On Sun, 4 Sep 2016 21:17:02 +0100, Vir Campestris wrote:

(side notes before anyone gets alarmed: yes, this is drinking
water,
but we've got a fine particulate filter and UV on the kitchen tap,


You've boiled it in the tea and coffee. YMMV but I'd reckon that was
safe ...

The quick up to nearly 100 C and back down "boiling" of a kettle
won't kill everything. Cryptosporidium is pretty robust, the required
chlorine levels are to high for the water supply. The water boards
recomend a 10 min rolling boil if there is a risk of the supply being
contaminated, they even throw money at it by giving affect customers
a cashback to pay for the extra energy costs. They wouldn't do if
they didn't mean that 10 min rolling boil. Sensible levels of UV do
inactivate it though.

... for anything except chemical poisons - which the UV and filter
wouldn't touch. Taste might be another matter!

A purely mechanical filter won't touch toxins but activated carbon or
other "filters" probably will.

--
Cheers
Dave.