Drinking Water Dispensers In The Street

[astromash]

In Pattaya you can get drinking water for 1 baht a litre from the drinking water dispensers in the street.

Is this water safe to drink?

A friend of mine will only use it for cooking etc.

When it comes to drinking unboiled water, he sticks to bottled water.

Is he being over-cautious?

Edited September 14, 2007 by astromash

[kayo]

I have never heard of this - is news to me - but I'm a pretty gung ho guy when it comes to things like this.

First, I'd say, if you REALLY NEED to drink water, find the "fountains" that a lot of people are using - just as you would with food vendors etc... If 75 locals per hour are drinking from it, it's probably fine.

second I'd say, Why?

Water is available just about... EVERYWHERE (in "civilised places")

[piker]

I drink it and haven't died lately.

[DirkGently]

Have been using thw water machines for years. Only one problem after drinking and cooking with the stuff. Look at the overall clenliness of the machine. The problem was due to allowing a Thai to collect some for me. She used a differnt machina than I normally used. Let's put it this way, I did a lot of reading in the bathroom over that weekend. However, the machine in my apartment is spotless and heavily used.

If nothing else, the impact of 10000000000s of bottles on the enviroment is lessened.

Another way is to ask the staff at your place or any local and they can put you in touch with a company that delivers the huge barrels of water.

[barryofthailand]

If the machine has an RO system the water is OK to drink. If the machine just has a filter the water is not safe to drink, because the filters are probably not change on a regular bases. the machine should be connected to a water supply and you will be able to see the RO system behind the machine.

Barry

[astromash]

if you REALLY NEED to drink water, find the "fountains" that a lot of people are using - just as you would with food vendors etc... If 75 locals per hour are drinking from it, it's probably fine.

Thanks for your response but my post is largely to do with the provision of drinking water at home. And, yes, I need and like to drink water. Especially in Thailand.

Interesting, I haven't noticed these "fountains" you refer to. Unless "fountains" is your metaphor for something else! Or perhaps you're referring to the same thing that I'm calling "drinking water dispensers"? Namely slot machines at the side of the street. They have a clear perspex cover: you open the cover and shove an empty plastic bottle under a nozzle.

I would say that I don't assume that just because local people can consume something without any apparent ill effects that I will necessarily get off so lightly.

[piker]

Ok I must confess I live a stress free life in Pattaya except...I often miscalculate the placement of my water bottle and when I hit the green dispense button, the first blast ricochets off the side of the bottle sprinkling me trousers and then people might think I've peed my pants. Please fess up if this has happened to you at least once (or weekly).

[astromash]

If the machine has an RO system the water is OK to drink. If the machine just has a filter the water is not safe to drink, because the filters are probably not change on a regular bases. the machine should be connected to a water supply and you will be able to see the RO system behind the machine.

Barry

Thanks Barry. I just googled "RO system" so I reckon you're talking about "reverse osmosis". Yes, many machines have printed on their fronts that they use this technology.

Unfortunately I don't know what an 'RO system' looks like! Guess I can just believe it if it says it on the front of the machine.

[Tony Clifton]

We have a few RO water machines around here. I only use it for cooking. I buy Nestle's bottled water for drinking.

My friend sees the operator collecting the coins from those machines and says the filtered out crap is disgusting. There is already no chlorine whatsoever in the water around here. Water pumped directly from the street is brownish while water that has been sitting still in our underground tank is crystal clear (few inches of sludge at the bottom though )

[monty]

Supposedly drinking water treated by RO is not damaging your health, but you should be sure to have an adequate intake of minerals (veggies etc)

RO treated water does not contain any minerals at all (actually it contains nothing at all!) so by drinking a lot of it you deplete your mineral reserve of your body.

As mentioned above, this should not be aproblem for people eating a healthy diet, but for those shunning vegetables, bottled mineral can be a good supply of minerals...

[colino]

As monty has posted , my doctor back in the uk advised me to buy a good bottle of imported water at least once a fortnight because as monty say,s you dont get the minerals from RO water

[astromash]

We have a few RO water machines around here. I only use it for cooking. I buy Nestle's bottled water for drinking.

