Bottled Or Tap!?

[LolaSamui]

My boyfriend and I were out with some friends over the weekend talking about how we'd never buy chicken from those buckets in Tesco with all the flies buzzing around when our friends, who've been here a couple of years, told us that in a few months we'd soon start doing things we didn't expect we would. They said when they first arrived they thought the same and didn't buy chicken stored like that either but a year or two down the line they're used to it. Well we're vegetarian so we definitely won't be diving into the chicken any time soon but we did end up getting into a lively conversation about hygeine. I asked our friends if they drink tap water and they said empathically 'No way! we don't even cook with it' ....... uh-oh and boyf and I looked at each other worried. Our friends were a bit shocked and said we were braver than they thought. So we're now left wondering whether we're being careless with our health or if the tap water is, in fact, okay to use?

We've been cooking with tap water since we arrived and haven't been sick yet.

I just wanted to ask - do you use tap water? for drinking? cooking?

I never drink from taps, even back home, so we're drinking bottled water and will stick with that but should we also use botted to cook with?

[Samuian]

My boyfriend and I were out with some friends over the weekend talking about how we'd never buy chicken from those buckets in Tesco with all the flies buzzing around when our friends, who've been here a couple of years, told us that in a few months we'd soon start doing things we didn't expect we would. They said when they first arrived they thought the same and didn't buy chicken stored like that either but a year or two down the line they're used to it. Well we're vegetarian so we definitely won't be diving into the chicken any time soon but we did end up getting into a lively conversation about hygeine. I asked our friends if they drink tap water and they said empathically 'No way! we don't even cook with it' ....... uh-oh and boyf and I looked at each other worried. Our friends were a bit shocked and said we were braver than they thought. So we're now left wondering whether we're being careless with our health or if the tap water is, in fact, okay to use?

We've been cooking with tap water since we arrived and haven't been sick yet.

I just wanted to ask - do you use tap water? for drinking? cooking?

I never drink from taps, even back home, so we're drinking bottled water and will stick with that but should we also use bottled to cook with?

So do I - only in the Restaurant and for personal consumption we use "bottled/treated water".

I use tap water occasional for my hot water pot, or the espresso machine - and ALWAYS for brushing teeth...

if I am "on the road" I abstain from this practice and use bottled drinking water ONLY - never been wrong.

But as I am not a vegetarian - with market food - over the time a am convinced that for example

the spicy ginger sauce - which comes with chicken on rice is - if so - the "culprit" rarely the chicken!

The sauce is often kept in simple lid containers - day in day out and usually only topped up- it will start to ferment

in the heat - if one consumes this "Montezuma revenge" is certainly on the schedule!

Just a thought or 2....

Edited June 22, 2009 by Samuian

[PoorSucker]

According to authorities, it's safe to drink.

Do I drink, No.

But I use it for cooking.

Try a search on this site for "drink tap water" and you'll get a lot of threads.

Edited June 22, 2009 by PoorSucker

[Birdman]

Never drank tape water and refrain also from the 20l tanks, use bottled water for drinking. Food can be eaten everywhere. Can't remember any problems in the 20+ years I live on Samui or if I am away from Samui on holidays somewhere else in Thailand/Asia, except once in Nepal.

[MSingh]

I don't drink it on purpose but i do brush my Teeth with it & have no qualms Cooking with it...

[smallprawn]

Never drank tape water and refrain also from the 20l tanks, use bottled water for drinking. Food can be eaten everywhere. Can't remember any problems in the 20+ years I live on Samui or if I am away from Samui on holidays somewhere else in Thailand/Asia, except once in Nepal.

I tend to use the big 20l bottles for tea n coffee as my kettle is one of those that never reaches a rolling boil.

Always quite suprised as to how many people assume dodgy stomachs are the result of the water. More often than not its just a case of hands not being as clean as they could be or unclean surfaces, crockery/cutlery.

Have always used tap water for brushing teeth, cooking etc and have never had any problems..... so far....

[Rooo]

But where is the tap water coming from? A well or government mains?

[smallprawn]

But where is the tap water coming from? A well or government mains?

