Can you drink bathroom tap water?

[helpme!]

My mum used to always say to me that you shouldn't drink the water from the bathroom as it's not the same water you get from the kitchen tap. Is this correct and is it still the case for new houses?

[kev100]

It depends whether your bathroom is tank fed or whether the cold water comes direct from the mains, if it is tank fed strictly speaking you shouldn't drink it because it has been sat for a time in your cold water tank in the loft.

If it's an old house and the tank has no lid, theoretically it could have a dead pigeon in it

Age of house makes no difference because some builders still install tank fed bathrooms, I believe Tay Homes does (although dont quote me on that)

[j2buttonsw]

Agreed, except on some older houses all the cold water comes from the mains wherease nearly all newer houses have a cold water storage tank. If the water tank abides by water regulations it should be perfectly OK to drink from, but some do not. The idea is that if you have a break in water supply you still have a reserve of water to operate the toilet etc. You can tell by water pressure: mains water will be mains pressure wherease water from a storage tank depends on the pressure drop between tank and tap (very much less than mains pressure and similar to hot water pressure).

[fredo-cb]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

most bath room water comes from a tank in the roof which is usualy dirty and in some caces dead animals are in it

[fredo-cb]

only if the lid is off

its very unlikely a animal would be in there

[Louis XIV]

So which tap do you use when brushing your teeth? :-D

[UsAndStuff]

Fairly easy way to tell if it's tank fed.
Put your finger or thumb over the end of the tap and see if you can stop the flow, if you can then there's a good chance it's tank fed. If not, then it's probably mains fed, and should be ok to drink.
If you're still unsure, stick your head through the loft hatch and see if you can see the water tank, if there is then don't drink it. (Besides which, who want's to?)