Extra weight

But we MUST be politicaly correct!!

Medium hardness should mean the pipes are scaled - very little lead in contact with the water.

I think the lead problem was worst in places like Glasgow where the water supply is very soft. I know that my mother still runs a tap for a bit before filling a glass or a kettle, and I tend to do that as well although I haven't lived in a lead piped house in West Scoptland for years (I now live in South Gloucestershire where the water is so hard you can stand it up without a glass :-) )

Also, the last house I owned in Scotland was a Victorian church manse and the cold water supply tank in the loft was a lead lined box, so Lord knows how much lead appeared in the non-potable water in the house, if you were ever daft enough to drink it.

Jim.

Manchester was the worst - still has the highest levels of lead.

I know that my mother still runs a tap

I have to filter all my water for drinking - we live very close to the treatment plant so there's still a lot of chlorine in it when it reaches us.

(I now live in South Gloucestershire where the

North Surrey - water comes straight out of a chalk pit.

The dust falling into it would contain more lead - paintwork is also a source of lead dust.

Mark,

I hesitate to say this, but we did dig a dead bird or two out of it as well :-)

Jim.

Mmm.. Coliforms...

The message from "Mark W" contains these words:

Which is probably why I've managed to survive into my 60s - and I'm certainly not going to make a fuss about it. Perhaps United Utilities are prepared to pay for an independent plastic supply pipe...? (Thinks: perhaps next door should apply to have a water meter fitted, then UU would have to *give* us our own supply!)

Does that explain the low level of intelligence on "Coronation St."?

Our water comes from Lake Ontario, where it has already passed through cities such as Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo and Toronto, and has been used by steel, pulp & paper and chemical plants, not to mention a couple of nuclear power stations a few miles away. At least it's cold!

"MartinS" <

Our water comes, untreated except for filtration and fluoridation, from the Sooke Lake Reservoir about 5 miles from where I live.

The reservoir lands are "Off Limits" to all human activity except for maintenance workers of the Capital District and the CPR, who's railway line runs through the reservoir lands.

Of course, this is Victoria, where it rains heavily during the winter but we have droughts in the summer, so they've just raised the dam over the past couple of years.

-- Happy Holidays Roger T.