Good point, I believe its mains water. One thing that dose concern me slightly is, when running a bath, the water dose appear to have a slightly concerning brown tinge to it

(before anyone else says it, no I dont drink my bath water! nor do I cook with it or brush my teeth with it)

Edited June 22, 2009 by smallprawn

[BigSnake]

Our 16 plus years in Thailand, tap water for cooking, bottle water for drinking never a problem. Nuff Said

[LolaSamui]

Well we're using it for brushing our teeth and cooking with. I personally won't ever consider drinking it but that goes for anywhere in the world and not specific to Thailand.

So I'm pleased to hear that the majority of replies have confirmed that other residents use it for cooking and that my boyfriend and I are not going to suddenly be struck down with some kind of infestation in our stomachs.

Speaking of which I have been suspicious of having a tape-worm since I've been over here as I seem to be able to eat much more than back home but I'm not too worried as I'm quite enjoying pigging out. I love my tape worm - he can stay.

[Mark Wolfe]

LolaSamui:

I never drink from taps, even back home, ...

That's bizarre to my mind, but maybe things back in the West have moved toward the commercialized paranoia created by merchandisers. Unless "back home" is a Kenyan slum, tap water in the West (or certainly in the US and the UK) is potable. The concept that "drinking" water has to come from a bottle costing more, often, than petrol for your car, is one that has been foisted on the public by bottled water companies and has nothing to do with water "safety."

If "20l bottles" refer to the ubiquitous, large, white bottles of water -- the bottle is purchased for 100 baht and refills are 15 baht (used to be 10), then this water is completely safe. There would be no point in selling water in these large plastic bottles if you couldn't drink it.

It is interesting to see that the same 15 baht for a "big" bottle in 7-Eleven can buy you 20 times (or more) water if you use the 20l bottles. It shows what a scam bottled water in the shops really is.

I have drunken the water from the tap here in Lamai, although not on a regular basis, without any adverse effects.

As for the food issue, living in SE Asia for over two decades has shown me that we from the West, I am an American, have become totally anal when it comes to food "cleanliness." Every wet market in SE Asia looks pretty much the same -- no refrigeration for the meat and flies around. However, we in the West are "trained" to view this as horribly unsanitary, when in fact the meat there is probably fresher than what you get at the butcher in your home neighborhood. And while flies are not thought of as clean, they aren't some sort of sci-fi creature planting disease everywhere they touch down.

And look at it this way: People here buy and eat goods from the wet market without incident every day.

However, to be fair, I think the veggies are the things you need to be most concerned about (in a mild sense) as they are the only things that have given me any problems -- some diarrhea -- and that's from, I think, the chemical insecticides and fertilizers. Meat doesn't just "go bad" in an afternoon, but produce (lettuce seems to be the real culprit here), is often in need of a good washing before you consume it.

The bottom line is this: Food in Samui, wherever you purchase it, is safe to eat. Water from the tap won't kill you but for pure drinking, any water in a bottle is also safe. Tap water can be used for showering, brushing your teeth, washing your face (splash it in your eyes -- no worries!), cooking, tea or coffee, washing fruits and vegetables and so on.

Just because it looks "dirty" according to your Western cultural bias, doesn't mean it isn't fine. Just remember the old saying about Chinese restaurants: Chinese food is great, but never look in the kitchen -- you'll never eat Chinese again...

[Fun2Fun]

Use plain tap water for cooking and brushing teeth and "purified" tap water for drinking.

Edited June 23, 2009 by Fun2Fun

[sbk]

Tap water in the US, at least, is often heavily chlorinated and can taste funny. So, no, its not a surprise that some won't drink tap water at home either.

Our water on Koh Phangan is well and I would never drink it. During the rainy season, I brush my teeth with bottled water as the water coming out of the taps is often too brown to use.

Giardia is an issue so if you cook with tap water be sure it is boiled.

[LolaSamui]

LolaSamui:

I never drink from taps, even back home, ...

That's bizarre to my mind, but maybe things back in the West have moved toward the commercialized paranoia created by merchandisers. Unless "back home" is a Kenyan slum, tap water in the West (or certainly in the US and the UK) is potable. The concept that "drinking" water has to come from a bottle costing more, often, than petrol for your car, is one that has been foisted on the public by bottled water companies and has nothing to do with water "safety."

