Analysis and characteristics of drinking water must meet specific parameters, defined by law with Legislative Decree, according to WHO (World Health Organization) guidelines.
Compliance with these parameters is essential to ensure that tap water is drinkable, i.e. that it can be drunk without risk because it is certified as healthy and safe.
Drinking tap water is therefore a water of the same quality as bottled water, despite the fact that many false beliefs still revolve around it, such as the fact that limescale is exclusive to it and that it hurts. There’s a lot to know about the quality of drinking water and this article wants to shed some light on how to help you drink your tap water safely.
Drinking Water: Tap or Bottle?
Potability is the essential guarantee for any type of water to drink in health and safety, both tap water and bottled water. Potability for both types of water is in fact guaranteed by compliance with microbiological, chemical and physical parameters established by law. All potable water, in fact, before being poured into a glass to be drunk, is subjected to strict controls of analysis, quality and safety to protect the health of the consumer.
Tap water therefore has nothing to envy to bottled water; in fact, it has its own water card or identity card and, like every bottled water, has its own label, indicating the main parameters of potability. Learning to read these parameters is the first rule to know the quality of the water we drink and to get rid of false beliefs that often see tap water “on the gallows” and bottled water “on the podium”.
Tap Water: Clean, Safe and Healthy
Many people avoid drinking tap water because they fear that it is dirty, polluted and even harmful to health. They prefer bottled water unaware that the risk is the same if they are afraid for their health. The fundamental concept to understand is that water must be guaranteed primarily to be drinkable.
The choice of drink water app free that comes out of the tap or is bottled should therefore not be based on the higher quality and safety of one or the other: in principle, these properties are guaranteed in both cases. You can understand that a person travelling by car for hours would prefer bottled water for convenience but, if you look at the potability of the water, that bottle could easily have been filled with tap water!
If we really want to make a conscious choice for the health and safety of man and our environment, drinking tap water represents a great saving in terms of pollution as it avoids, for example, the accumulation of tons of plastic bottles in a year. Moreover, drinking tap water helps us to save money, even with water houses scattered throughout the territory.
We Dispel False Beliefs Tap Water and Limescale
If you’re still not convinced, now let’s shatter some false beliefs!
The tap water is dirty and could even be polluted, who knows what’s in it!
FALSE: drinking tap water must, by law, be free of foreign bodies, contaminants and must meet acceptable standards in terms of its appearance and smell. In fact, it is subjected to analysis and controls to identify its safety and then to filtering, disinfection and purification treatments such as to ensure the safety of the population in safety.
Tap water contains pollutants, poisons, harmful minerals!
FALSE: We have seen that our tap water must comply with chemical, physical and microbiological parameters established on the basis of safe human ranges of many substances. These parameters are the same as those found on the label of bottled water. In order to guarantee a higher quality and safety of drinking water, important indicative and emerging parameters are also monitored which evaluate the presence of some potentially dangerous substances and which are indicative of alterations in the composition of the water.
The chlorine they put in the water is harmful to our health!
Bottled water is purer and healthier than tap water because it has less salt and is not treated.
Bottled water such as tap water is treated and subjected to analysis and controls to ensure its potability Its composition also does not follow natural laws that make it better! Bottled water and tap water can be sweet, normal or hard and more or less alkaline in the potability ranges established by law. The composition of the water does not vary from the tap to the bottle but according to the characteristics of the soil or water table from which it comes. In addition, the presence of salts in the ranges makes the water a natural source of mineral needs useful for the vital functions of man.
Tap water is contaminated by pipes.
The control of the water system of the aqueduct guarantees the continuous monitoring of the whole structure, anticipates any potential criticality and ensures a risk-free piping system.
Bottled water has no limescale like tap water!
Bottled water contains “limescale” in the same way as tap water. The limescale in the tap water is visible, for example, by heating the water for the paste. Limescale is made up of calcium salts that precipitate with heat.
Speaking of limescale! Do you know that’s healthy?
Speaking of water hardness, we have highlighted the fact that hard water is a source of minerals, in particular Calcium and Magnesium, which are essential for human health. Several scientific studies have in fact shown that the hardness of water intended for human use is a protective characteristic in the prevention of the development of various problems, not only the most known osteoporosis but also cardiovascular diseases.
Epidemiological and clinical studies have in fact highlighted that there is a correlation between greater water hardness, within the limits of the drinking range, and lower incidence of cardiovascular problems. This data has even led the scientific community to evaluate the development of prevention systems for these problems through the monitoring of drinking water hardness. Furthermore, it has been highlighted that water rich in calcium and magnesium does not favour kidney stones in healthy subjects and could even be a protective factor in such cases. In fact, the guidelines of the Ministry of Health recommend drinking plenty of water to avoid kidney stones without specifying the type of water.
The hardness of the water is proportional to the calcium content and therefore to the presence of limescale, which, however, according to the scientific studies just mentioned, is not dangerous for human health, on the contrary it is a confirmed protective factor. Limescale is at the limit a problem for pipes and domestic systems, a problem that can however be limited by using special anti-limescale products or systems.
We have seen that tap water, when it is drinkable, is safe, healthy and of high quality, with nothing to envy to bottled water. Remember that your water service manager guarantees the quality, safety and wholesomeness of your tap water, this is also stated on the water card that Gruppo CAP delivers with your bill.
You choose if you want to save plastic and money, pollute less and drink consciously, CAP thinks about your health every day!