Drinking Water - Do you pay for it?

[Staberinde]

I don't.

I always just fill up my flask from any normal tap be it next to a toilet block or some sinks.

I remember seeing massive queues for one of those Water Aid (OXfam?) kiosks this year just above the cider bus. I'm talking of two orderly ques of around 100 people. I explained to one guy that they get their water from the same main that provides all the taps, he looked surprised as if I was joking. I told him to check at the back of the kiosk where he would see the blue pipe providing the water from the same main supply. I didn't wait to see if he bothered.

I get the impression a significant amount of people don't drink the mains water for fear it is contaminated. Imagine if that were true, with Tens of Thousands being affected with a tummy bug.

Some people ?

I just read this article below that got me in mind to write the above. I never saw any water problem this year - did you?

Glastonbury Festival plans 'new reservoir' in bid to banish water problem seen at 2019 event

[EasyUserName]

Just now, Staberinde said:

 ... . I never saw any water problem this year - did you?

Glastonbury Festival plans 'new reservoir' in bid to banish water problem seen at 2019 event

I believe they stopped some showers on site due to water supply issues at various stages this year.

[deebeedoobee]

The bars had jugs of water on them. Much quicker to fill up there than waste time queuing.

[Reckoner]

There were definitely some water points that struggled more than others. The one near Cinemageddon had some big morning waits, especially on the Saturday but that was mostly due to people trying to shower under the good tap. The problem was that this took all the pressure from the 6 -point water aid thing they had set up rendering them mostly useless. We gave up, wandered down to the Other Stage and we're sorted within a couple of minutes. More of those and the sinks to fill up bottles and less open taps that people can get their head under will keep the lines ticking over.

[fred quimby]

15 minutes ago, Staberinde said:

I don't.

I always just fill up my flask from any normal tap be it next to a toilet block or some sinks.

I remember seeing massive queues for one of those Water Aid (OXfam?) kiosks this year just above the cider bus. I'm talking of two orderly ques of around 100 people. I explained to one guy that they get their water from the same main that provides all the taps, he looked surprised as if I was joking. I told him to check at the back of the kiosk where he would see the blue pipe providing the water from the same main supply. I didn't wait to see if he bothered.

I get the impression a significant amount of people don't drink the mains water for fear it is contaminated. Imagine if that were true, with Tens of Thousands being affected with a tummy bug.

Some people ?

I just read this article below that got me in mind to write the above. I never saw any water problem this year - did you?

Glastonbury Festival plans 'new reservoir' in bid to banish water problem seen at 2019 event

Not convinced I understand this. The Kiosks were free water as well

[scaryclaireyfairy]

I got funny looks when filling my bottle at the taps at the longdrops near the Cider Bus and noticed no one else was doing the same so that would tally. I guess the festival needs to publicise that it's all the same water, maybe only us old-timers know that.

[eFestivals]

4 minutes ago, deebeedoobee said:

The bars had jugs of water on them. Much quicker to fill up there than waste time queuing.

iced too, in some bars.  

[Ayrshire Chris]

18 minutes ago, EasyUserName said:

I believe they stopped some showers on site due to water supply issues at various stages this year.

It didn’t help that some folk were using the stand pipe taps to give them selves a full wash down with the taps running. 

[Acid Loafers]

Saturday, bar near the left of The Park stage were handing out free cans of water to anyone asking for water. God bless whoever approved that.

Thought I was gonna die and couldn't wait for the 20 min queue for the taps in the scorching sun, had accepted I'd pay for water in my time of need and dehydration. 

A very kind food stand also filled up our water from their own supply on Friday. 

The queues at the taps near the stages during the day of Fri/Sat had non-stop queues. So sometimes would dash to a lesser known tap a bit further out, and probably make it back faster than had we queued.

[Mark E. Spliff]

10 minutes ago, EasyUserName said:

I believe they stopped some showers on site due to water supply issues at various stages this year.

Yep, on the Friday morning we found our showers were all locked and there were signs up saying this was to give the reservoir a chance to fill up - I did look for alternatives but everywhere seemed to have been similarly affected.  This implies that the site's reservoir is filled from the mains water supply but in peak periods this may not keep up with demand so the level drops.  The shower ban was lifted during Saturday, so presumably the problem wasn't that bad.

The OP's article suggests that GF are looking to increase their reservoir capacity to ensure it can cope with showers etc. throughout the whole festival.  It doesn't look like there was ever a risk of drinking water running out.

[stuartbert two hats]

The water points near The Glade had very very low pressure on the Saturday.  But on the whole, the water supply was amazing.  

[Staberinde]

Reading all the above I think most people agree with me when I say you can fill up your flask at any old tap.