If "20l bottles" refer to the ubiquitous, large, white bottles of water -- the bottle is purchased for 100 baht and refills are 15 baht (used to be 10), then this water is completely safe. There would be no point in selling water in these large plastic bottles if you couldn't drink it.

It is interesting to see that the same 15 baht for a "big" bottle in 7-Eleven can buy you 20 times (or more) water if you use the 20l bottles. It shows what a scam bottled water in the shops really is.

I have drunken the water from the tap here in Lamai, although not on a regular basis, without any adverse effects.

As for the food issue, living in SE Asia for over two decades has shown me that we from the West, I am an American, have become totally anal when it comes to food "cleanliness." Every wet market in SE Asia looks pretty much the same -- no refrigeration for the meat and flies around. However, we in the West are "trained" to view this as horribly unsanitary, when in fact the meat there is probably fresher than what you get at the butcher in your home neighborhood. And while flies are not thought of as clean, they aren't some sort of sci-fi creature planting disease everywhere they touch down.

And look at it this way: People here buy and eat goods from the wet market without incident every day.

However, to be fair, I think the veggies are the things you need to be most concerned about (in a mild sense) as they are the only things that have given me any problems -- some diarrhea -- and that's from, I think, the chemical insecticides and fertilizers. Meat doesn't just "go bad" in an afternoon, but produce (lettuce seems to be the real culprit here), is often in need of a good washing before you consume it.

The bottom line is this: Food in Samui, wherever you purchase it, is safe to eat. Water from the tap won't kill you but for pure drinking, any water in a bottle is also safe. Tap water can be used for showering, brushing your teeth, washing your face (splash it in your eyes -- no worries!), cooking, tea or coffee, washing fruits and vegetables and so on.

Just because it looks "dirty" according to your Western cultural bias, doesn't mean it isn't fine. Just remember the old saying about Chinese restaurants: Chinese food is great, but never look in the kitchen -- you'll never eat Chinese again...

Home for me is London and I wouldn't drink the water coming out of the taps there if you paid me. It tastes disgusting. The house I grew up in you could pour a glass of tap water and it would take a minute or two for the white flakes in it to sink to the bottom. Actually it wasn't really my choice, my mother wouldn't allow us to drink it and I guess from there it became habit. Having said that, the water coming from taps up North seems completely different - I would drink the water at my Nana's house without a problem.

I totally agree with you about the insecticides used on the vegetables and we do wash them thoroughly (with tap water) before use.

Regarding the flies - I remember being told when I was little that flies squirt some sort of digestive fluid onto food before they eat it, so they land on poo, squirt on it, suck it back up, land on your meat, squirt on it (with some off the poo that they just ate), and then suck it back up. I thought that's how they transferred germs? Did my primary school teacher feed me porky pies?

I think meat is disgusting anyway regardless of whether it's kept in a bucket buzzing with flies or wrapped in cling film sitting in Sainsbury's so my opinion on this one is probably way off the norm.

But your comment about people here buying and eating things from the wet market everyday isn't really the point - people who were born and brought up here will have developed resistance to native bugs and the like whereas my western immune system will probably take a few months to adjust. For example, the first few weeks I was here my eyes were constantly red and I think this was something to do with the water or the new shampoo I was using. Now I'm fine! No red eyes around here anymore!

And in conclusion - you only have to have heard the story about Fluoride to know not to trust what we're told in the west about water safety!

[Jungian]

From time to time there is brown stuff in the water so no we get home water delivery as it is so cheap.

[NHJ]

never use water from the tap, you never know where the water is coming from, a lot of people install tanks wich are filled with rain water or add chemical products to ensure the water is "clean".

buy the 20liters drinking water bottle if you wanna drink, they cost 15 baht.

[Mark Wolfe]

LolaSamui:

Regarding the flies - I remember being told when I was little that flies squirt some sort of digestive fluid onto food before they eat it, so they land on poo, squirt on it, suck it back up, land on your meat, squirt on it (with some off the poo that they just ate), and then suck it back up. I thought that's how they transferred germs? Did my primary school teacher feed me porky pies?

