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It depends on where you live in Europe as to whether you even want to drink the water. We live in the Stuttgart, Germany, area (Boeblingen) and the water has so much calcium that both my husband and I got kidney stones in pretty quick order! No more tap water and we have to watch even the bottled water for Calcium content.

We installed a reverse osmosis unit in our home and now have the same exact water that is sold by many bottled water firms. Our public water is fine, but also has a lot of calcium. It is great for showers, washing the clothes, flushing the toilet, etc. I would call it potable, utility water.

Here in the states, the big box retailers are carrying R/O units. I bought mine from a supplier that caters to tropical fish hobbyists. If you figure out the cost of buying even a few $1 bottles of R/O water (Dasani is one brand that is really just R/O water), a home R/O unit pays out in just a few years. When you have all the R/O water you want at the tap, you find that you really wanted a lot more than you were willing to buy at the store.