Aha, you agree with my friend then.

Would you use RO water from one of these machines to boil for tea/coffee?

And what would you use for washing fruit, vegetables etc?

Cheers.

[astromash]

As monty has posted , my doctor back in the uk advised me to buy a good bottle of imported water at least once a fortnight because as monty say,s you dont get the minerals from RO water

By 'a good bottle' I assume you mean mineral water (or water containing minerals) as opposed to 'drinking water'?

As I said above, on the machines Reverse Osmosis is often mentioned. However I've never a bottle of 'drinking water' mention it.

[Humphrey Bear]

RO process filters out any dissolved solids (salts) but not bacteria.

Following the RO process should be (as a minimum) a UV treatment.

The machines I have seen use a UV system as well. But as all seem to be sited next to a Family Mart or 7/11 I usually just pop in there and buy a bottle from a supplier that I know and trust.

In Saudi there are free dispensers on many street corners, fed from charitable people's own water sources, but I never touch them, as the tin cup hanging there has been used by 10,000 people before me.

Water is something that you need, but you should be very sure of the sources you drink from, as it is home to many really nasty diseases

[astromash]

by drinking a lot of it you deplete your mineral reserve of your body.

Yes, I've heard about this before.

Any idea why?

Cheers.

[Humphrey Bear]

As monty has posted , my doctor back in the uk advised me to buy a good bottle of imported water at least once a fortnight because as monty say,s you dont get the minerals from RO water

By 'a good bottle' I assume you mean mineral water (or water containing minerals) as opposed to 'drinking water'?

As I said above, on the machines Reverse Osmosis is often mentioned. However I've never a bottle of 'drinking water' mention it.

Much bottled water in the world comes from natural springs and needs treatment only to standardise the salts contained within it and to add preserving chemicals to prevent the growth of bacillae and similar.

But for distillation of raw water into potable or drinking water it is necessary to either filter out the undesireable salts or to leave them in the waste water resulting from treatment.

These treatments fall into three basic types - filtration, recombination or condensation.

Reverse Osmosis (RO) is a fairly efficient filtration system that works by creating different pressure levels on either side of a filter membrane that will allow water molecules through, but not the dissolved solids contained in that water (either sea-water or high TDS well water)(TDS = Total Dissolved Solids).

This process is expensive, produces a lot of brine and needs post-treatment to add back correct amounts of salts and to remove bacteria and preserve the water for storage.

Distillation can be either the electrical separation of the hydrogen and oxygen, then re-combining them under controlled conditions, or the super-heating of the water into high-temperature pressurised steam, which is then condensed. Again this distilled water needs salts and preservatives added before being offered for sale.

Pattaya City Hall has a monitoring scheme in place to ensure that water offered for sale in Pattaya is 'fit for purpose'. In Thai Visa a couple of years ago there was a series of posts regarding the closing-down of unregistered and non-compliant water distribution businesses.

So the water in these dispensers should be 'fit for purpose'. What is the purpose described on the machines? Fit for drinking or potable (fit for cooking)?

On my present site I have a steam condensing plant producing 6,500 cubic metres per day, with an RO plant scheduled to produce three times that cominng on-line soon.

Three or four years ago we built a 100 million gallons per day flash distillation plant in Abu Dhabi.

All these convert sea-water into potable or drinking water.

In Pattaya most of the small drinking water companies use wells and treat fresh water, which means less reject or waste water than when treating sea-water.

But they should still follow the same guidelines.

The big breweries use a lot of treated water for their beer manufacture. Some of these - notably Chang - also bottle and sell this water. That has been stringently tested - as has the Nestle water, I assume - and would be the safest if you have a nervous stomach.

Edited September 14, 2007 by Humphrey Bear

[h5n1]

Never a problem - But, often the nozzles are not clean.

Actually the tap will not kill you, its very chlorinated but may give you the sqirts until your body gets used to it.

[astromash]

Actually the tap will not kill you, its very chlorinated but may give you the sqirts until your body gets used to it.

This is news to me.

I've never seen any Thais drink it, let alone falang

[Tony Clifton]

We have a few RO water machines around here. I only use it for cooking. I buy Nestle's bottled water for drinking.

