Drinking Water Los

[Theboss]

Hi, do any of you long term residents of LOS citys ie BKK, or say Pattaya ever adapt to drinking the tap water unboiled, or do you stay drinking purified/ bottled type ?

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

There was a article in BKK post about tapwater in the US. The amount of crap in the water is unreal. I'll stick with bottled water although not Pepsi aquafina, it comes from tap water.

[expatwannabe]

I've gotten deathly sick every time I've drunk tap water in BKK.

Bottled is so cheap - you should just do it.

[apetley]

Who was it once said 'dont drink water, fish phuck in it'

Be safe stick with the Chang

[toptuan]

Five years in Thailand, and have always stuck with the bottled aqua. However, I have always brushed my teeth with tap water, swishing it around a few times and spitting it out. Did suffer horrendous diahrrea (never could spell it, and too lazy to look it up), for the first three months, and often wonder if it was from the toothbrushing... If so, maybe I'm immune to the bugs in tap water now? Schedule is too busy to spend 3 hours a day on the toilet to find out....

[edwardandtubs]

Stay away from Chang and all the "drinking water" crap (including from Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Nestle brands) - it's just tap water treated with reverse osmosis and deionised which makes it very unhealthy (drawing minerals out of your body). There's a thread on the issue. Why drink that crap when for the same price you can drink natural mineral water?

Edited January 1, 2008 by edwardandtubs

[Big A]

Who was it once said 'dont drink water, fish phuck in it'

The late, great WC Fields.

[billd766]

Up here in the central region we drink rainwater from the 2 x 3,000 litre stainless steel tanks that get topped up in the wet season. They generally last the 10 or so of us year round. When the rain starts again we generally wait a couple of days so that all the crap is off the roof and gutters, clean the tanks out one at a time then refill them.

No stomach problems at all from the water.

[ZZZ]

I've tested the tap water in Pattaya (Jomtien) for E.Coli bacteria, lead, pesticides, chlorine, hardness, pH, nitrates and nitrites and it came out perfectly good so should be just fine to drink.

The problem is that this MAY vary from location to location and from time to time. They have changed out a lot of the old water pipes in Pattaya so most places should have perfectly acceptable drinking water.

[Naam]

most places should have perfectly acceptable drinking water.

faith can move mountains.

[skipvice]

Contaminated Food and Water: The only way to completely prevent

exposure to parasites from food and water is by cooking. Food

prepared by individuals infected with parasites who have not

thoroughly washed their hands after using the bathroom may pose a

risk.

Copyright 2007, Integrative Health Consulting, Inc., http://www.integrativehealthconsulting.com

3

Unfortunately, not all water-borne intestinal parasites are killed by

chlorine. Therefore, these organisms can exist in the water supply.

Complete elimination can only be achieved by boiling (for at least 5

minutes), filtering with a one micron filter, or drinking distilled water.

Bottled spring waters can vary greatly in their preparation methods

but are usually safe. To find out about the characteristics of a specific

brand of bottled water, call 1-800-WATER-11.

Last trip to thailand I only drank bottled water and still got an ameoba, but Tinidazole works very good. Tinidazole is not available in the US so had to have it mailed to me from my wife's sister.

[deejah]

Stay away from Chang and all the "drinking water" crap (including from Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Nestle brands) - it's just tap water treated with reverse osmosis and deionised which makes it very unhealthy (drawing minerals out of your body). There's a thread on the issue. Why drink that crap when for the same price you can drink natural mineral water?

edward:

can you point us in the direction of this thread please?

as far as 'for the same price'

can you tell us what natural mineral water costs the same or nearly the same as the inexpensive drinking waters?

that would be most helpful

[whatsupdoc]

Stay away from Chang and all the "drinking water" crap (including from Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Nestle brands) - it's just tap water treated with reverse osmosis and deionised which makes it very unhealthy (drawing minerals out of your body). There's a thread on the issue. Why drink that crap when for the same price you can drink natural mineral water?

I think it is highly unlikely that the brands you mention use reverse osmosis. The cheap water in plastic bottles is another story...

I agree with your notion that RO water can be unhealthy and as far as I know the well known water brands do not use it (neither do companies in Europe or any other Western country I assume).

So where did you get your information indicating the opposite?

[edwardandtubs]

I'm not sure the exact one but do a search for reverse osmosis and a few threads pop up that discuss the issue. The one I was thinking of makes reference to a WHO paper on the subject.

The Chang water in the 7/11 fridge costs about the same as minere and io natural mineral water. Carrefour sell their own very large bottles of natural mineral water (same size as sparkle). It's not as cheap as the massive municipal buckets but the same price as or not much more expensive than the drinking water you buy in supermarkets.

[whatsupdoc]

most places should have perfectly acceptable drinking water.

faith can move mountains.

and faith and science do not combine very well (apparently even on Klingon ).

There was a article some time ago in the Bangkok Post that tap water in Bangkok indeed should be safe for consumtion (also without boiling). Bad pipes would be the biggest risk for contamination. Unfortunately, I do not have the proper reference to that article.

My family and I use boiled tap water and we never had any problems with it (although for the taste I prefer the drinking water from Nestle).

[samran]

we use the three stage filter you can get an any Big C, Careforew, Tesco etc.

Works fine, and no problems with the tap water in BKK after it being filtered.

[Gary A]

I used to drink the bottled water that comes in those large translucent plastic bottles. One day I took off the SEALED cap and thought I saw something in the bottle. I DID see something. It was mosquito larvae swimming around. I went and bought a three stage filter from Tesco Lotus and that was the end of the bottled water for me. We have never had any problems and now use a similar but larger filter up country. The activated charcoal needs changed a couple of time a year but the ceramic filter lasts forever.

[wpcoe]

The activated charcoal needs changed a couple of time a year but the ceramic filter lasts forever.

Not sure if this is valid for all types of ceramic filters, but the instructions for mine said you can clean the ceramic filter by using a stiff brush to extend its life a few times. I've done it, and it seems to work: once the water flow from the filter outlet nozzle seems to decrease, I take the ceramic filter out and brush it, put it back in, and the water flow returns to normal.

I replace the charcoal filter whenever the water begins to smell or taste funny.

// edited to correct spelling: a stiff brush, not a still brush //

Edited January 14, 2008 by wpcoe