Chemical Contamination in Tap Water Confirmed By Thames Water.

Today Waltham Forest News has reported that Thames Water have confirmed to them that strangely smelling and tasting tap water in the borough has been caused by a chemical contamination.

300 complaints were forwarded to Thames Water from the residents of Walthamstow, Chingford and other parts of north east London, about foul smelling tap water. The water company has now confirmed that "minute traces" of chemicals are present in the company's Walthamstow water works.

Thames Water has said that they believe there is no "significant risk" to the public. Though we wonder to ourselves what on earth these chemicals actually are and if 300 residents in the area are able to smell and taste the chemicals, what is it doing to our hair, skin and health?!

The source of the contamination is believed to be the River Lea, as it supplies all the water for north east London, but the company claims there is no damage to the environment and also say that the chemicals are a by-product of manufacturing.

Surely Thames Water have filtration systems that can remove these chemicals before they pump them all out to us in our homes? What would happen if there was a large chemical spill in the River Lea that did not have a bad odour or smell? It would just be pumped straight to our homes and as no one would notice it there would be no complaints. Who knows what kind of health impacts that could cause any of us?

Director of operational management for Thames Water, Bob Collington, said: “We have sought advice on these substances from the Health Protection Agency (HPA).

"Although the levels found in water from our Walthamstow water treatment works have been enough for a small number of customers to notice and report an unusual smell, based on all the information we have seen to date we have no reason to believe that there is a significant risk to public health.

“We’ve made several adjustments to the treatment processes at our Walthamstow water works. Having now found the cause of the problem, we will be further adjusting our treatment processes to remove the substances from customers’ water.”

Thames water stopped sourcing water from the River Lee last week and have instead been taking it from the River Thames.

Mr Collington added: “We are sorry to those who have been affected by this.

"We’re taking it extremely seriously and we’re working to sort this problem out as quickly as possible.”

This is a horrible situation and extremely scarey to think of the ramifications. Don't forget to install a shower filter to remove chemicals, limescale and heavy metals in your shower water. Protecting yourself and your family!

The pureshowers team

Please visit our shower filter online store at http://www.pureshowers.co.uk.