GLOPglopMAmaTONG

seaslug

Congrats on reaching 500 pages! Yeeeaaahhhhhh !

Media:

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Still, not publishable as a bestseller.

DowJones

offense

(sorry, Crime, the Stones)

unctuous

Safe?

Ipanema

Sunova

Sugar, sugar.....

Closeau (replying to

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clouseau

Porky?

The Man

DUMBruat 555

Crow

waffel

If anyone here has any documented scientifically valid data to share that bears on and can elucidate us regarding the advisability of drinking Chiang Mai water straight from the tap,

Then PLEASE share it here.

Because one thing this topic is sorely lacking is any scientifically substantiated references to enlighten us.

I just do not like people to scare us tap drinkers because they themselves have baseless fears.

Several of the coffee shops and restaurants I visit I ask the same question, "do you drink city water?" The answer is always no. They are Thai and have lived where they are a long time. So I have to believe a local would know the score.

Sent from my SM-N900T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Speaking of locals knowing the score:

I was advised by one educated local that I should not drink the water because it would give me kidney disease. She told me that many people in Issan drink the water unfiltered and they all have kidney disease.

Hogwash!

They do NOT know the score.

We should not perpetuate and spread false myths here on this forum,

Or, should we?

Several of the coffee shops and restaurants I visit I ask the same question, "do you drink city water?" The answer is always no. They are Thai and have lived where they are a long time. So I have to believe a local would know the score.

Sent from my SM-N900T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Then you would be very wrong!

Because: The do not know the score!

I mean......Please tell us dear what logic you use to decide that the workers at the coffee shops and restaurants have a degree plus experience in public water treatment, and for that matter can tell you how the water quality varies around the city?

I mean.....Don't you think about these things before commenting?

I don't trust the reverse osmosis machines either. I did it for a few months and just didn't feel great. Sometimes I would use my own filtration system (brought from USA), and that worked better; however, that is a pain to do all the time. You can boil water and then put it in the fridge after it cools a bit. Hard to stay hydrated, but your organs will thank you.

Question....and sorry if answered already.....does anyone think there is more than the normal amount of LEAD in the water?

I used to do the same thing, boiling.

However, I used a 16.3 liter kettle on a gas burner, similar to the Thai pro kitchen burners. It is very fast to heat up to 100, and then allow it to cool down for about 5 hours, overnight.

Next, just fill a 5 gallon jug that you have not returned to the bottle water company.

I feel there is no reason to do this here, but you are correct that it is the safest method, especially if you have immune compromised people among your water drinkers.

As for showering: I think the OP is kind of crazy and way over the top here! There is no danger, unless your water pipes pass through a sewer or a septic tank, or something.

One thing you do find with tap water is the white calcium deposits on your shower room glass and mirrors from water contact, and drying water. The minerals turn all mirrors white very quickly.

But shower away, or go stand in the rain during the raining season, which is what I sometimes also do.

This is why I DO NOT drink from the reverse osmosis machines that one sees cluttering our beautiful city:

1. Reverse osmosis: Mechanical pressure is applied to an impure solution to force pure water through a semi-permeable membrane. Reverse osmosis is theoretically the most thorough method of large scale water purification available, although perfect semi-permeable membranes are difficult to create. Unless membranes are well-maintained, algae and other life forms can colonize the membranes.

^ agree with above/2 years in CM and tap water is pretty good. We drink GALLONS of it daily.

A ~1,000 Bt investment in 3 stage filtration takes out most impurities and copes with annual pipe cleaning. Compared with Isaan or Phuket, CM water is ok taken straight.

I know there are readers here who will wonder about my chlorine remarks, but here is one option which a plant may use, and there are others. Just because one has not checked what chemical is actually being used, does not give them the right to state emphatically that it is CHLORINE:

The use of chloramine is becoming more common as a disinfectant. Although chloramine is not as strong an oxidant, it does provide a longer-lasting residual than free chlorine and it will not form THMs or haloacetic acids. It is possible to convert chlorine to chloramine by adding ammonia to the water after addition of chlorine. The chlorine and ammonia react to form chloramine. Water distribution systems disinfected with chloramines may experience nitrification, as ammonia is a nutrient for bacterial growth, with nitrates being generated as a by-product.

Water-quality

^ agree with above/2 years in CM and tap water is pretty good. We drink GALLONS of it daily.

A ~1,000 Bt investment in 3 stage filtration takes out most impurities and copes with annual pipe cleaning. Compared with Isaan or Phuket, CM water is ok taken straight.

I did not want to argue just for argument's sake, however one really needs to speak up a bit so that readers will not get the wrong idea about the seemingly high quality of drinking water, and hence waste their money on plastic bottling.

It is true that I do not have any test analysis reports of the water I drink here, but if it were not good, then I would know it, since I drink little else, and I never boil it, unless it is for coffee.

What is needed, I think, is a test that tap water consumers can use to measure their water quality, or at least provide a bi-annual service to test water when people have doubts. This will boost the degree of public trust in public water quality.

Until that time, I am so confident of the tap water I drink that I will gladly act as another blind guinea pig. But by doing this, I am sure I assume very little risk.

I realize there are those in other countries who share these same fears, unwarranted as well. I think that Japan uses a comparatively high concentration of chemical water treatment, but everyone drinks it, as did I.

Just so people here know: They do not treat the water with chlorine, as the OP seems to think. Or, maybe he does not think that, but chlorine is not used.

Bottoms UP, as they used to say in Hong Kong, as they swilled their fluids in that good bar!

W