There are millions of people living in Bangkok and everyone is drinking bottled water. This costs a lot of money to produce and buy, not to mention it makes Thailand one of the top 5 plastic polluters in the world.

 

Wouldn't it make sense to increase taxes to clean up the tap water? More money in taxes, but less money spent in water bottles.

Bangkok tap water is supposed to be safe to drink according to government...but it seems most Bangkokians don't agree.

Tap water might be perfectly safe to drink,on leaving

the Water Works,its just that it can get polluted on the

way to the tap in your house,Bangkok is no different 

from London,New York,or Paris,where people also drink

a lot of bottled water.

regards worgeordie

Plenty of people drink the tap water without any problem.



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2 hours ago, johng said:

Bangkok tap water is supposed to be safe to drink according to government...but it seems most Bangkokians don't agree.

I agree with BWA. better to put it in a large open top jar to let the chlorine gas off otherwise OK. Most or at least a lot of people get their water from a vending machine which is fed from BWA water main.

Additionally BKK water is quite hard and therefore has a high pH which is also better.

Edited February 11, 20188 yr by VocalNeal

At least you have town water at your taps....not like here. The last week i could pee harder than what the hose delivers. Not game to turn 2 taps on at the same time, we might get a vaccume and collapse the pipes ...

How else will the elite get those sweet 60% profit margins?

 

Nobody invented a way to sell air, yet

1 hour ago, worgeordie said:

Bangkok is no different 

from London,

I'd disagree with that having worked in the UK water industry. UK tap water is perfectly safe to drink. Don't know about Paris, New York, etc. Is BKK water safe to drink?

Renewing an aged or not-fit-for-purpose watermain infrastructure in BKK would be a massive undertaking.

 

There are however technologies around to clean and re-line watermains.

 

I agree with the OP that a cleanup is needed.

I live in a province adjacent to BKK and i often get brown tap water. The 10 inch sediment filter to the washing machine has to be rinsed every month.

Thats why we have a water filter for our drinking water.

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2 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

I agree with BWA. better to put it in a large open top jar to let the chlorine gas off otherwise OK. Most or at least a lot of people get their water from a vending machine which is fed from BWA water main.

Additionally BKK water is quite hard and therefore has a high pH which is also better.

 

 

 

I have to wonder about the maintenance and changing of the machine's filters.

 

But I guess you're still breathing.

 

Anyone  ever heard of "liver worts"?

36 minutes ago, watcharacters said:

 

 

 

I have to wonder about the maintenance and changing of the machine's filters.

 

But I guess you're still breathing.

 

Anyone  ever heard of "liver worts"?

 

Are they common among poor Thais?

2 hours ago, grollies said:

I'd disagree with that having worked in the UK water industry. UK tap water is perfectly safe to drink. Don't know about Paris, New York, etc. Is BKK water safe to drink?

Bangkok is no different 
from London,New York,or Paris,where people also drink
a lot of bottled water.  read it carefully, not about tap water but bottled

regards worgeordie

13 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

Bangkok is no different 
from London,New York,or Paris,where people also drink
a lot of bottled water.  read it carefully, not about tap water but bottled

regards worgeordie

Exactly, the municipal water in LA is much more highly regulated than bottled. The bottled water is just tap water in bottles.

 

My favorite are the machines where you bring your own bottle and pay to turn the tap on. Too funny.

 

 

I'd disagree with that having worked in the UK water industry. UK tap water is perfectly safe to drink. Don't know about Paris, New York, etc. Is BKK water safe to drink?

I drank London tap water since 1971
+ my victorian house still had lead pipes
until about the mid 80s. Smoked 20 JPS till 2000 still (just about) alive !

The residents of Bangkok are very lucky to have reasonable water. There are hundreds of thousands possibly millions of Thais whose government water is supplied from lakes unfiltered which runs out during the dry season. Many Thais live in villages like my village with no government water.

