Water Guides
Welcome to our guides and articles. Here you'll find everything we've learned about UK water, from what's really coming out of your kitchen tap and why your kettle keeps furring up, to looking after a well or borehole and reading every pad on your strip. Every guide gives you the short answer first and shows exactly where the numbers come from.
Popular questions
Is my tap water safe to drink?How hard is my water?Do I need a water filter or a softener?Why does my tap water smell of chlorine?Why does my kettle get limescale?Does my house have lead pipes?Which UK town has the hardest water?How do I test my water at home?Can you drink tap water in London?Is limescale bad for you?Can you drink rainwater?Why is my pool or hot tub water cloudy?What is distilled water?What pH should drinking water be?Does boiling tap water make it cleaner?Is it illegal to collect rainwater?Why is London water so hard?How do I remove chlorine from tap water?What is spring water?Why is my hot water cloudy?Why does my tap water taste bad?Do I need dishwasher salt?
Browse by water
Tap waterTaste, quality and what your pipes change.Hard waterLimescale, softeners and your town's number.Well and borehole waterWhen the water's your own.Testing your waterHow to test, and how to read it.Pool and hot tub waterCloudy, green or out of balance.Aquariums and pondsFish tanks and garden ponds.Bottled and other waterBottled, mineral, distilled and more.Filters and softenersWhat they do and how to check them.Garden and rainwaterWater butts, harvesting and the rules.
What does my reading mean?
Pick a reading from your strip to see the normal range, the UK standard and what to do next.
Bacteria
Coliform bacteriaLatest guides
PFAS in UK tap waterMicroplastics in tap and bottled waterIs distilled water the same as filtered or purified?Why is my tap water yellow?Why does my tap water smell of eggs?Do magnetic water softeners work?
Tools
Check your results →Enter your strip readings and see what each one means.Hardness by town →Look up the typical hardness where you live.
Got a question we haven't answered yet?
Email us at info@waterkit.co.uk, and it might be our next guide.
Test your own water →