I drank hot water by mistake for a month.

It may not be poisonous, but it is definitely not safe. This is inseparable from the characteristics of heating pipes.

Friends in some cities in the north may have this experience: the kettle for boiling water will form a layer of scale in a short time. This is because groundwater is mined in many places, and the water contains some minerals, most of which are calcium or magnesium salts. When you heat water, some minerals will be converted into water-insoluble basic carbonates, so they will be deposited on the inner wall of the kettle. We usually call this mineral-rich water hard water. Most natural mountain springs are hard, and drinking too much hard water will have some effects on the body, so it is best to boil and precipitate before drinking. Because this is not the focus of this article, I will skip it.

Hard water will scale when heated.

Hard water will scale when heated, which not only seriously threatens the life of heating boilers, but also may block pipelines. You know, urban heating can't stop all winter. Therefore, heating companies usually add some softeners to water and turn it into soft water by chemical means. Is this soft water drinkable? There is no evidence that it is toxic, but it does not mean that it can be drunk harmlessly.

Scaling of hard water will seriously corrode the heating system.

Another reason is that, as we mentioned earlier, heating water is recycled. Under normal circumstances, its loss is relatively low, so it flows in the pipeline for a long time, so it is not as clean as tap water. You can't drink. In order to ensure that residents will not drink heating water by mistake, heating companies sometimes add red or yellow pigments to remind you not to drink this water.

Soft water and hard water behave differently after heating.

Heating the pigment in water is mainly a reminder, because considering the possibility of accidental drinking, pigment is usually non-toxic. It's like the smell of gas we smell. Natural gas itself is colorless and tasteless. The reason why we can smell the special smell of gas is because the gas company has added a tracer to remind you that the gas is leaking, which is very dangerous!

Pigment is a tracer and also plays a warning role.

Pink water incident in Canada

On 20 17, a pink tap water incident occurred in Onoway, Alberta, Canada. Residents found pink tap water flowing from their taps. After investigation, it was found that the potassium permanganate disinfection pipes and filters of the water supply company flowed into the reservoir, and a large amount of potassium permanganate dyed the drinking water of the reservoir red.

Low concentration of potassium permanganate will not cause adverse reactions, but it will cause panic after all. Finally, the water company apologized and drained the reservoir and replaced it with water.

Potassium permanganate leakage accident in Canada

Summary:

Most people stop drinking tap water when it changes color. This is our instinctive self-protection mechanism at work. Therefore, the heating company will play a warning role by adding dyes to the water-when you find that the tap water turns red, please stop using it immediately and report to the relevant parties. Nine times out of ten, one of your neighbors likes to take advantage.