Time for tap!
Saturday 10th July 2010, 3:00PM BST.
Environment education officer Olivia Copsey
ISLANDERS are being encouraged to swap bottled water for tap water in a major campaign launched by the Environment Department.
Businesses and schools are being invited this month to take part in a tap water challenge to pick out mains tap water from different brands of bottled water.
The Time for Tap campaign led by Eco-Active has started with the issuing of leaflets promoting the safe quality of mains drinking water and highlighting environmental issues surrounding bottled water production and importation.
Eco-Active will also promote the campaign at the JEP West Show this weekend and the Grassroots Festival.
Read the full story in the Jersey Evening Post. Click here for subscription details. Individual editions are also available online.
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Better be careful though as Jersey Water reently reminded customers to be careful with water consumption, if everyone switches to tap water then we’ll have to flood another valley!
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If it didn’t taste so horrible and pumped full of chlorine then all very well… Easy to tell the difference.
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If we all stopped drinking bottled water and drank tap water….
1. Jersey Water profits would increase (if metered)
2. The water reserves would be empty in a few months if the warm weather continues
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Jersey water is the most disgusting tasting water I’ve ever drank, you need to ferment it to make it palatable.
You won’t convert me unless they radically change the taste and reduce the crap they use to filter it.
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When the States start to show a responsible attitude to conservation, come and talk to me, til then – not interested!!!
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No contest- Jersey water is the most unpalatable water i have ever tasted- the only thing you can do to drink it is pass it through a water filter !
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I wonder if this really is ECO love or just bandwagon jumping, have they been reading the BBC news.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/us_and_canada/10444394.stm
In principal a great idea, but are Jersey water going to be regulated in the pricing if everyone starts using the TAP and will our current water storage facilities cope with the extra demand!
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I think the tap water tastes great and only buy bottled water when I need a new bottle to keep refilling from the tap and storing in the fridge, or I have forgoten to take one from the fridge with me when going to beach etc.
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Seriously guys, there is nothing wrong with tsp water, it is all in your minds due to clever marketing by the bottled water companies.
Bottled water is one of THE biggest cons out there as well as having only half the amount of health regulations than tap water.
What the bottled water companies do not tell you is how the plastic bottles release chemicals into the water as soon as it is bottled.
Tap water all the way…
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I agree Jersey water is horrible. I have to brag here in Scotland the same water that Highland Spring uses comes out of my kitchen tap!
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If Jersey tap water was not so bitter and generally rank I may consider drinking it.
I use bottled water for everything I pour down my throat!
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I would love to save myself the money spent on bottled water but our tap water is AWFUL. Are we the only people who can go to India on holiday and get holiday tummy when we return if we don’t have filtered or bottled water when we get back home? Why does Jersey tap water taste so bad?
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1. It tastes absolutely awful.
2. With all the media coverage we receive every single year regarding how empty the reservoirs get during summer months, do Jersey water think folk are absolutely stupid and dont realise that this is just a money making move, for when water meters are introduced……………or are folk really that…………. ??????????????
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Long before we moved away from Jersey I had given up drinking the tap water.Every time I filled a glass it looked like an Alka Seltzer had been dropped in there-all cloudy and most unpleasant to taste.
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I wouldn’t like to see the state of my guts after seeing what Jersey water has done to umpteen (been through so many I’ve lost count)kettles. The water is dusgusting. After filling the pool, I didn’t need to add chlorine for ages as it stank of chlorine for days.
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Jersey water tastes awful..FACT
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Another waste of money and the gall to insult public intelligence,the water here tastes disgusting..Go buy a bottle of Evian and then draw a glass from the mains and tell me it’s as good…it just goes to show that this Govt takes the public for mugs ti, wagesme and time again,,,,thousand will be spent on silly adverts and flyers extolling the lies.Now there’s a good place to make a saving…scrap this stupid idea.
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Oh what a clever idea…. oh no wait I have seen a few flaws..
1) The water tastes disgusting unless you have a filter…
2) Correct me if I am wrong, but we are more or less in a drought as we have had little rain in the past month, and looking at forecasts, non expected for the next few weeks… surely we are looking at a hosepipe ban soon? Yet they are advertising we should use more tap water?
3) Not wanting to sound snobbish, but you can’t beet a nice glass of chilled Highland Spring on a summers day! Cooler and tastier than tap water…
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Gotta love the locals… So bitter. Is there nothing right with Jersey? Even the water isn’t good enough.
