Visitors told to only SMELL the healing water of Harrogate after it is declared off-limits by EU rules which brand it a health risk

By Chris Brooke

Last updated at 12:29 AM on 1st March 2012

Hundreds of thousands have drunk from Harrogate’s ‘healing’ mineral waters. But thanks to a new European health and safety directive, visitors to the spa town are now banned from  taking the merest sip.

Council officials have been forced to  turn off taps after the sulphur water –  once said by the Victorians to cure ailments ranging from gout to lumbago – was graded as ‘unwholesome’.

Even if they turn them back on, warning signs will have to be put up encouraging tourists to smell rather than swallow the water. Tests at the Royal Pump Room Museum have been carried out in response to EU directive 98/83/EC concerning water quality for human consumption.

FULL STORY: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2108298/Visitors-told-SMELL...