Is it safe to drink water in Manchester UK?

Answer 1

Manchester, like other areas of North West England, actually has some of the softest water in the England. This is quite exceptional for an urban environment, where soft water is normally unavailable and it is commonly believed that all cities in the UK always have hard water - but this is not always the case. Manchester's soft water is thanks to a number of reasons, the most important being that Manchester gets its water supply from the Lake District.

Thirlmere was constructed in the 19th century and Haweswater in the 1920s. Both of these reservoirs have some of the softest water in the UK due to being upland surface water reservoirs. Consequently water has little chance of dissolving minerals because water is collected high up as opposed to letting the water flow downhill on rock as such as collecting minerals.

Furthermore, a lot of rock in North West England consists of granite which has less minerals than the chalky substance. The chalky substance is particularly prevalent in Southern and Eastern England, and as such it is one of the reasons why water can be up to 12 times as hard as water from North West England.

ManchesterLake District (Haweswater and Thirlmere)Pennines (Longdendale Chain)1.750 clarke / 25 ppm[36]BirminghamElan Valley Reservoirs3 clarke /

42.8 ppm[37]BristolMendip Hills (Bristol Reservoirs)16 clarke / 228.5 ppm[38]SouthamptonBewl Water18.76 clarke / 268 ppm[39]London (EC1A)Lee Valley Reservoir Chain19.3 clarke / 275 ppm[40]