It makes me wonder if those who go to Glasto for the first time are the people that are suspicious of the taps as a source of drinking water and of course those people plus people who have only been to Glasto once only make up a very low percentage of readers of Efests Glasto Chat

[Quark]

Big mistake people make in my eyes is waiting for their bottle to be empty before refilling it.  Every time I pass a tap without a queue (or at least a quick moving one) I top it back up regardless of how much is left.  If you wait until you're empty then you're at the mercy of the queue for whatever tap's nearest when you're thirsty.

[Staberinde]

27 minutes ago, fred quimby said:

Not convinced I understand this. The Kiosks were free water as well

Oh my first point is I don't understand why people pay for drinking water at Glastonbury.

Then I pointed out you could fill up at any tap - there was one by the sinks at the londrops not 10 yards away from kiosks - instead of queuing for half an hour.

I get the impression a lot of first timer at Glasto think either the Kiosks or bottled/canned water are the only safe sources to drink

[scaryclaireyfairy]

29 minutes ago, Quark said:

Big mistake people make in my eyes is waiting for their bottle to be empty before refilling it.  Every time I pass a tap without a queue (or at least a quick moving one) I top it back up regardless of how much is left.  If you wait until you're empty then you're at the mercy of the queue for whatever tap's nearest when you're thirsty.

Aye, filling your bottle falls under the same rules as emptying your bladder. Do it every time the conditions are favourable rather than waiting to get desperate.

[Crazyfool01]

oh for taps at the pyramid the ones as you look away from the stage back right under the bbc crane always seemed to have little or no queue .... whereas the ones near the toilets by the cider bus  were a complete nightmare every time I passed them 

[The Other Steve]

Prior to Glastonbury this year I paid for water at Glastonbury and at home but now I don't pay for it anywhere.  My refillable bottle goes everywhere with me and I can't believe I've been buying plastic bottles for as long as I have been.  This years Glastonbury changed my mindset and I'm glad it did and feel bad that I didn't do this years back.

[Ayrshire Chris]

Certainly never paid for it, though I do add a wee bit of Robinson’s orange juice to make it more palatable 

[Quark]

19 minutes ago, scaryclaireyfairy said:

Aye, filling your bottle falls under the same rules as emptying your bladder. Do it every time the conditions are favourable rather than waiting to get desperate.

Think a friend of mine once said it's a rule of thumb in the military.  Never pass up the chance to eat, sleep or use the loo as you're never sure when the opportunity will next present itself

[Rufus Gwertigan]

15 minutes ago, Ayrshire Chris said:

Certainly never paid for it, though I do add a wee bit of Robinson’s orange juice to make it more palatable 

I thought it tasted quite fresh this year 

[ian the worm]

1 hour ago, Acid Loafers said:

Saturday, bar near the left of The Park stage were handing out free cans of water to anyone asking for water. God bless whoever approved that.

Saturday afternoon, when the tap queues were at their longest, every bar was emailed and instructed to ensure free water was provided. 

The bar I worked at was selling the usual £2 cans from the freezer but we also made sure we had jugs and camping containers of tap water at the bar for freebies.  We normally do this very late at night so it was not a bother to bring them out earlier.

One woman asked me for some water and I asked if she wanted to purchase a cold can from the freezer or have a free cup of tap water and she simply repeated the request.  Sensing what was going on I quickly gave her a free cup of tap water.  At this point she revealed that she was from licensing and was testing each bar to see how they performed.  I mentioned something about the tap water being warm and wanting to ensure she got what she wanted.  At this point she pointed out that I should ignore all unnecessary delay that and just concentrate on the tap water (at any temperature) or she'd not hesitate in revoking our licence. 

Even though I was aware of the laws, I had only just passed the test as I was trying to do the right thing.

From the conversations I heard as a bar worker, the festival always had plenty of drinking water, but the distribution of it was where most of the issues lay.

 

[BambooShanks]

4 minutes ago, Rufus Gwertigan said:

I thought it tasted quite fresh this year 

Same, most years the water usually had a chemically taste  but this year it tasted better than the water out of my tap at home. 

 

 

[DeanoL]

I learned a few weeks ago that lots of people don't even drink the water out of their own bathroom taps, and only ever pour themselves a glass of water from the kitchen tap!

So I can certainly believe people were avoiding filling up at the glastonbury taps.

[stuie]

7 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

I learned a few weeks ago that lots of people don't even drink the water out of their own bathroom taps, and only ever pour themselves a glass of water from the kitchen tap!

So I can certainly believe people were avoiding filling up at the glastonbury taps.

Depending on your water system, that might be the right thing to do.

Some houses still have the bathroom cold water fed from a holding tank in the loft and it might not be in great condition, but is fine for bathing etc.

[Quark]

2 minutes ago, stuie said:

Depending on your water system, that might be the right thing to do.

Some houses still have the bathroom cold water fed from a holding tank in the loft and it might not be in great condition, but is fine for bathing etc.

Yep, that's us.  I never thought about it but Mrs Q wasn't keen. After a discussion I agreed to check the source. Sure enough it's flowing from the big open tank in the loft.

Stick to the kitchen tap now