turkish water - drink it from the kitchen tap???

[dippersgirl]

Now that the new water has also reached Dipkarpaz, I am reassessing what to do. We have a leaver on our pipes, so we can change from tank water to Belediye water direct into our taps (but won't get rid of the tanks just yet).
The question for us is now 'Can we drink this water or not?'
Our nearest shop has stopped selling the 20l bottles and another place installed a big tank, where you can refill these water bottles, you even get a new seal. As we do not have a car, I always have to ask somebody to take me to the machine. Before the shop delivered the gas and the water at the same time.
So do I need to bother?? Can I just fill these bottles myself to put onto the water cooler?? For cooking I have always just used the tap water anyway.

Thoughts?????

[wanderer]

Not on Turkish water yet but looking whats in the bottom of our tank and comes out of the house pipes I'd give it some time yet for the pipes to clear and de- clog
What treatment do they do at the reservoir end ?

[Geoff1131]

As wanderer say's give it a couple of weeks to settle down and then if you are getting an uninterrupted supply, then take a sample of water in a sterile bottle to your nearest lab. Tell them you want it tested for drinking and they will do the test. Cost is normally around 40tl and takes about 3-4 days.

[Muad_dib]

I filled a plastic bottle from our mains tap we have in the kitchen to give to the dogs,it came out white and was bubbling and fizzing,it looked like a bottle of Andrews salts.Once it settled down it was perfectly clear so put it in their bowl but they didn't drink it,normally with 3 dogs the bowl lasts for a day but 36hrs later it was still half full so back to bottled water for them.

[dippersgirl]

I think having it tested seems a good idea, probably will do that.
I did put some water in a glass jug and there does not seem to be any residue, it tastes ok. As our pipe is new and also the pipes in the road, maybe it will be ok. We do seem to have several hiccups and had to switch to the tank a couple of times, but......................we wait and see.

By the way, where is a testing laboratory?? Famagusta would be easier for me, but Girne is ok.

[Navek]

"By the way, where is a testing laboratory?? Famagusta would be easier for me, but Girne is ok."

Anywhere that does blood tests, or ask your local chemist.

[flowerfairy]

I've been to Turkey a few times and always understood not to drink tap water.
Why would the water from Turkey be any better once it's reached here?
Just a thought......

[Geoff1131]

flowerfairy, Part of the infrastructure included in the project to bring the water from Turkey was the installation of a water treatment plant where the water can be filtered and treated to bring it up to potable levels. It has been advertised by local councils as ' drinking water ' but for piece of mind I intend to have the water tested regularly just to make sure. A possible reason for the cloudy water mentioned in post 4, is that the water from Turkey probably has a lower ph than the water we are used to here and that any calcium deposits that have built up inside original pipework is now having the calcium dissolved by the new water?

[waddo]

Not received any Turkish water yet but had my normal mains water tested two years ago and was told to not even shower in it!!! Have my well water tested every year - clear and pure. Wont bother with mains water till it comes on 24/7 sometime in the next 10 years

[cjtill]

The water we all will be receiving will not be 100% Turkish, as the Belediye will use as much of their existing local supply as possible.
The reasoning behind this is that they can charge 5TL (ish) for water which costs them 0.05 TL from their own wells.
So I would certainly not drink the tap water.
Michael

[waddo]

Not only charge 5TL for the water from Turkey but only pay 2.5TL for it and supplement it with their own 0.05TL! Not a bad little earner at a profit margin of 2.45 a ton really.

[dippersgirl]

cjtill/Michael - where did you hear this?? Is this coffee shop talk or fact?? I certainly will ask my belediye about it9by the way - they charge 4tl here

I still would not be so worried as I think we had nice water here in the first place, just some of the old pipes are suspect

[cjtill]

Well I cannot verify exactly how much it costs to supply Cypriot water to customers, but I am advised by a Belediye water "man" that they have 2 very large storage areas (tanks from wells ??) which they use to distribute the water. A recent interruption in supply enabled them to isolate incoming Cypriot from Turkish supplies.
Now it don't take a genius to work out what makes the most money.
Not only have we had to "swallow" a 500%+ increase in the cost per ton of water, BUT we are undoubtably getting water supplied from the original source.
It would be nice to know, in say a years time, how much water the Belediye purchased from Turkey and how much they sold to house owners.
So my advice is "Don't drink the water"
Michael