Tap water (running water, city water, municipal water, etc.) is potable water supplied to a tap (valve) inside the household or workplace. It is a principal component of "indoor plumbing", which became available in urban areas of the developed world during the last quarter of the 19th century, and common during the mid-20th century. The application of technologies involved in providing clean (potable) water to homes, businesses and public buildings is a major subfield of sanitary engineering. Calling potable water "tap water" distinguishes it from the other main types of potable water, such as water from rainwater-collecting cisterns, from village pumps (town pumps), or from streams, rivers, or lakes (whose potability varies).
Read more about Tap Water: Background, Potable Water Supply, Hot Water Supply, Fixtures and Appliances, Fittings and Valves, Regulation and Compliance, Waste Water, Water Flow Reduction/saving Water, Tap Water Versus Bottled Water, Cloudiness Due To Dissolved Gases
Famous quotes containing the words tap and/or water:
“A book is like a man—clever and dull, brave and cowardly, beautiful and ugly. For every flowering thought there will be a page like a wet and mangy mongrel, and for every looping flight a tap on the wing and a reminder that wax cannot hold the feathers firm too near the sun.”
—John Steinbeck (1902–1968)
“Here is no water but only rock
Rock and no water and the sandy road
The road winding above among the mountains
Which are mountains of rock without water
If there were water we should stop and drink
Amongst the rock one cannot stop or think”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)