Aha, you agree with my friend then.

Would you use RO water from one of these machines to boil for tea/coffee?

And what would you use for washing fruit, vegetables etc?

Cheers.

I use the RO water for coffee but let it boil a while.

For washing fruit I use tap water.

On top of Nestle's bottle water, we also drink Chang soda water, we gave up diet Coke and Pepsi some months ago. Soda water is just as refreshing to me, if not more.

[astromash]

Pattaya City Hall has a monitoring scheme in place to ensure that water offered for sale in Pattaya is 'fit for purpose'.

Humphrey Bear, thank you for a very informative post.

Mineral water - drinking water sold in bottles - drinking water from dispensers in street - tap water.

Can I ask you? - in Pattaya which of the above 4 do you recommend for:

drinking

drinking in hot tea/hot coffee

cooking

washing fruit / vegetables

cleaning your teeth

washing cuts and grazes

Cheers.

[Tony Clifton]

In a country where deadly puffer fish is sold as salmon, it's a hit and miss when it comes to drinking it's water. Who regulates the cleanliness of the machines and inspects them? Do they get kickbacks from the sales?

Choosing your food and drink here is like walking through a minefield when coliform is regularly found in food stalls, pesticide laced vegetables are sold, motor oil is used in instant noodle recipes and on and on.

[kayo]

if you REALLY NEED to drink water, find the "fountains" that a lot of people are using - just as you would with food vendors etc... If 75 locals per hour are drinking from it, it's probably fine.

Thanks for your response but my post is largely to do with the provision of drinking water at home. And, yes, I need and like to drink water. Especially in Thailand.

Interesting, I haven't noticed these "fountains" you refer to. Unless "fountains" is your metaphor for something else! Or perhaps you're referring to the same thing that I'm calling "drinking water dispensers"? Namely slot machines at the side of the street. They have a clear perspex cover: you open the cover and shove an empty plastic bottle under a nozzle.

I would say that I don't assume that just because local people can consume something without any apparent ill effects that I will necessarily get off so lightly.

Sh1t. I'm sorry. Disregard my earlier post. I misunderstood you.

I thought you were saying there are Drinking water Fountains (dispensers) in the streets.

My bad!

[Humphrey Bear]

Pattaya City Hall has a monitoring scheme in place to ensure that water offered for sale in Pattaya is 'fit for purpose'.

Humphrey Bear, thank you for a very informative post.

Mineral water - drinking water sold in bottles - drinking water from dispensers in street - tap water.

Can I ask you? - in Pattaya which of the above 4 do you recommend for:

drinking ...................................Bottled water (if there's no beer around)

drinking in hot tea/hot coffee .....I use tap water (unfiltered) but many use bottled water

cooking....................................Tap water - or your own well

washing fruit / vegetables..........Tap water and mild disinfectant (Milton pref.)

cleaning your teeth....................Tap water (pref. filtered) - or your own well.

washing cuts and grazes.............Tap water

Cheers.

But I must warn you that I had liquid squits over the weekend (but that was from cooking/eating some chicken from the local store that had obviously thawed out a few times).

Having worked on construction sites throughout the world I have a very keen interest in making sure I don't get cholera or similar. Whatever governments report to the WHO, cholera is still prevalent in many areas where I have lived and worked. Being a Westerner, with a healthy lifestyle to support me, I probably would not die of it, but why take the risks?

Edited September 16, 2007 by Humphrey Bear

[klikster]

Supposedly drinking water treated by RO is not damaging your health, but you should be sure to have an adequate intake of minerals (veggies etc)

RO treated water does not contain any minerals at all (actually it contains nothing at all!) so by drinking a lot of it you deplete your mineral reserve of your body.

As mentioned above, this should not be aproblem for people eating a healthy diet, but for those shunning vegetables, bottled mineral can be a good supply of minerals...