Let’s all move to Evian, France and be done with it; I bet their civil servants are paid less too.
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Why do are we exposed to Aprils Fools day at least three times a week. Our dear leaders are taking a different kind of water out of us.
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The jobsworths stick their nose into our private lives, yet again. And we have to pay them to do it. That’s called ‘sustainability’.
On the other hand, we could make our own choices about how to live our lives, and these people could be told to go out and get a proper job…
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Okay so much of us agree the tap water tastes disgusting, and I am one of them.
Lets talk alternatives
1)Instead of lots of small plastic bottles being purchased on a near daily basis, why not look at importing the larger 5 ltre + bottles which are more cost effective they may take up more room in the fridge but they last longer
2) Lets get more up to speed with the plastic recycling, france seems to have the scheme planned out as many of them are unable to consume their water unless it is passed through very expensive water filtering process!
3) If you really want Jersey people to drink our own water, process it so it tastes better and bottle it in Glass reusable bottles like the old Milk bottle idea, at the same time why not bring back glass recyclable bottles of milk too!!!
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The paper version of the JEP states that ” In 2009 all water leaving the treatment works was 100% compliant with all bacteriological quality parameters and there were “no hidden herbicides or pesticides like nitrates etc!
More spin ! It doesn’t mention the non-hidden pesticides not does it mention chemicals like chorine. Just ask someone with Irritable Bowel Syndrome what they think of Jersey tap water
When I buy bottled water the label states what it contains. The tap doesn’t. Time to come clean !
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AH HA! Your all missing the point on here.
Jersey water is the “richest” water in the world.
Our water passes through “magical” sources that gives everyone that drinks it “life enriching” powers.
Scientists from St Queon claim that it “may” help you live to be 150!
It is known that the “magic” water is filtered through the Dolmens and gives a “true” Jerseyman the power to see at night and be thrifty with his pennys.
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A simple filter jug makes tap water as potable as the bottled stuff, and the price of one bottle of water is more than the price of a monthly filter. As mentioned above, the safety regulations are much more stringent for JNNWCo than the commercial bottlers; that’s why advice to mothers not to use bottled water for babies is given.
If you’re worried about draining the reservoirs try showering instead of baths,and put something in your loo cistern to reduce the water used in each flush. That’ll save a helluva lot more water than the amount each individual drinks daily.
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Bean 1: “How dare the States ask us to tighten our belts! I have bottled water to buy!”
Bean2: “Arr know Hedley, they’re thinking of taxing the diesel I put in ma yacht, the cheek of it!:”
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#18 ‘Not wanting to sound snobbish, but you can’t beet a nice glass of chilled Highland Spring on a summers day! Cooler and tastier than tap water…’
All right for budget constrained teenagers, but the more discerning amongst us are only happy if the water comes from a top named source (as in French for spring).
Anyone remember the Dasani debacle where it came to light that although filtered etc. it came from the mains in Sidcup?
I think that everyone should insist that all drinking water is passed by the appropriate minister!
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Personally I have no problem with Jersey Water, but am most concerned when the state, any state employ civil servants to tell me what to drink.
States of Jersey with a Stalinist tendency to propaganda! Alarming.
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I agree with you John, the moaning here is incredible. It isn’t the best tasting water, it isn’t the worst. It does what it is meant to do.
To compare Jersey water to Evian says more about the person than it does the water. I don’t pay £5 per litre for Jersey water, so don’t expect Evian.
Get a grip you Beans!
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I’m sorry, but it NEEDS media attention to tell people the obvious after being lead astray by advertisors for the past 10 years. There is absolutely no difference between bottled water and tap water. It is really sad that people genuinely believe that bottled water tastes better………..absolute nonsense and what a rip off. Jersey tap water is fine and does the job, I feel sorry for the folk who think otherwise, talk about wasting money and trying to save in these difficult times………….trust me, it’s a no brainer….hello!
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I am in favour of anything that means there will be less rubbish strewn all over the island.
Water bottles are one of the most numerous items I see throw besides the road.
Perhaps we should ban all plastic bottles – lead the world!
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@10. Does that mean that rather than hot and cold taps, you have still and sparkling?
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Having tasted the water in east london and oxford city ,i can say the water here is much much better….what concerns me is why the pump on grouville hill is still contaminated, I do’n't believe anyone has been taken to task on this matter, i’ts got to be at least 20 years contaminated.That water really was tasty,iremember lots of people filling up bottles from there.
