20 thoughts on “State of the water in Cobh”

  1. Happens here in Blarney on occasion too which is why we bought a water filter. Never mind the Brita ones, filters for the Tesco one are half the price!

  2. @Conn – it is more than just air. It happens from time to time that this is in the water. If it were air it would be constant.

    @Twenty – LOL – I wish!

  3. That’s lime. You’re in a hard water area. Sadly, so am I. Make sure to stick the Calgon-alikes from your local Aldi or Lidl into your washing machine.

    Of course, given the experience in Galway, there could be other less visable things in the water.

  4. Indeed, it’s limescale. It’s not as bad in Cloyne, but it’s not far off. The odd thing is that soap foams down here, and generally it doesn’t in hard water areas. Bizarre Cloyne water.

    adam

  5. [That should have been ‘lime’ above; limescale is the crap you get building up on kettles and stuff.]

  6. It’s limescale.
    I got a watersoftner (uses salt, you should see the pallets of salt in the co-op… a chippers delight) which takes the worst of it out (stull use the acid tablets for the washing machine, but the shower is safe).

    If you have any heart problems (or really small children) in the family you might need a hard water tap and use a filter.

    The lime should be fine in cooking, but it will mess up the kettle, coffe maker and the tea/coffee would come out scummy if you don’t use a filter.

    Let me know if you want a contact for the water softner?
    Of course if you find yourself a little manic, you may want to fill a few bottles for Twenty.

  7. Sorry guys,

    I don’t think it is lime for two reasons:
    1. there is no limescale in the kettle despite it being boiled several times a day for the last year and a half and
    2. it only occurs around twice a month, the rest of the time the water seems fine

  8. Air I’d say:

    White discolouration in water can be caused by either trapped air or dissolved chalk particles.

    Air can be introduced into the water supply following repair work on the distribution network, or by a pocket of air becoming trapped in the internal domestic pipework. Aerated water has a cloudy or milky white appearance.

    Aerated water can take up to 10 minutes to clear, and will clear from the bottom of the glass upwards.

    Also:
    When the water clears, people usually report seeing a thin film on top of the water, an increased odor and sometimes a metallic taste. The thin film is the micro-particles in the water, the odor is the gases stripped from the water and the metallic taste is thought to be the bubblesรขโ‚ฌโ„ข effect on the mouth.

  9. I’d hazard a guess that it is hard water alright but not the typical Calcium carbonate style. Perhaps you’re getting a surplus of Magnesium in the water supply that is also in some hard water areas? Magnesium Hydroxide (pretty much the same as milk of megnesia) can be found in water supplies at times and AFAIK doesn’t give the usual scale that we would associate with normal hard water. The thing that is confusing me though is how fast it disappears after coming out of the tap and from the bottom up. It’s almost like it’s being oxidised in some way but the resultant oxide is nowhere to be seen. ๐Ÿ˜• I’d like to see a test whereby you containerised the water without air hitting it first – although that’s probably not the kind of stuff you have lying around your kitchen. ๐Ÿ™‚

  10. Hi There

    Agree with Frankp, it is said it happens when the water comes with some pressure. Sometimes it happens in Madrid, and popular knowledge says that. Don’t have a trusted source of information, but we’ve been drinking water that like round here for years and we are OK (for the moment ๐Ÿ™‚

    Marcos.

  11. Damn Frank,

    there goes my conspiracy theory of our being drugged into submission by a dastardly triumvirate of utilities, government and big business.

    You and your logical/relevant blog comments again!

  12. Tom,

    99.99% sure it’s a trapped-air thing. I don’t have the exact details, but the same thing happens every month to six weeks here where I live. I’ve spoken to our local engineers about it, and they’ve said it’s air that gets trapped in the pressurised pipes, and only gets released at the tap.

    Best way to check is to see if you can get the white cloudiness back into the water. If it where something else, shaking/disturbing the water (eg pour it from one glass into an other, from a height) would give the same effect, but if it’s the trapped air then once it’s dissipated it’s gone for good.

    Whenever it happens here, I use the Britta filter to let the water settle while in the fridge. There’s no problem drinking it with the air in it, I just feel more comfortable drinking when it’s clear.

  13. Tom, they actually went to a HUGE amount of trouble to ensure this aerated water myth entered the popular consciousness… but don’t tell anyone… ๐Ÿ˜€

  14. Of course you living on the south coast of Ireland and news recently of large amounts of white powdery substances floating around the sea down there would never be connected…….

  15. Tom..yup, I live in Cobh and the water sucks. Its been like that for a month or so in our estate and we thought it was due to the building work going on around.

    It has cleared up for a day or so at a time but can be bad for a few days and gets quite cloudy and not particularly nice to drink.

    Have no idea what it is..

  16. Lime is very bad for our health. I am afraid a softener based on salt is not a solution. Because the salt is very bad for the skin, cooking but especially for the drinking water. I had to learn how important water is for our health. And the shocking outcome is that it is as important as it % share is: 70% of the body is water.

    As Dr. Batmanghelij writes: We have a water body with solids in it and not a solid body with water in it.

    think about it.

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