I thought you didn't eat meat...

What might "some of the poo" amount to, quantitatively? When a fly lands on your soda pop top, do you toss it all out then? What about when a fly lands on your meal? Out it goes -- off to MacDonald's? I wouldn't sweat it.

Home for me is London and I wouldn't drink the water coming out of the taps there if you paid me. It tastes disgusting.

And as for you and SBK, I thought the nature of the question was, "Is the water safe to drink from the tap?" not, "Is the water tasty from the tap?" Okay, point taken that some tap water isn't as refreshing as a US$3.49 bottle of water, but you can still safely drink it.

But your comment about people here buying and eating things from the wet market everyday isn't really the point - people who were born and brought up here will have developed resistance to native bugs and the like whereas my Western immune system will probably take a few months to adjust.

Is this "developed resistance to native bugs and the like" based on any science or just barstool wisdom? While I agree that different foods can produce different results on one's system, due to unfamiliarity, I am not at all sure that there is any real foundation for claiming a greater resistance from ailments from bad water or food. Because I have eaten food in Asia for many years means that it is more difficult for salmonella to infect me? That may be the case, but I'd need some scientific backing before I'd accept it as fact.

By the way, zucchini is disgusting.

And people who use bottled water to brush their teeth here? Wow, talk about paranoia. Maybe these people ought to bring their own spoons and forks with them when they dine out. Oh, better bring your own drinking glasses, and now that I think of it, best bring your own water as well. Cloth napkins? Don't even touch them! And if you have to use the toilet -- don't; it's nothing but a horrible breeding ground for all nature of ghastly parasites, worms, spiral-looking things under a microscope and "BUGS!"

[LolaSamui]

Is this "developed resistance to native bugs and the like" based on any science or just barstool wisdom? While I agree that different foods can produce different results on one's system, due to unfamiliarity, I am not at all sure that there is any real foundation for claiming a greater resistance from ailments from bad water or food. Because I have eaten food in Asia for many years means that it is more difficult for salmonella to infect me? That may be the case, but I'd need some scientific backing before I'd accept it as fact.

By the way, zucchini is disgusting.

And people who use bottled water to brush their teeth here? Wow, talk about paranoia. Maybe these people ought to bring their own spoons and forks with them when they dine out. Oh, better bring your own drinking glasses, and now that I think of it, best bring your own water as well. Cloth napkins? Don't even touch them! And if you have to use the toilet -- don't; it's nothing but a horrible breeding ground for all nature of ghastly parasites, worms, spiral-looking things under a microscope and "BUGS!"

Haha - you're right zucchini is disgusting.

I'd like to say my developed resistance theory is something I picked up during my Health Sciences degree but I don't want to embarass myself by being wrong so I'll stick with having made it up.

[Gatorade]

Is this "developed resistance to native bugs and the like" based on any science or just barstool wisdom? While I agree that different foods can produce different results on one's system, due to unfamiliarity, I am not at all sure that there is any real foundation for claiming a greater resistance from ailments from bad water or food. Because I have eaten food in Asia for many years means that it is more difficult for salmonella to infect me? That may be the case, but I'd need some scientific backing before I'd accept it as fact.

By the way, zucchini is disgusting.

And people who use bottled water to brush their teeth here? Wow, talk about paranoia. Maybe these people ought to bring their own spoons and forks with them when they dine out. Oh, better bring your own drinking glasses, and now that I think of it, best bring your own water as well. Cloth napkins? Don't even touch them! And if you have to use the toilet -- don't; it's nothing but a horrible breeding ground for all nature of ghastly parasites, worms, spiral-looking things under a microscope and "BUGS!"

Haha - you're right zucchini is disgusting.

I'd like to say my developed resistance theory is something I picked up during my Health Sciences degree but I don't want to embarass myself by being wrong so I'll stick with having made it up.

