Water Quality In the Outer Hebrides / Western Isles

Water quality in the Outer Hebrides / Western Isles has changed over the last few years. As a direct result of EEC rulings our water authority has "upgraded" our water supply. Personally I much prefered our water supply before these "improvements" and I would go as far as to say that our drinking water supply is now unpalatable and possibly dangerous. In the last 2 years (since I have lived in this particular area of the Hebrides) I have noticed a sharp increase in the number of people complaining of skin complaints such as dandruff and even more serious skin complaints. My family has had similar problems and, as the only thing that has changed is the water supply, I can only assume that this is a diredt result of the "upgrade".

The stench of Chlorine from our water is overpowering. Chlorine has been added to water for about 100 years, it's purpose being to act as a general disinfectant and kill bacteria. It is also used in some sterilizing formula's, but the more obvious use is in swimming pools in much higher concentrations, which is what can cause skin and eye irritation. Furthermore, there is an increasing amount of evidence that suggests disinfection-by-products, or compounds of chlorine and naturally occuring organic material, may be one of the contributing factor to the increase in cancer rates. Also, if you have an aquarium, you will know that chlorinated water can kill your fish!
Read more about Chlorine...

Of course, in the past, our drinking water contained a large amount of organic matter (peat) which coloured the water considerably at times. Since the water supply upgrade this organic matter no longer appears in our water. So, in many ways, we can say that our water supply has improved. We still get a lovely lather from the minimal amount of soap or shampoo due to the softness of our water and we have never suffered the horrible effects of limescale. However there may be nitrates in our water supply. Nitrates, in small doses, can be considered harmless but in larger doses nitrates can cause many problems.
Read more on Nitrates and how to remove them...

To combat thescurge of our new water supply I purchased a Kenwood water filter(actually the Kenwood WF155 Filter Jug but also available: Kenwood WF110 Jug Filter and the Kenwood WF153 Filter Jug) from Woolworths in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis. This was used for our drinking water and we immediately noticed a massive improvement in taste. Unfortunately, when we recently came to buy our replacement cartridges we found that Woolworths no longer stock them and they are running down their stocks of the Kenwood water filter. However we have found where we can purchase Kenwood Universal Cartridges For Kenwood(tm) Jug (6 pk) online (click the link to be forwarded directly to the page selling them).

Pozzani Pure Water plc. also provide other filters including inline filters which are easily installed and add a third tap for drinking water. I will be installing one of these systems shortly and I will also be looking into their larger systems for bathing as I am sure our water is the cause of my skin complaints. I will report here when I have tested the systems.

If you are having trouble with your water or would like to investigate water treatment please read the article

Water Treatment / Filtration and Affordable solution?