Jump to content

Why don't the Thai authorities clean up the tap water?


Barnabe

Recommended Posts

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.

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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 by VocalNeal
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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"?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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 !
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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 by StreetCowboy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, mogandave said:

Plenty of people drink the tap water without any problem.



Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

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,

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.








×
×
  • Create New...