The truth about our water

Ever wondered what's in the pipelines that carries our drinking water?

You really don't want to know....especially after what I've witnessed today.

Whilst waiting to pick up Laetitia's cousin bro, Brian, from kindergarten, a van from the local watermanagement company stopped beside me.

Hmmmmmmm??? Ow, ok....must be working somewhere around the area.....

To my amazement, the guys popped open a valve of a fire hydrant....and instantly a great gush of water spewed out of the hydrant....

Wait, wait......not per se water as we know it. The water gushing out was murky brown. And it lasted for at least 10 minutes, before it changed into the colour that we are accustomed of. I approached the workmen and they explained to me that sediments in the pipeline have clogged it up to an extent that the residents of nearby houses/flats only received a trickle of brownish water whenever they opened their tap. So what they do when they receive a complaint is that they simply open the nearest hydrant and let the existing pressure on the pipeline spit out the sediments.

Sounds so simple, doesn't it?

But did you read correctly what I wrote? 'They' only come when they receive a complaint, and God knows how long they take their time to act upon it. So in the meantime affected people must use the 'brown' water on disposal. What a lovely thought indeed....definitely not

Well, environmentalists might argue that buying bottled water is a deadly sin (what with the costs involved to produce it and ship it to the stores, emitting all those carbon emissions). But heck, after witnessing this scene, I've turned into a true believer of bottled water. Or as a lot of people do here, install a hyperdeluxe water filtration system at home (which is totally unheard of in the place where I'm born, ...aka Belgium). And yes, we admit, we have bought a superduper filtration system, but still.......

Do the local water companies and water filter suppliers work hand in hand? Charging the unwary consumer twice for a basic necessity? I sure hope not.