I'm going to take a bit of issue with the "no minerals" comment .. with the caveat that my comments go back to the '70's RO systems .. but the principles should be similar. RO works on a "charged" cellulose acetate membrane principle. While the membrane is semi-porous, it is not a filtration sysystem. Different impurities are "rejected" by the membrane and bypassed to waste depending on their "reaction" to the membrane, the pressure, and % of bypassed water. High quality RO systems need quite a bit of steady state pressure and the originals used multi-stage centrifugal pumps.

RO does not actually purify water, but some system like UV is normally used in conjunction. A good quality system will remove something like 80 - 98% of the dissolved solids. Sodium chloride (salt) is one of most difficult of dissolved solids to remove.

The downside of RO for consumer use .. over time the membrane degrades. It can get pinholes, splits, etc and more "stuff" gets through.

Edited September 17, 2007 by klikster

[Chang_paarp]

If you want to know what is in the box on the side of the road, go to place on Third Rd that sells them, It is on the left sideas you head from Pattaya Klang towards Nua. It is about 300m down the road. You cannot miss it they have 4 different models out front and the one inside is unlocked so you can see what is there, you can buy them starting from B47000. Or you can go on a profit share basis.

[LukDod]

An alternative to using any of the water dispensers....

FWIW-

I don't want the hassle of having to run out and buy either the large bottles of Nestle (etc.) water and lug them back to my place,

so for the last 4-years I've been having 19-liter (appx 5-gal) clear plastic containers of water delivered to my residence.

I usually get 3 bottles delivered once each month to avoid having to wait for deliveries of individual bottles when needed.

I've been getting my bottled water from Amtech; the water has received reverse osmosis, UV light and ozonation.

I use the bottled water only for drinking; I use tap water for cooking. It's slightly more expensive than obtaining

water from a dispenser, but a heck of a lot more convenient. The 19-liter bottles are 40-Bt each and there's an

initial bottle deposit which is refundable whenever you stop the service.

Their delivery man that I use is 'Sun-tawn', and he can be reached at 081-451-3657.

Amtech's number is 038-734-686

[ZZZ]

Have anyone used a watermaker like the miragewatermaker?

This unit produces a few gallons of water per day from the humidity in the air, at the same time it works like an air filter.

Running cost is only pennies per day and it gives you drinking water, a dehumidified house and clean air. Sounds like a good deal.

[hyperdimension]

I moved to Ari recently and I've been wondering what to do about drinking water.

There are at least 5 of these big water dispensing machines nearby. Each of them look slightly different from each other since I believe they are from different companies.

There is one just across the road from my apartment building that I used a few of times. I didn't think much about the water quality until I got stomach cramps and diarrhoea. I am not sure whether it's because of this water or the food I had been eating at the Thai-style restaurants and street vendors nearby.

I thought a bit more about wha could have been causing my illness. The common feature of the machines is that there are coloured lights that indicate what purification process is enabled. I noticed the one across the road had two lights, neither of which were alight. Other machines further down had maybe one light on out of two or three. The lights are mostly labelled in Thai, so I don't understand what purification process is the one that is enabled. I believe reverse osmosis and UV would be the two of the lights on most machines.

Even if the reverse osmosis light is on, I am concerned about the last time the filter was replaced. Maybe it has never been replaced. Is the date written on the machine?

In a previous apartment building in Sukhumvit Soi 22 I used a water dispensing machine downstairs heavily, and it seemed fine. But I'm not sure about these ones near my new apartment.

I've been thinking about getting a water purifier. I've had a look through a lot of the threads on this site. I like the comparison chart on this page: http://www.waterfiltercomparisons.com/Wate...ison_Matrix.cfm. Are the Aquasana products available here in Bangkok?

[mamanoodle]

Most of the street dispensers I've seen in Pattaya either look disused or quite dirty, so would never use them, any filters available here I just do not trust them, our tap water in south Pattaya and also when we lived Sukhumvit is yellow looking sometimes, and you know what they say about yellow snow!!!

[mike100]

I’ve used my own water filter system in Patts for more than 4 years now.

A fairly basic 5,000 baht, three filter system, changing the filters every year.

Ok, we might be lucky, but never a problem so far in drinking home filtered tap water.

I would guess that these road water machines have a better filter system than ours, but have never tested them.

Cheers,

mike.