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I agree with the comments above, that Jersey tap water can taste bad, however, it is just a simple case of filtering it.
To those above who appear to be enraged about being told what to do, you appear to be missing the point. The first sentence of the article clearly states that “Islanders are being encouraged to swap bottled water for tap water”, this is not telling anybody what to do, it is merely a suggestion. And, a bloody good one as the article then goes on to explain. Anybody who can’t grasp that and is unwilling to consider the alternatives to bottled water must be either monumentally selfish or completely thick.
Good on the States endeavouring to educate the population on these matters, they are important to our future and in most instances, actually save you money.
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Robbie 31 –
There is absolutely no difference between bottled water and tap water. It is really sad that people genuinely believe that bottled water tastes better………..absolute nonsense and what a rip off.
No difference are you serious? Jersey tap water is vile, bottled water is much better. I bet you can’t taste the difference between Stork SB & butter, you need to see a doctor your taste buds are shot.
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I’ll not drink Jersey tap water it teastes awful………Champers for me don’t you know.
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How did you all survive before bottled water? You should all think yourselves lucky you have clean drinking water on tap. Stop winging and think of those in the third world who would give anything to have jersey tap water.
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I have always drunk tap water, except in restaurants.
I ventured out and bought a bottle of the stuff. Yep you are right, the Tap water may be technically safe, but it tastes ughhhhhh!!
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I don’t even have the option of drinking Jersey water. Mine comes from a borehole and needs several thousand pounds worth of kit to treat it before it is safe to even bath in (otherwise it is so acidic it strips the piping in the taps and comes out blue). Then we have some more kit under the sink to make it safe to drink. After that, however, it is palatable.
But when I go to my mum’s and taste the water, it is disgusting. The fact that so many on this thread agree surely merits some investigation from the JEP. A blind tasting with 3 mineral waters (suggest Evian, Volvic and Highland Spring/Hildon as covering the spectrum) against Jersey tap (and, for completeness, filtered Jersey tap) should prove conclusive.
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Good marketing ploy for Jersey Water since we will all be forced onto water metres very soon.
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A couple of things…
Isn’t this a Eco-Active Environment Department message – not a Jersey Water message?
Isn’t the idea here to stop using as many plastic bottles as we do, rather than promote a particular brand of water.
Idea: If Jersey Water improve the taste, (as it seems many would like) filters, bottles and retails the product locally (in recycled plastic bottles of course) wouldn’t everybody be a little happier?..it might even create a few jobs too
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#31 Robbie, have you only ever lived in Jersey?
I drank tap water back home because it was really nice, but could never drink tap water when visiting my cousins down in England. Hate to tell you but tap water is different wherever you go and I grew up with soft water, Jersey has quite hard water and I just don’t like it.
Best tap water I ever tasted was in Norway.
I won’t be drinking tap water in Jersey, and I agree with #5, when the States genuinely start to care about the environment THEN they can moan at me about it.
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Perhaps a greater recognition of our relative good fortune would help to put this argument into context.
Islanders have unlimited access to clean wholesome drinking water delivered directly to their homes. It is even used to flush toilets and water gardens.
1.1 billion people have no access to any type of improved drinking source of water. As a direct consequence:
•1.6 million people die every year from diarrhoeal diseases (including cholera) attributable to lack of access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation and 90% of these are children under 5, mostly in developing countries;
•160 million people are infected with schistosomiasis causing tens of thousands of deaths yearly; 500 million people are at risk of trachoma from which 146 million are threatened by blindness and 6 million are visually impaired;
•intestinal helminths (ascariasis, trichuriasis and hookworm infection) are plaguing the developing world due to inadequate drinking water, sanitation and hygiene with 133 million suffering from high intensity intestinal helminths infections; there are around 1.5 million cases of clinical hepatitis A every year.
Time to get real and recognise how fortunate we are.
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Did you know 884 million people do not have access to safe water and that 5000 children die daily because of this fact. http://www.wateraid.org/uk/get_involved/campaigns/why_we_campaign/6959.asp
do me a favour and check this out before you moan about the taste of our clean, safe, fresh, free and available water. So the island is trying to be ecomonical, good on them. They are not telling you to do anything’encouranging’ is the word i saw above.
