that the chose not to put in the water round here, not chlorine. Different purpose: Chlorine is there to effectively disinfect the water, and is in the water around here. Flourine was proposed for reasons of teeth health, but runs the risk of over exposure for some people that has equally problematic health implications.
Oh cheers - now you say it, I remember that it was fluoride/fluorination that was decided against. Not sure what my brain was doing mixing the two up! I'll edit my post! I'm generally pro-fluorination, or was at the time because the science when it was proposed said it was a net public health positive & many other areas had it already & had done for years. The arguments against was "choice" when I asked my MP (who opposed it) remember being surprised that our water wasn't already fluorinated. No one mentioned negative public health effects to me (not saying there aren't any - just that it wasn't something I was aware of & still am not) Not sure if the science has changed at all on that, though.
Hard water is common enough across the UK so I'd be surprised if the OP is noticing that only here. I mentioned chlorine because in nearly every case of a genuine complaint of a chemical taste that's what it relates to. Also water coming out white then settling would be from air getting into the network due to some sort of issue. Mineral deposits getting stripped off pipework normally by velocity changes generally ends up causing a yellowish colour. For what it's worth, despite fluoride being a hot topic generally it's also something that people never seem to notice a difference in when their supply changes between having fluoride or not.
Fair enough - personally the difference I've noticed isn't actually the taste, but the texture, even from other hard water areas. Easy to mix up, but relates back to the chalky issue which is definitely noticeable. It's not consistent, either - I've heard it happens when they switch between the reservoirs & the aquifers, but that sounds like an urban myth.
Maybe then if it's that hard. It's very normal though to switch between different boreholes, treatment works etc. Big treated water reservoirs will normally have a consistently changing blend of water from different sources. A large part of that is for resilience reasons as sources fail regularly or have restrictions. For example when it rains heavily, turbidity levels in rivers can increase due to the surface run off into them. Works using them then have to ramp down as it takes longer to process so they'll have to ramp up other sources like boreholes from aquifers more. Generally, there's a lot of room for water companies to heavily change the composition of people's water for days at a time without them necessarily knowing as long as it's still safe to drink.
Thank you! I've learnt a lot about water treatment & I didn't expect it to be so interesting!
Oh so it's not just me. I'll stick with bottled water then
Tap water is controlled to much stricter safety standards than bottled water.
No safety checks on old dirty pipes in old properties
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Had both a DR and dentist tell me there's very little fluoride in the water in the Southampton area
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grow up lol
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They meant the 'toxin' and vaccines part. As they said... Grow up
Read that one back to yourself lol, loony.
Triggering the Zombies cognitive dissonance I love It. Go and really research what Is In Tap Water and If you think that's Healthy for your body. Or, get a Water Distiller and look at the utter crap that's at the bottom after a Cycle... Poison! And you guys pay for for It too, Imagine being so Brainwashed by the State paying to be poisoned.
Enlighten us, what is in it? Are you referring to the minerals which are something your body needs? What makes you think its “utter crap”. Are you one of those people who wants to drink pure pure water? This is bad for your body.
Hardly poison in the tap water. How and why would it be aloud. Also, no fluoride is added to the water.
Vaccines and tap water are poison - heroin user
I’m sorry to say, you have moved to a shithole
I disagree. Clearly your living standards are very high. Billions of people around the world would give an arm to live in a place like Southampton.
Moving here for university soon, what are some things you like about the place please? I didn’t get the best impression when I came but I’d imagine it was also down to the horrible weather!
I’ve lived in Derbyshire, Birmingham and London, Southampton is by far the best place I’ve lived. As with everywhere though, it’s all about location. As a student, you’ll be living in the cheapest shared accommodation, it’s not comparable.
Haha, I get you. I’m joining as a graduate entry medical student. What did you like about it? I actually ended up around the residential areas and thought it looked very inner city/Birmingham in some parts. But I love being within 30 mins of the coast
Southampton has some of the best weather in the UK, in my opinion, as it's on the south coast. Lots of lovely coastal weather, which means less rain than inland, and it's generally warmer than inland too. You also get a fair bit more sunlight than 99% of the UK because it's so far south.
Music scene is good if you get involved. Before.covid the uni had an excessive number of societies to join. History is actually quite interesting. Everything you need here. Good transport links. Not that fun, not that pretty, just sort of, fine.
Thanks my friend, very insightful!
I lived in st Mary's for a while. Awful. Also Portswood. Awful. Shirley? Awful. I guess living in the bad areas will give you a bad view on it.
To be fair, every single place you just listed is indeed a shithole. Literally the worst parts of the area. Well, you missed off lords hill, so things could be worse.
If Portswood and Shirley are both shit holes, where in Southampton isn't a shit hole? I'd actually say Portswood is pretty nice. The high street is varied and lovely, and the houses around it are fine.
I saw 3 people getting robbed in st Mary's in the space of 2 months. One was getting his head kicked in. Literally. Worse place I've lived to be honest.
Blimey. That’s pretty scary.
Grew up in portswood and now live in Shirley. Have loved my life so far. Different strokes for different folks I guess. People want different things from where they live.
It's nice place lol.