What's the temperature of the "cold" tapwater where you live? (homes, movie theaters)

[ColdCanadian]

Where I live, the cold tapwater is always too cold;
so cold that it stings my fingers almost-instantly, and it's usefull for stopping nosebleeds.
Put into degrees, our tapwater ranges from 7-12 C most of the year.

When I travel to the southern U.S.,
it always pleases and sometimes impresses me that their cold water isn't cold; it's cool or warmish.
If I had to guess, its around 18-22 C in the upper/middle South, and closer to 24-28 C in Florida.

I heard something on the internet about tapwater in western QLD coming out of the ground at 27 C, but it's chilled to 10 C before being sent to homes. I have no idea if this is correct or up to date, and if it's only for communities west of the Dividing Range.

Is all public tapwater chilled in Australia or New Zealand?
If so, is it to reduce the evaporation rate, or simply out of preference for the majority of the residents?

A major annoyance for me here is in places where they have cheap plumbing or water heating,
like malls, movie theaters or some workplaces, the water usually comes out "scalding hot" or "stinging cold."

[Trimac20]

The tap water here is appreciably warmer in summer than winter. I don't think they change the temperature much or at all when it comes through the pipes.

I would guess the water temperature is about as cold as the water is in the reservoir or ground-water mounds where it comes from.

[§AB]

I've heard that it's around 14ºC here.

[ColdCanadian]

Originally Posted by Trimac20

The tap water here is appreciably warmer in summer than winter. I don't think they change the temperature much or at all when it comes through the pipes.

I would guess the water temperature is about as cold as the water is in the reservoir or ground-water mounds where it comes from.

Does the water feel "cold", "cool" are "warm" in your area?
(ie. warm in the summer, or it still stays "cool"?)

Ours is always just varying degrees of "cold."

[ColdCanadian]

Originally Posted by §AB

I've heard that it's around 14ºC here.

Still sounds "cold," but certainly a lot better than here.

I'd probably find 17 C a little on the cold side;
when I swim in water temps like that, my toes and fingers eventually ache from the cold,
but at 18 C it seems dramatically milder to my digits.

[ColdCanadian]

I remembered another added benefit of warmer tap-water;
less heating required to get a comfortable shower or bath temp.

Also, I've noticed it's easier to "fine tune" a shower's temp to get it "just right" in a place where the tap water is already 26 C.

[§AB]

I might fill a sink and stick a thermometer in it to get an actual readiing

[minibrings]

Originally Posted by §AB

I might fill a sink and stick a thermometer in it to get an actual readiing

what next.. you will grow rice during a drought?
Though I am amused that my first reaction was to say.. don't waste water! Is this ingrained in anyone that has lived in Oz?

[Trimac20]

Originally Posted by ColdCanadian

Does the water feel "cold", "cool" are "warm" in your area?
(ie. warm in the summer, or it still stays "cool"?)

Ours is always just varying degrees of "cold."

It feels pretty cold in winter. In fact if you're in the shower it feels cold all year round, lol. My rough guess is it's about 19 in summer and 14 in winter.

[Vichel]

Sorry, I'm not going to be putting a thermometer in my sink to answer your question. All I know is, no, in Perth, it's not as cold as Canada's, in winter, even with uninsulated pipes and it's definitely warmer than Canada's in summer. Like, too warm. When I wash lettuce in the summer, the "cold" water is pretty tepid and limps the leaves. So the lettuce has to go into the fridge right away to crisp.

In winter, the cold water is cold, but still not as cold as in Canada. We insulated our pipes which is rare here, as the sleeves are really expensive. We brought some back from Canada for a tenth of the price and my husband fitted them around the pipes coming into our house. Insulation isn't a big thing here. It should be.

I haven't heard of water being chilled after it comes out of the ground, at least not in Perth. Maybe water fountains, but I don't know, I never drink out of them. I hate the tap water here. I only ever drink filtered or bottled.