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Why is tap water so vile everyone? Have you all independently tested it yourselves? or have you just been told by other people who have themselves been told by other people?
This drives me up all the wall, there is nothing wrong with tap water, you are just being huge snobs. Have you ever thought that maybe tap water is what water is meant to be like? and maybe bottled water is the one that tastes ‘vile’?
Just because it has no taste does not mean it is ‘clean’ and just because it is in plastic does not mean it is ‘clean’ either, you are just throwing your money down the drain.
Plus you have the whole issue of litter and plastic waste, which you can read about here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/11/plastiki-rothschild-plastic-bottle-catamaran
I feel like saying ‘grow up’ to everyone on here for being so stuck up…
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37 John Moat – Stop winging and think of those in the third world who would give anything to have jersey tap water.
And 43 World View – blah, blah Time to get real and recognise how fortunate we are blah, blah
Lets get this straight, we pay for our water ( and will soon be paying even more for it )is it unreasonable to expect as a minimum standard a product that doesn’t taste like dog pi**
As for the third world, if people choose to bring children into the world knowing that there is no clean water for them I struggle to sympathise, if they were paying as much as we are for it and were still not satisfied I would take their concerns seriously.
Jersey water – I never drink it and only bathe in it twice a year ( at my wife’s insistance )
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Now I know where the term whinging Pom’s comes from… too many on here!
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someone sent me a email, about leaving plastic waterbottles in the sun and how the badness of the plastic leaches into the water.and how a glassbottle was better.
jersey water is not bad,but strange how it varies in taste around the island.
quite true the fact that we are better of than the third world, one plus point of living in jersey, can go to the tap and have a drink.
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For years and years spud growers have put a chemical called “Vydate” on the crop,you have to wear Gloves when handling it and respirators when spraying it the active ingredient is a substance called Oxamyl a carbarnate insecticide,it inhibits Acetylcholinesterase an enzyme that that functions in nerve impulse transmissions..etc etc.Now it is claimed that it is diluted by rain washing it into the soil,which of course enters the water table and Aquafer….”all perfectly safe you know” well it’s your life and you can ingest as many Nitrates as you please…personal choice….I do not trust that distinctive taste, nor does my neighbours dog….and doggies know a thing or two and have heightened senses.
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The problem with Jersey tap water seems to be consistancy. I live in St Helier and sometimes it tastes ok, other times you can smell the chemicals from a distance. This seems to happen more when it has been raining for a while. No idea what the connection is. The main problem with our authorities is credibility and trust. Since Frank Walker employed his spin doctors every one has been at it and all the spin has eroded the trust we have in our politicians and all. Once lost it is very hard to regain trust Sen Ozouf it the main culprit and I personally don’t believe a word he says. Some of it is simply beyond belief.
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I drink Jersey tap water and find it perfectly tasteless as most water should be. So either my taste buds are less sensitive than most people or there is nothing wrong with the taste.
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#43 & 44, has anyone said we’re not fortunate? We also have the choice to pay for bottled water if we choose to do so, and of course that helps the island by bringing in GST, so what’s the problem? I currently make use of the bottles I buy, but soon I’ll need a recycling facility, if the States are happy to provide one I’ll gladly use it.
#45 Maybe your tastebuds are deadened by some sort of substance abuse or maybe they just aren’t naturally that good, if this is the case then you are lucky. But how ridiculous to assume that people are just being snobby, we’re not all made of money you know. Yes, I have tasted Jersey tap water and I don’t like it, so sue me! Back home I happily drink tap water and wouldn’t waste my money on bottled stuff, here I don’t like it.
And if you need more proof that it’s different ask women about how it takes their skin and hair time to settle when they first go on holiday and use different water, water is different all over the place and some of us have taste buds that can tell the difference, hardly our fault!
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” Steve
Posted July 12, 2010 at 3:06 pm
Why is tap water so vile everyone? Have you all independently tested it yourselves? or have you just been told by other people who have themselves been told by other people?
This drives me up all the wall, there is nothing wrong with tap water, you are just being huge snobs. Have you ever thought that maybe tap water is what water is meant to be like? and maybe bottled water is the one that tastes ‘vile’?”
Steve,
The water that comes out of my taps tastes of chemicals.
No brand of bottled water I have ever tried tastes of chemicals.
No tap water I have tried in the UK, France, Germany or Holland has tasted anywhere near as strongly of chemicals.
