PALocal water authorities have released data which reveals which part of the UK has the worst tap water in the country.
Water in Ipswich has the highest levels of calcium carbonate, the key mineral component of hard water, in the country – 423 milligrams per litre – a whole 44 milligrams more than the second highest place, Colchester.
Luton, Norwich and Watford are also in the top five, with calcium carbonate levels of 360, 359 and 358 milligrams respectively.
PAThe findings emerged after it was revealed one third of Brits believe the water in their area has damaged their home appliances, including kettles, washing machines and showers.
Commissioned by water tech company Best Water Technology (BWT), the survey of 2,000 UK adults also found one-fifth have no idea whether they live in a hard or soft water area.
Jon Wicks, Managing Director, BWT, said:
As the research suggests, many people don’t know what type of water they have in their area – hard or soft – but actually most of the country lives with hard water.
Hard water has a high mineral content in comparison to soft water which has less.
The water becomes ‘hard’ when it filters through limestone and chalk deposits – which are mainly made up of calcium and magnesium carbonates.
PAApparently, UK residents will boil the kettle 82,095 times during the average adult lifetime and use the washing machine on 5,224 times.
The survey carried out by OnePoll also found we have an average of 15,458 showers and 3,567 baths during our adult years.
But more than a quarter think their mains water has detrimentally affected their skin, 28 per cent feel the same about their hair and 14 per cent believe it has made them look older than they really are!
Mr Wicks added:
Many people don’t know what hard water is or what impact it has. For example, what will surprise most people is that hard water can make your skin look older, and hair colour duller.
Household costs can go up too as you use more cleaning products on your skin, hair and laundry when you have hard water rather than soft.
It needn’t be like this, and with a BWT water softener installed your water would be luxuriously soft instead.
PAUK’s worst hard water areas:
1. Ipswich
2. Colchester
3. Luton
4. Norwich
5. Watford
6. Stevenage
7. Swindon
8. Harrow
9. Hemel Hempstead
10. St Albans
11. Reading
12. Cambridge
13. Dartford
14. Hull
15. Bath
16. Bromley
17. Milton Keynes
18. Canterbury
19. Slough
There’s always a water filter to be bought, right?
