Do you folks use tap water to cook pasta?

[BuddyDean]

I brought back a nice stash of pasta from my home, and was wondering if there was a steadfast opinion on this.  

[mommysboy]

Absolutely, yes.  Tap water is fine for boiling.  You can also brush your teeth using it.

[NanLaew]

I have one of those 2-stage faucet filters and always use this water for cooking, baking, etc..

[BuddyDean]

1 minute ago, mommysboy said:

Absolutely, yes.  Tap water is fine for boiling.  You can also brush your teeth using it.

Been brushing and washing in it for years, even drank it by accident a few times, never a problem, but wanted to hear from those experienced cooking with it.

[mommysboy]

1 minute ago, BuddyDean said:

Been brushing and washing in it for years, even drank it by accident a few times, never a problem, but wanted to hear from those experienced cooking with it.

I have cooked pasta in it many times.  My wife has used tap water for cooking for many years.

[BuddyDean]

1 minute ago, NanLaew said:

I have one of those 2-stage faucet filters and always use this water for cooking, baking, etc..

Yeah, I should probably get a faucet filter, but our machine is only .50 per liter, not in their blood to be good with filters, though.

[Dante99]

There are many different sources, kinds and qualities of tap water in Chiang Mai.  Your tap water may be municipal, from one of many municipalities all with different water, the guy across the street may have his from a well and down the street a ways they may pump out of a river of klong.  Or it may come from a reservoir that a dead cow has been laying in for a few days.  Enjoy brushing your teeth with that.

[mommysboy]

3 minutes ago, Dante99 said:

There are many different sources, kinds and qualities of tap water in Chiang Mai.  Your tap water may be municipal, from one of many municipalities all with different water, the guy across the street may have his from a well and down the street a ways they may pump out of a river of klong.  Or it may come from a reservoir that a dead cow has been laying in for a few days.  Enjoy brushing your teeth with that.

I guess it pays to know your locality.

 

My wife is just cooking a soup.  She does not use tap water for that, but does use it to boil spuds or pasta.

[BuddyDean]

Treated CM muni water, west side.  

[FolkGuitar]

If the water is to be an integral part of the meal, such as soup or tea, where the taste of the water will play an important role, I use only 4-stage (including UV) filtered water.  Drinking water and teeth brushing gets done with filtered water.

 

For boiling foodstuffs and then draining and discarding  the water, I'll take it straight from the tap.

[SheungWan]

Its important that you save 15 baht not using bottles water.

[Bill97]

I brought back a nice stash of pasta from my home, and was wondering if there was a steadfast opinion on this.  

I found 327 kinds of pasta in stores here. What kinds did you bring from home that you can't get here?


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[cyberfarang]

My wife used to use tap water for her cooking a few years ago, but gave it up when we all started glowing in the dark.

[Bill97]

My wife used to use tap water for her cooking a few years ago, but gave it up when we all started glowing in the dark.

Thank you for providing some insight to your behavior.


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[canuckamuck]

Obviously if you are boiling it you will not have to worry about biotics.  Trace elements and taste is another issue though. When I lived CM I used the tap water for high temperature cooking. Didn't have any problems.

[Nick ZepTepi]

I could taste the difference when I swapped from tap water in a modern condo to water from a newish water cabinet machine in my cooking & coffee.

Before options pour in about those water machines. Locate one that looks newish 1-2 years old or find a old one that has a record of checks stuck to the outside.
Machines have filters & reverse osmosis and if new or well maintained the water quality will be much better than tap for cooking where the item absorbs any water, pasta & rice inc.

I brush my teeth with tap FYI.

Sent from my mobile, please forgive the autocorrect.

[worgeordie]

Cooking with tap water OK, drinking it definitely not,the water

might be pure leaving the water plant,but its a long way to your

home and many things can happen,cracked pipe,i know one

Moo Bhan that has their water pipes laid in the gutters,into

which all the sewerage tanks drain the excess water into.

for drinking water we use Glacier and have been for many

years without a problem,glass bottles.

regards worgeordie

[FolkGuitar]

A four-stage under-cabinet water filter with UV seems to have solved all our water issues. The carbon filter takes care of taste, the resin reduces (but doesn't remove all,) minerals,  a .3 micron filters out any and all bacteria and parasites, and the UV filter removes the possibility of viral contamination.  What comes out of the spout is pure, clean, fresh-tasting H2O.