In some UK regions I actually enjoy the taste of the tapwater.
In Jersey I find it unpleasant to the point of being undrinkable, because of the chemical taste.
Is that a simple enough explanation for you?
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47 Boat in the morning,be on it ,while there is still a service.
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never touch the stuff except boiled for tea or coffee.
Now wine or whiskey something else.
Wine improves with age,the older I get the better I like it!
I,m not so think as you drunk i am!
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Christ almighty, since when do people drink water for the ‘taste’?
When going to a pub/restaraunt do you think to yourselves ‘my tastebuds are demanding water’? You’d probably settle for a fruit juice, or in the case of Jersey, 10 pints of lager.
Water exists for a function – to sustain us and quench our thirst. It’s clean and it prevents you from getting dehydrated so drink on and be quiet.
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As truthseeker says, we should also be looking at agricultural chemicals and how they leach into our water supply, especially with many people in agricultural areas on borehole supplies. Mains water tastes rubbish, borehole fails EU safety standards. Shameful.
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#56 When did you last drink (on a daily basis) something you really didn’t like the taste of? It doesn’t matter that you don’t drink water FOR the taste, the taste is still there and if you don’t like it you shouldn’t be forced to drink it?
Surely you’re not buying what is just another distraction from the real environmental issue of over population!
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Did you know that bottled water is the biggest con of the 21st century?
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56 – “Christ almighty, since when do people drink water for the ‘taste’?”
I refer you to Jeffrey Steingarten’s essay in “It must have been something I ate” when he contrives to make a delicious water. There is as much variety in the taste of water as there is in the taste of whisky, but, as with whisky (and with most sensual pleasures) it involves concentrating fully on the experience.
Drink some distilled water: it is unpleasant, almost stale tasting (because it has no taste). Different waters have distinct charactristics, from the crispmess of Evian to the minerality of Volvic and the extraordinary near saltiness of Badoit. There is certainly far more variety in the taste of waters than there is between the top selling brands of lager.
“To see the world in a grain of sand
And heaven in a wild flower…”
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Personaly i think it more worrying that we use drinking quality water to flush the toilet with.
In Hong Kong 80% of toilets are flushed with saltwater.
Then we could start talking about virtual water. This is a bigger issue than bottle water.
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59 Fools –
Did you know that bottled water is the biggest con of the 21st century?
Only in your opinion, I much prefer the taste of bottled water as do many of us posting here. tap water and especially Jersey tap waser is disgusting and taste of chemicals.
best water I’ve ever tasted, Yorkshire Dales flowing freely through a cavern – delicious.
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(61)bombass.
interesting info on hong kong using salt water, for toilet flushing, must save a lot of good quality water.
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NO WAY i’m drinking tap water… Look what its done to the vase in the photo!!!
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#57 ‘As truthseeker says, we should also be looking at agricultural chemicals and how they leach into our water supply, especially with many people in agricultural areas on borehole supplies.’
Also…
Think of all the dwellings with no mains drainage.
One man’s well is another man’s soakaway!
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63 David Brown – interesting info on hong kong using salt water, for toilet flushing, must save a lot of good quality water.
Yes but we live on an island, we on earth could we get an unlimited supply of salt water from?
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#59 It’s only a con if you don’t like it but drink it anyway! Otherwise you’re just drinking something you prefer the taste of
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Ok your all mental! Your all here complaining about the taste of water???
Sorry but if ive just ran a marathon and im dying for a drink, ill grab water Tap or bottle and quench my thirst. thats all water is good for as a drink.
If im sitting outside on a summers day and someone comes along and says would you like a nice chilled glass of evian water? ill tell them to go away and get me somthing fruity and potentially fizzy.
you telling me you guys sit down and sip a glass of water as oppose to just necking it cuz ur thirsty. I dont believe it for a second!
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Either one is proberly no good for us anyway bottled water comes from supposely fresh water springs that are most likely to be polluted from all the worlds crap floating around the atmosphere.
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#54 Namestealer: No I won’t. I am here to ensure their is a countenance to these ridiculous views of yours, though most agree with me here anyway.
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When i say that its the biggest con of the century i don,t mean by the taste etc just the brand names make it a con. In Spain, Portugal, Greece and most places where tap water ain,t safe to drink you can pick up the 25 litre barrels for next to nothing compared to the british way of bottled water charging a fortune a litre. Evian,Perrier, Volvic, Highland Spring. Your paying for the name.
