is tap water safe to drink after boiling it?

[BananaBandit]

i'd prefer to avoid water machines these days

 

so is it safe enough to drink tap water after boiling it?

[jastheace]

I would say it depends where you live and the source of the water.

I know people in Pattaya that have used tap water for cooking but not beverages. I would not however. Up country where the source is a deep bore, i would in emergencies, ie run out of purified or bottled water. Machine RO and UV treated should be OK.... why do you distrust this source? however i would recommend drinking a bottle or two of mineralised water daily, especially if you sweat a lot.

 

[impulse]

If the issue with the water is microbes, boiling is generally fine.  Unless you have some of the bugs or their cysts that survive high temperature.  But you can filter most (if not all) of those out with proper RO.

 

If the problem is heavy metals or other chemical contamination (like lead from old pipes or arsenic from groundwater), boiling won't help.

 

Depends on your source of water, and how you filter it before you boil it.  If you think I'm trying to make it sound a little more complicated than yes/no, you are correct.

 

[Jeffr2]

2 hours ago, impulse said:

If the issue with the water is microbes, boiling is generally fine.  Unless you have some of the bugs or their cysts that survive high temperature.  But you can filter most (if not all) of those out with proper RO.

 

If the problem is heavy metals or other chemical contamination (like lead from old pipes or arsenic from groundwater), boiling won't help.

 

Depends on your source of water, and how you filter it before you boil it.  If you think I'm trying to make it sound a little more complicated than yes/no, you are correct.

 

Well put!!!

[VocalNeal]

If you live in a large conurbation, the water comes from a central source and you can smell the chlorine in the water then the answer is yes,

[Excel]

2 hours ago, impulse said:

If the issue with the water is microbes, boiling is generally fine.  Unless you have some of the bugs or their cysts that survive high temperature.  But you can filter most (if not all) of those out with proper RO.

 

If the problem is heavy metals or other chemical contamination (like lead from old pipes or arsenic from groundwater), boiling won't help.

 

Depends on your source of water, and how you filter it before you boil it.  If you think I'm trying to make it sound a little more complicated than yes/no, you are correct.

 

That is true what you say but I always take the further safer precaution when I boil water to drink by asking my wife to drink it first ????????

[Jeffr2]

6 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

If you live in a large conurbation, the water comes from a central source and you can smell the chlorine in the water then the answer is yes,

Yes, except for heavy metal contamination.  Which is a huge problem here in Thailand.  Especially from agricultural chemicals seeping into the ground water.

[EVENKEEL]

Can buy 3 - 12 pks/100bht Why even bother.

[Excel]

Just now, EVENKEEL said:

Can buy 3 - 12 pks/100bht Why even bother.

Perhaps when you consider that all those little plastic bottles the water comes in is a major source of pollution the OP cares about the environment ?

[Jeffr2]

12 minutes ago, Excel said:

Perhaps when you consider that all those little plastic bottles the water comes in is a major source of pollution the OP cares about the environment ?

We get the big bottles delivered.  50B, and they'll even put them on if the other bottle is empty.  If I need to bring water out with me, I have metal drinking bottles.  Several.  And some are insulated.  Works great, and no plastic bottles.  Which I hate!!! LOL

[Excel]

1 minute ago, Jeffr2 said:

We get the big bottles delivered.  50B, and they'll even put them on if the other bottle is empty.  If I need to bring water out with me, I have metal drinking bottles.  Several.  And some are insulated.  Works great, and no plastic bottles.  Which I hate!!! LOL

We have the huge 20 litre ones delivered locally, 2 or 3 times a week, 10 baht per bottle. Bottles are sterilised at the plant and re-used. Don't now the life cycle of these bottles but I would guess a few hundred times. I used to boil the water and drink it but stopped when my wife told me I was starting to glow in the dark ????

[VocalNeal]

24 minutes ago, Jeffr2 said:

Yes, except for heavy metal contamination.  Which is a huge problem here in Thailand.  Especially from agricultural chemicals seeping into the ground water.

 

And how do we know that bottled water which mostly comes from the same source is not also "contaminated"? 

 

Some people grew up not trusting their water supply so I suppose it is a natural reaction.

Edited April 27, 2021 by VocalNeal

[EVENKEEL]

6 minutes ago, Jeffr2 said:

We get the big bottles delivered.  50B, and they'll even put them on if the other bottle is empty.  If I need to bring water out with me, I have metal drinking bottles.  Several.  And some are insulated.  Works great, and no plastic bottles.  Which I hate!!! LOL

I go next door and buy the big bottle 17/bht for cooking, not going to drink it.  Plastic bottles are all recycled

[ETatBKK]

most popular and severe water contamination is heavy metal and agricultural chemical. boiling won't help, only very tight controlled RO system work. drink water right after RO, not put in the container and drink another hour.

[Jeffr2]

8 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

 

And how do we know that bottled water which mostly comes from the same source is not also "contaminated"? 

 

Some people grew up not trusting their water supply so I suppose it is a natural reaction.

RO removes most of the heavy metals.  The water goes through a RO filter, gets hit by UV and ozonation.  Pretty good water. 

 

I grew up being able to drink water right out of the tap.  Not sure what you're talking about.

[Nojohndoe]

The comment/advice from Impulse is quite correct IMO.

The  commentary about bottled water is slightly amusing to me.

