WE’VE all been there – stumbling to the bathroom in the middle of the night to quench your thirst with some cold water from the bathroom tap.
It might taste delicious under those circumstances, but should you drink it regularly?
It’s a topic that’s been pretty divisive on social media, with many people claiming they’d never dare drink the water from the bathroom, while others insist it tastes the best.
Well, it turns out you might be better off trudging to the kitchen to get a drink instead.
According to Scottish Water, who conducted some studies in partnership with WaterSafe, both the room you drink your tap water from and how old your house is matters.
Oftentimes, older homes will have different plumbing systems, meaning that the water coming out of your bathroom tap could be less fresh than that in your kitchen.
Although technically all homes in the UK are provided with safe drinking water, if you’re unlucky bathroom water could lead to an upset stomach and other health issues.
The pros at Victorian Plumbing explained that there are two issues when it comes to drinking water from the bathroom.
First of all, Up until the 1970s, houses were generally built with lead pipes in the UK, and although this practice was slowly abandoned following the revelation that lead water pipes could result in lead poisoning some older homes may still have them.
The other issue is the that the water in your kitchen will come from the mains – a network of pipes that runs throughout the UK that supplies water to all of our homes.
Some homes have a water tank in the loft which are usually “no more than 25 litres, in order to ensure that water from the mains is continuously filtered through.”
How often the water is refreshed depends on how much your household uses, which can make it unsafe to drink for a couple of reasons.
“The first is that it’s just not a great idea to drink water that has been stagnant for a while,” the pros said.
“Generally speaking, water from the water tank is more susceptible to contamination. Hence water from the tank only going to access points made for domestic use – such as your bathroom.
“When water has been stagnant for a while it has a chance to collect any limescale build up, or debris from the water tank, and carry this into your bathroom tap.”
The second reason is that if your home does also have old lead pipes water that’s been sat in them for a while can absorb the dangerous lead.
“Over time, this poisonous metal ends up dissolving into the water supply, potentially causing a range of grizzly symptoms.”
Some people couldn’t believe they weren’t meant to be drinking bathroom water on the social media site X, formerly Twitter.
One said: “Why did no one tell me bathroom water is literally bad for you, it’s all I drink.”
“Wait, am I not meant to drink bathroom water?” Another wrote.
Meanwhile, others noted how they hated the taste compared to water from the kitchen and bottles.
“Never in my life will I drink bathroom tap water, you lot make me ill,” somone said.
“Bathroom water tastes like mould,” another chimed in on the subject.
And another said the thought of drinking bathroom water makes them “shudder.”