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This idea above at 61 and 63 of using saltwater to flush toilets is ridiculous! Firstly in Hong Kong and elsewhere using this practice after every household had to pay for their own dual plumbing to cope with saltwater ended up having to have the plumbing pulled apart after three years because of the huge corrosive effect of saltwater.
It is nonsense to even consider something so ridiculous!
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tap water all the way for me. taste – it doesn’t bother me in the slightest.
the biggest thing, being a good jerseyman, is the waste of money!
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Who cares? I’m not going to change my water drinking habits because of this. I have bottled water when I can, if its not available I will use the tap. Not really a big issue.
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I’m quite fussy when it comes to water. I can’t stand Vittel water and not keen on Evian either, my preferred choice of bottled water is Highlands Spring but most of the time I drink Jersey tap water. I have noticed that water tastes different depending where you are in Jersey. My parents’ house in Grouville has lovely water straight from from the mains out the tap, the tap water at work in town is horrible, just tastes of chemicals, the tap water at home (outskirts of St Helier) is somewhere in between (both taste fine once filtered though). Perhaps it depends on the pipes. Although I have noticed a chemical smell coming from the shower water occassionally. How often to JW pump it full of chlorine?
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70 getting in a pickle with your words there I feel.”I am here to ensure a {countenance} to these ridiculous views of yours”which reads as you approve, However I suspect you meant counterbalance. or similar as clearly you dissaprove as in ,”I would not countenance such ridiculous views”….The Truthseeker howeverdoesn’t mind the old colonial trait.
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#68 Sometimes I just drink water because I want a drink, not necessarily because I’m thirsty. I (like someone above) like the taste of Highland Spring, and another from my home town that I can occasionally get a hold of here, I don’t know why that is so hard to understand. But there is a big difference even in bottled water and there are some that I really dislike.
If I was running a marathon I would make sure I had plenty of bottled water available, not exactly difficult! Seriously, just why would anyone think they have the right to tell others what water to drink, it’s ludicrous.
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My tap water comes out looking like alka-seltzer, it eventually settles but still tastes chemically and slightly gritty. I filter it even for cooking and giving to my animals/fish tank!! Bottled all the way I’m afraid.
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Let’s get this straight. Two indisputable facts:
1) The environmental damage resulting from bottling and transporting mineral water is unacceptable.
2) In most parts of Jersey the tap water is regarded by many as vile.
Surely the obvious solution is to improve the quality of the tap water. The JEP should investigate why the tap water in Jersey is widely disliked.
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I pity anyone who can’t tell the difference between tap and bottled. I can smell the chemicals as the tap is running! Apparently, leaving it in a jug in the fridge allows a lot of that stink to evaporate away, but that doesn’t remove the high levels of nitrates which filters can’t remove either.
I’ll stick to my supermarket’s ‘own brand’ great value water, thanks. Way cheaper than living off soft drinks and better for the teeth. Tap water is good enough for washing and toilets, but not much else.
We have been trying to recycle the plastic bottles recently, but the recyclers can’t accept the caps so we have to take the bottles (crushed to save space) and remove every single cap one by one!
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Firstly #78: If Jersey tap water comes out looking like that it is either bore water or if you are on mains, the aeration caused by your fawcet. It is not the water.
#80 Carl: I hate to tell you this, but homebrand water is UK mainland damn water filtered. Have a chemist do a nitrate test on the homebrand water, that along with flouride is also present. All you make sure you don’t have with that is Chrypto and the similar bugs.
Ahhh… marketing has done lots to convince th eblind I see!
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Jersey tap water is not particularly high in nitrate and if you are eating your advised five a day portions of fresh fruit and vegetables you are absorbing far more nitrate that way unless you are drinking tap water by the gallon!
Nitrate plays a complex role in the human body and it is important enough that it is synthesised from arginine if there is not enough available.
Here is a useful reference but there is plenty more on the internet;
http://www.nature.com/nrmicro/journal/v2/n7/fig_tab/nrmicro929_F1.html
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The problem with Jersey tap water is the vast amount of agricultural pesticide, herbicide and nitrogen fertilizer washed via the streams and ground water into the resevoirs. Tax payers subsidizer this pollution to the sum of 22 million per year.