Many people are dubious about the quality of the water in the 20 liter bulk bottles and declare  confidence in the small multi pack type.

We get the  large ones delivered @ 8 bht per 20 liters and occasionally also a pack of the small ones for visitors who are squeamish. Why amusing? It is the same water ! The water  Company is just down the road and I have been there and seen the operation.

It is also routinely tested by the district Health Office.

I have more concerns about the Ice Companies having many times discarded ice cubes with dirt and grit  very visible in them ! In them, not on them I must add !

[VocalNeal]

14 minutes ago, Jeffr2 said:

I grew up being able to drink water right out of the tap.  Not sure what you're talking about.

 

So did I, we simply drank it without worrying what was in it. 

 

As far as Reverse Osmosis goes, I have never been inside my local drinking water bottler's premises so I cannot confirm he/she uses it.

 

 

[LazySlipper]

I have a 7000bht clarte water filtration system with a uv light. Haven't bought water in 6 years. I would NEVER settle for just boiling water.  When I change my filters they are brown and nasty and nothing will get that out of the water, especially only boiling. Do yourself service and forget about how long it takes to break even, as most cheap charlie foreigners do and splurge on yourself. We are 70% water apparently...

[Lacessit]

Boiling water will guarantee bacteria, viruses and oocysts do not survive. It will also eliminate chlorine by steam distillation, and MAY denature some pesticides. It will do nothing as far as heavy metals are concerned.

The cheap way to eliminate heavy metals is to pass the water through fine steel wool. A more expensive solution is activated carbon, or reverse osmosis.

[J Town]

39 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

I go next door and buy the big bottle 17/bht for cooking, not going to drink it.  Plastic bottles are all recycled

Not necessarily. 
https://earth911.com/business-policy/recycling-plastic-bottles-myths/

[Dart12]

53 minutes ago, Excel said:

We have the huge 20 litre ones delivered locally, 2 or 3 times a week, 10 baht per bottle. Bottles are sterilised at the plant and re-used. Don't now the life cycle of these bottles but I would guess a few hundred times. I used to boil the water and drink it but stopped when my wife told me I was starting to glow in the dark ????

who does this delivery service?  I drink 6 liters a day alone or more and it does add up paying 50baht per 6 liter bottle at grocery store.

[Sticky Rice Balls]

I get the cases delivered too...the manager has them stacked downstairs and I give him 40 bt for a case as I hump it up 4 flights....i prefer glass but the plastic bottles are fine and work good for me to dump a 7-11 electrolyte powder in there and make homemade gatorade..

 

Protip do NOT drink tap water in laos.....happened years ago and that lesson was well learned that day

[Jeffr2]

35 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

 

So did I, we simply drank it without worrying what was in it. 

 

As far as Reverse Osmosis goes, I have never been inside my local drinking water bottler's premises so I cannot confirm he/she uses it.

 

 

It says RO on my bottles.  It's a big company, and I've seen the plant.  Seems like a proper water plant to me.  But I'd LOVE to just turn on the tap and have a drink.  I really, really, really miss that.  But just not possible here.

 

We have a primary filtration for the house, but not good enough for drinking.  Sometimes, the water supply is absolutely brown.  Disgusting.

[Dart12]

Also, I've heard to never drink from those osmosis water machines, and I haven't, but why is that?

[Jeffr2]

4 minutes ago, Dart12 said:

Also, I've heard to never drink from those osmosis water machines, and I haven't, but why is that?

Do you mean the machines on the street or RO water in general?  If the first, it's because they've been tested and found to be contaminated.  Many!  If the second, it's because some say RO removes what your body needs.

[kynikoi]

I add 1 drop of plain chlorine bleach to 2L tap water which imo is fine to drink in central Bangkok anyway. Any leftover boiled water from the kettle is added to the 10L bottle which also reduces the taste of chlorine.

 

Buying water in plastic bottles .5l to 6l is just for losers. Can't damage the environment more by trying.

 

No one please post telling me the perils of drinking chlorine. Thank you.

 

Edit: used to do the RO but machines were filthy and they'd disappeared from streets anyway.

Edited April 27, 2021 by kynikoi

[Dart12]

1 minute ago, Jeffr2 said:

Do you mean the machines on the street or RO water in general?  If the first, it's because they've been tested and found to be contaminated.  Many!  If the second, it's because some say RO removes what your body needs.

Yeah, the one's in the street and/or condo complex's.

But you are saying don't drink the RO water from these delivery services also?  That RO water is not healthy in general?

[Nojohndoe]

6 minutes ago, Dart12 said:

Also, I've heard to never drink from those osmosis water machines, and I haven't, but why is that?

Because if you  mean the ones placed in random urban areas the maintenance or lack of causes  many to have doubts about the output.

RO filters can rupture which means the purpose of it  lost.

[Jeffr2]

4 minutes ago, Dart12 said:

Yeah, the one's in the street and/or condo complex's.

But you are saying don't drink the RO water from these delivery services also?  That RO water is not healthy in general?

 

 

[Dart12]

@Jeffr2, I guess it doesn't matter if you are saying RO water, itself, is not healthy to drink.

If that's the case, I won't even research or look into newer studies on the machines.

right now spending a good 3000 baht month on drinking water,  seems like something that I should be able to lessen the expense in some manner.