“Trust your senses,” insists the Regional Health Agency.
In two communes of Haute-Loire, more than 650 people presented typical symptoms of gastroenteritis after drinking tap water. Immediately alerted, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regional Health Agency decided to conduct an investigation to find the cause of this mysterious epidemic. The results suggest “the hypothesis of contamination of the water network of these two municipalities”we can read in the report. If the water is again drinkable in the entire area, Veolia, in charge of managing the water service, confirms that it is working with the State services to find the origin of any possible pollution.
Tap water intended for human consumption distributed in France is of good quality and is subject to permanent controls (ARS samples, laboratory analyses, etc.). In principle, tap water can be safely drunk. However, the quality of our pipes can sometimes affect the quality of tap water.
To know if the water is good or bad, trust your senses. If you find that the water has a bad taste or an unusual taste (taste of chlorine, limestone or even “algae”) or that it has a smell of bleach or “iron”, you can test it using strips to instantly check the quality of your water, its hardness (TH), its acidity (pH), the presence of nitrates, sulfites, peroxide and traces of chlorine. They are available in DIY stores or on the Internet.
Depending on the test results, it will be possible to treat it to purify it or install filters at the water inlet. You can also go to the website of your ARS to consult the analysis results of your municipality or request documents that attest to the quality of the water from the prefecture or the mayor of your city.
On a daily basis, the Ministry of Health gives some simple rules for consuming and using tap water:
► Let the water run before consuming it when it has stagnated in the pipes, from a few seconds to one to two minutes (in the event of prolonged stagnation, after several days of absence, for example)
► Use water from the cold water network for drinking, preparing or cooking food: a high temperature can promote the transfer into the water of metals that make up the pipes and the degradation of the bacteriological quality
► Leave tap water in an open carafe for a few hours in the refrigerator to eliminate any possible chlorine taste.