 

When I spent a year living in Bangkok we filtered our tap water and drank it. Now our drinking water is filtered rain water. If we run out of rain water we filter our well water.

 

In our village the plastic pollution is not from water bottles, but from the unlimited supply from plastic bags. But the real pollution is from the insane field burning. 

Bangkok tap water is fine so long as your building pipes and tanks are OK.

(EDIT: I drank the tap water when I lived in Bangkok and Samutprakarn, but the buildings were reasonably well maintained.  I never had any illnesses that I could attribute to water)

 

A friend of mine fished a dead squirrel out of his water tank.

 

That's why in the UK the kitchen supply comes straight off the main, while the bathroom supply comes via a water tank.  I don't know about Thailand, nor about high rises.

 

SC

Edited February 11, 20188 yr by StreetCowboy

3 hours ago, worgeordie said:

Bangkok is no different 
from London,New York,or Paris,where people also drink
a lot of bottled water.  read it carefully, not about tap water but bottled

regards worgeordie

I did read the OP's post. He is stating that millions of Thais who live in BKK do not trust the tap water and instead drink bottled water and asking why the MWA don't clean up the tap water.

 

My point was that I'd trust and drink tap water in London but wasn't sure about Bangkok tap water.

 

The topic is about tap water quality in Bangkok being improved to the point where people would trust it enough to drink, therefore saving on all the plastic waste generated from bottled water.

 

32 minutes ago, grollies said:

I did read the OP's post. He is stating that millions of Thais who live in BKK do not trust the tap water and instead drink bottled water and asking why the MWA don't clean up the tap water.

 

My point was that I'd trust and drink tap water in London but wasn't sure about Bangkok tap water.

 

The topic is about tap water quality in Bangkok being improved to the point where people would trust it enough to drink, therefore saving on all the plastic waste generated from bottled water.

 

But the point is that the tap water in Bangkok is safe to drink, until it enters your building, where the authorities can't control it. 

 

They could improve the flavour to make it taste 'cleaner', but at the end of the day, it is the water authority's responsibility to provide clean water.  Whether people drink it is up to them, and the water authority loses nothing by people drinking bottled water.

 
 
 
I have to wonder about the maintenance and changing of the machine's filters.
 
But I guess you're still breathing.
 
Anyone  ever heard of "liver worts"?

No but I’ve eaten liver wurst

But it should also be up to the authorities to force auditing of a property's water supply systems and impose penalties when they are not followed.

I know my data points are anecdotal, but I know several young Thai working men and women (not hiso) and none of them drink tap water.


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9 hours ago, mogandave said:

Plenty of people drink the tap water without any problem.



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More fool people who drink Tap water, It's not the water it's the pipe work, the water is full of bugs and bacteria,

7 hours ago, i claudius said:

Thats why we have a water filter for our drinking water.

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Water filters only stop dirt it does not kill bacteria,it needs an infrared/blue light.

More fool people who drink Tap water, It's not the water it's the pipe work, the water is full of bugs and bacteria,

The plastic pipe work?

Seriously...knowing the mentality about maintenance here, how can anyone think the tap water is safe to drink? 

I have lived in more than 17 countries, I mean I spent more than a year in the given country. The only good, tasty tap water I could find in Hungary only up till now. Their tap water has better quality than bottled import water.

14 hours ago, worgeordie said:

Bangkok is no different 
from London,New York,or Paris,where people also drink
a lot of bottled water.  read it carefully, not about tap water but bottled

regards worgeordie

They say NY has the purist and best tasting water. It's not about these cities having bad or poor tasting water. People find bottled water convenient and easy to carry.

18 hours ago, worgeordie said:

Tap water might be perfectly safe to drink,on leaving

the Water Works,its just that it can get polluted on the

way to the tap in your house,Bangkok is no different 

from London,New York,or Paris,where people also drink

a lot of bottled water.

regards worgeordie

Puerto Rico would be happy with any water coming from a tap.

Remember Flint, Michigan, USA......