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Jersey Water notes with interest comments on the announcement earlier this week of the Environment Department’s independent ‘Time for Tap!’ campaign. We would like to invite anyone with concerns on any matters relating to the supply of treated mains water in the Island, to contact our Customer Services department, details as below.
Here are some facts to note:
The water supplied by Jersey Water is tested from source to tap on a daily basis. The quality of the water meets the requirements of the Water (Jersey) Law which sets out quality standards that mirror the Water Quality Regulations in England & Wales.
Jersey Water’s primary objective is to provide a safe and reliable water supply. The taste of water is a very subjective matter and is generally dependant on the temperature and mineral content. The taste can also be affected by private plumbing systems and storage tanks within a customer’s property.
The natural fresh water resources in Jersey are limited to the collection and storage of surface water from streams. The geology of the Island does not provide sufficient volumes of groundwater to meet the total public demand. The average daily demand is presently 20.5 million litres of water per day.
The majority of water supplied is used by customers for domestic use, such as washing, bathing, showering and flushing the toilet. The percentage of water consumed (i.e. drunk) will be very small. To illustrate this, using a total population figure of 90,000 people and assuming they all drink 2 litres of water per day; gives a total daily volume of 180,000 litres, which equates to 0.88% of the average daily volume of water supplied. It can be seen that Jersey Water has sufficient capacity for all customers who consume mains water.
Should any of our customers have any queries over the quality or taste of their water supply, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us and we shall be pleased to investigate any concerns you may have.
Our contact details are:
Email: customeraccounts@jerseywater.je
Telephone: 707301
Fax: 707401
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#80 “the recyclers can’t accept the caps so we have to take the bottles (crushed to save space) and remove every single cap one by one!”
So how do the bottles stay crushed without the cap on (to prevent the air getting in and the bottle trying to resume its shape)? Or is it just my bottles that creak and crackle all night if not capped when crushed?
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Carl Comment 80 – We have been trying to recycle the plastic bottles recently, but the recyclers can’t accept the caps so we have to take the bottles (crushed to save space) and remove every single cap one by one!
As a professor with a doctorate in calisthenics I’ve been pondering your problem with my team. It’s taken a while but we think we’ve got it – why don’t you remove the tops when the bottle is empty BEFORE placing it in the recycling pile.
We have recycling bins at work and you should see some of the stuff that gets put in them, a toaster in the aluminium can bin, a food mixer in the plastic bottle bin – ye gods it’s not complicated, they’ve made it idiot proof by supplying pictures and a fact sheet.
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Yes it is obvious to the point of bleeding :
We crush the bottles at home, do up the tops to keep the bottles small, and that way can fit more of them into the recycling bag.
But when we get to the recycling bins, we have to remove each top one by one, which takes so long we wonder why we bother at all!
Perhaps I should just live off fizzy pop instead? Still plastic bottles, but nobody seems to mind about those products! There are far worse environmentally damaging things happening than the consumption of water from overseas, so put it into perspective and get real!
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84 J W you did not address the taste issue at all just stat drivel….why does it taste like swimming pool water…?
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#84 JW – Thank you for responding in such a helpful way. Shame other people / companies / POLITICIANS don’t do this!
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The taste of the Jersey tap water definitely depends on where you live in Jersey and even on which part of St Helier. It is also affected by your plumbing and all sorts of other factors. I actually have no problem with drinking the tap water at home but can’t bear to drink it at my sister’s house (near Havre des Pas).
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I was going to comment on how over the space of twenty four years I lived at two places…. one in StH and one in St Mtn….one was borehole and the other well-water.
Both had beautifully tasting water, fresh and sweet.
When we moved to mains-water five years ago…it was/is horrible. The horrible chemical taste is there no matter what and is just..ugh, yuk!
HOWEVER, when starting to write this and about to praise the ‘natural’ water I used to drink ….and I never considered it before…I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer three years ago.
This type of cancer I am told can be associated with granite/radon/radiation.It is not a common cancer…. Makes you wonder doesn’t it?!
I shall refrigerate my tap water in future.
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JW thanks for the response. Please ignore, as I am sure you will the fringe whingers like those at 88 who have nothing better to do than try at social complaining at any opportunity.
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#88 JW can’t really be to blame for the taste of the water. Some poeple like it, some people don’t, that’s the same with all things that we consume. No matter how good the quality of the water is there will always be some that like it and some that don’t. I don’t like Jersey tap water but I don’t blame JW for that.
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