Water advise please

Hello, I was just wondering if I could ask for some advise for my Rabbits please?

I have a boy and girl both indoor Rabbits in our living room, and usually we give them water from the kitchen tap, same that me and my partner drink.

We have a letter from The local council saying they will be carrying out maintenances on the water system for the next 3 weeks.

‘The process is called flashing and it involves directing water through the pipes quickly to draw sediment deposits such as Iron or manganese out of the network well these naturally occurring deposits are not harmful you may see discoloured water temporarily this can be solved by running the main tap usually the kitchen tap on till the water runs clear’

Me and my partner are still drinking the water ourselfs (we haven’t really noticed much difference)
but I had a thought about wether our pets should, 2 Rabbits a hamster and a Degu. So I’m not sure weather to keep them with the tap water, give them bottled water from Tesco or get a Brita filler type thing for them?

If you have any advise for me on what would be best for our Rabbits for the next few weeks water wise I would be extreamly great full!

Thank you for any advise you may be able to give me,

The tap water will be fine. Follow the instructions you have been given and if you would drink it, so will your pets. It is perfectly safe to drink.

Shimmer said:

The tap water will be fine. Follow the instructions you have been given and if you would drink it, so will your pets. It is perfectly safe to drink.

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This is the sensible answer, but I am something of a neurotic and I would not drink the water without boiling it first. I would do the same for my Pets. Or I'd buy bottled water for the time that the work is being carried out.

I'm not sure, I would probably drink the tap myself, but would buy bottled for the animals.

Flushing the supply pipes doesn't pose a risk in increased bacterial counts, so there is no need to boil the water (although it won't do any harm if you want to do it). The water supply company would have to tell you to boil it if there was a risk, and that is a black mark in their annual reporting to the regulators, so they will be doing everything possible to maintain water quality. Removing sediment from naturally occurring heavy metals mostly happens at the water treatment plant, but some will continue to drop out into the bottom of the supply pipes over many years and it just sits there causing no harm. It causes water to turn brown if the flow ever gets disturbed, so it is sensible to flush it out occasionally.

Bottled water may actually contain more bacteria than tap water. Both should be safe to drink. When I was working in the labs, tap water had to meet higher standards.

I agree with the previous posts, but I also agree with Janes suggestion of possibly getting some bottled water as a secondary. Having bottled water would give you piece of mind in some ways and would certainly ensure that your bunnies are drinking safe water.

You could always bottle some tap water before the work starts.

Thanks for the advise guys!

Unfortunately the works already started and we didn’t realise the date

Ross said:

Thanks for the advise guys!

Unfortunately the works already started and we didn’t realise the date

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Well if it'd give you peace of mind use pre boiled or bottled water, even if it isn't really necessary. As I said in my previous post, I am a tad neurotic about things like this so tend to go a bit over the top with precautions

I'd recommend Tesco Ashbeck or Volvic bottled waters, if you go with that.