I have always gone along with the resistance theory and endeavored to avoid various Health Spas, Colonic irrigation etc in case they killed off all the protective bugs I have nurtured over the years here in Thailand . However, I understand that the demand on fresh water on K. Samui has reached the stage where it is at extremely

low levels in the wells. This is leading to seepage from the various sewers/drains into the wells. What goes around etc.etc. Call me paranoid but I really don't think that many of us have that much resistance to toilet water I'm with the bottled water even for teeth cleaning.

[Mark Wolfe]

Oh G, you can't be serious. Brushing your teeth with bottled water? That is so campingesque. Do you keep your brush in a jar of alcohol after each use (like the thermometers in the doctors' offices of old)? Can you imagine all the cruddy wildlife growing there in the damp, dark bristle kingdom?

By the way, speaking of water, take a look at the way many of the Thai restaurants (the smaller ones in particular) often wash their dishes and utensils in standing buckets of water. I helped with the re-opening of such a place and was -- even for me -- scandalized at the lack of fresh water for cleaning (plates and glasses and silverware in the same tank straight off the table; then soaped up a bit; then into a "clear" water bath and into the drying tub...repeat until water is too brackish with old food and film scum). LolaSamui can better inform you, but re-used water for washing dishes is inviting microbial disaster. But I eat there anyway.

Since you brought it up, I think you have a misconception of colonics and whatnot. Flushing your system doesn't kill off anything that isn't reproducible within your body.

I've always thought it funny that it is only now in my generation and this new one that this "cleansing" is viewed as every-so-useful. It would be like keeping your toothbrush in a jar of alcohol after each use -- kills the "germs" that don't do you any harm anyway, but can make you feel like you are "healthier" because of it.

Oh, and do you suppose that all these spas that specialize in forcing coffee and tea water up your exit use bottled water for this? The intestines is where absorption occurs in the body and if there are any naughty bugs in the water, what better avenue for them to enter your system than a direct line to the intestines? Maybe they do use bottled water; maybe that's why they charge US$35 a day to feed you nothing.

(What a brilliant marketing scheme -- you force water up your butthole (do it yourself, no labor costs involved), we give you some seaweed/moss/roughage pills and we don't feed you anything! Start-up costs? A tube, a bucket, water and some herbal pills and a bunch of new age bunkum hype. ...sorry, gotta go and touch my crystal.)

Mr. Placebo

LolaSamui:

I'd like to say my developed resistance theory is something I picked up during my Health Sciences degree

OK, fair enough. Your health science degree trumps my minor in wildlife biology. Route me to a link or two.

[sbk]

My mother's gastroenterologist was adamantly opposed to "colonic cleansings" but what would he know? He was merely an expert on the gastric system while I am sure the spa people who push this stuff know far more than he does

And Mark, you asked Lola why she wouldn't drink tap water from home, so I gave what is the most obvious answer and one many people use. Next time, I will be sure not to answer any of your questions not directly related to the OP. Oops, did that at the beginning of this post. Never mind, disregard my previous posts

As stated, no, I would not drink the tap water anywhere in Thailand, much less Samui. Giardia is not a nice bug to have.

[Nirvana]

(What a brilliant marketing scheme -- you force water up your butthole (do it yourself, no labor costs involved), we give you some seaweed/moss/roughage pills and we don't feed you anything! Start-up costs? A tube, a bucket, water and some herbal pills and a bunch of new age bunkum hype. ...sorry, gotta go and touch my crystal.)

I have to laugh at that one. made my day

[LolaSamui]

I think they do use purified water for colonic irrigation. I've never really liked the idea of it but I have been told by people who've had it done that they've felt better afterwards.

Personally I'm not sure starving yourself and flushing excessive quanities of water through your system (through either end) is a good idea.

Mark - I will do a bit of hunting for some evidence to support my previous posts and get back to you.

But I guess we've concluded that we can happily continue to cook with the tap water without problem.

[baco]

offcourse the people who did the cleansing thing will tell you they feel b etter otherwise they have thrown a way a shitload of money into the toilet.

It is a brilliant marketing scheme as mentioned before by mark.

I just bought a machine for purifing my own tap water works great

[Mark Wolfe]

I have to post this, even though it is somewhat off-topic.

It's about The Spa and is one of the funniest feature pieces I have read about just about anything.

The Enema Within