Cost is about 4,000 -5,000 Baht at most home centers and took me almost 15 minutes to install myself under the kitchen sink.  No carrying water bottles down to the corner machine. No crates of empty bottles waiting for pick-up. Just turn the handle and voila!

[RBOP]

Even though tap water is claimed safe for consumption I prefer to consume and cook with water that first runs through my ceramic filter, activated carbon filter and UV system. There is clearly a noticeable difference in flavor and smell between filtered and raw tap water.

[marquis22]

Yes, ok to use as boiling kills pathogens

"Boiling can be used as a pathogen reduction method that should kill all pathogens. Water should be brought to a rolling boil for 1 minute. At altitudes greater than 6,562 feet (greater than 2000 meters), you should boil water for 3 minutes"

You might want to check the sediment concentrations though wherever you are?  

[pennine]

I was once advised not to use tap water for boiling an egg, in case the shell cracked as they sometimes do. i thought this was good advice.

[pauleddy]

Always for Pasta. Sometimes make Nescafe with it. I'm near Chatuchak.

 

I know folks who drink it raw. Presumably it has been chlorinated etc.

 

Does anybody know the real truth? avoid or use? why??

[worgeordie]

1 hour ago, FolkGuitar said:

A four-stage under-cabinet water filter with UV seems to have solved all our water issues. The carbon filter takes care of taste, the resin reduces (but doesn't remove all,) minerals,  a .3 micron filters out any and all bacteria and parasites, and the UV filter removes the possibility of viral contamination.  What comes out of the spout is pure, clean, fresh-tasting H2O.

Cost is about 4,000 -5,000 Baht at most home centers and took me almost 15 minutes to install myself under the kitchen sink.  No carrying water bottles down to the corner machine. No crates of empty bottles waiting for pick-up. Just turn the handle and voila!

Yes that method is perfectly OK, BUT you have to remember to change the filters, 

resin,and the UV tube,and I think quite a few people will fit and forget,that's the problem.

regards worgeordie

[steve73]

Most municipally supplied "piped" water in T/L should have been treated and chlorinated suitable for drinking.  I've occasionally noticed a very strong Chlorine smell, so I suspect their control methods are not 100%.

Again, occasionally (and usually during Songkran) the tap water comes out brown and "smelly".  This is probably as their tanks run empty and any sediment gets picked up and piped out  At such times I'm reluctant to even flush the W/C with it.!!

 

I used to have a borehole & sand filter.  Totally crystal clear, with no sediment initially, but when left open to the air, a very fine brown sediment would collect.  I'm pretty sure this would have been soluble Ferrous iron oxidizing to insoluble Ferric iron.. Not really a problem for consumption, although I never deliberated consumed it (other than when brushing teeth).

 

But to answer the OP, I use either mains or bore-hole when cooking things in it (eg. potatoes),  but bottled water when actually consuming it (boiled or raw), and this includes rice and pasta which actually absorb it... 

[realenglish1]

Cooking and brushing teeth for 15 years here in Bangkok Never sick Its fine

[Tony125]

I think it's pretty easy decision if you think about this. If boiling water the heat will kill pathogens/bacteria in the water , however it will do nothing to remove sediment, lead, rust (from old pipes) minerals. I hear people say" I drink tap all the time and feel fine" . You could drink tap with lead contamination for years before it killed you depending on the concentration. Let your tap water drip for a few days in a white basin. If you see a brown residue after awhile I think you have your answer whether you should be drinking or cooking with it.

[SunsetT]

12 hours ago, SheungWan said:

Its important that you save 15 baht not using bottles water.

It IS important to cut down on the ridiculously high and unnecessary use of plastic bottles in Thailand as plastic is destroying the Environment and contaminating the food chain which will and is already affecting us all.

[Autonuaq]

Have you ever look out at the vending machines that provide your coffee, soda, or what they use on the street when you eat, or in the restaurant?

 

Presume most of you have never ever even taught about it.

You will be very supprised.

 

[edwardflory]

Clear water, with no smell, boiling for 3 or more minutes, should be safe from any critters living in the water, for cooking, BUT,  Trace Elements ( dissolved metals, heavy metals, zinc, mercury, lead or nitrates ) IS a different story. I HAVE NOT heard of " tap" water with dangerous levels of trace elements in Thailand......as yet!!!

 

See post # 26, good idea.

[DPKANKAN]

As long as it boiled first no problem. Better through a filter system first though.