Bottle Water Quality On Phuket

[hackerthai]

I am looking for the best source of water to be delieverd.

Have been getting the 12 baht water in the white plastic bottles but I am told it is just tap with chlorine. It tastes horrible.

I have recently seen a truck in Rawai Chalong called SPA Reverse Osmosis water. 32 Baht, it this is the best quality?

Does anyone have any more input on other water companies in the Rawai area. if so can you list telephone numbers?

Thank you

[Damaz6052]

I am looking for the best source of water to be delieverd.

Have been getting the 12 baht water in the white plastic bottles but I am told it is just tap with chlorine. It tastes horrible.

I have recently seen a truck in Rawai Chalong called SPA Reverse Osmosis water. 32 Baht, it this is the best quality?

Does anyone have any more input on other water companies in the Rawai area. if so can you list telephone numbers?

Thank you

SPA are based at Thalang they get there water from a bore and then treat it. Why don't you buy the Nestle, Singha or Minere' it comes in a 6l bottle the most expensive(Minere) is 40baht for 6l. The next step would be to install you own RO filter but maybe expensive for you.

[hackerthai]

Here is what I found I SPA in Thalong, They say it is Reverse Osmosis, does anyone drink this water and have input?

I want to reduce plastic use so prefer not to use individual bottles.

Thank you.

S.P.A. is a large factory which has been established over 8 years, controlled and managed with the standard of GMP. (Good Manufacturing Practices) as well as HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point).

S.P.A drinking water, produced by good natural water resources uses Reverse Osmosis Filter System and is pasteurized by Ozonation System which are globally acceptable.

S.P.A. Co., Ltd produces and distributes S.P.A. drinking water including efficiently produces drinking water under your name and logo.

Certificates

• GMP from Food and Drug Administration, Ministry of Public Health
  
• 5 star OTOP of the Year 2004 from One Tambol One Product Program
  

Acceptable by the evaluation of the Program of Production standard system management

• GMP, HACCP from National Food Institutes
  
• GNP, HACCP, HALLAL from the Institute of Thai Science and Technology Research
  

Every drop of S.P.A. drinking water is quality.

[HDRIDER]

HI

I just installed Reverse Osmosis for my fridge, you can have a good setup for around 10.000, and the water taste,,, well like water, my water was smelling a little before but no smell now.

[steelepulse]

hackerthai,

Go ahead and buy some of that SPA and let us know.  I'm in the same area as you and if there's a noticeable difference between the white bottles and spa, I'll give it a try.

[Valentine]

For many years I used to run the tap water through a two stage wall filter unit & then ozonate the water using a small ozone machine which produced consistent good quality drinking water. The ozone machine was also handy for cleansing fruit & vegetables of any pesticide residue but the machine is now broken & so buy 12 Baht bottles although we buy from the same guy as his water quality so far is consistently good. I remember years ago when using different vendors there could be quite a difference in water quality.

Lately I have considered using SPA but I really would like to go back to making my own drinking water & there is a wide variety of units on sale at Central, Homeworks, Home Pro.

[HDRIDER]

Hi

I just bought mine in Hompro, works good they have some good deals now.

http://www.clartethailand.com/%E0%A4%C3%D7...A7%B9%E9%D3.php

i got the WP191

Look like the site is down, try http://www.clartethailand.com/

Edited August 12, 2009 by HDRIDER

[hackerthai]

Will be getting Spa delieved this week and report the quality difference. (32 vs 12 baht)

I have only been in Phuket 2 years, how do I find out the quaility of water that comes out of my tap? If I did a charcol filter or RO unit would that make pure good water?

Thank you for the research on RO units,

[ozymandious]

I have been in Phuket for 7 years, for the first 2 I bought the 'white' water and it was good enough only 10 Baht a bottle in my area.

There was an occasional bottle that I had to discard for smelling or tasting off and one I remember for smelling like it had once carried petrol.

When my wife became pregnant I decided to upgrade for the good water and we went SPA and never went back. You can taste the difference, you can see the clarity in the water and overall I'm happy we made the change when we did. SPA water is only 25 baht a bottle in my area.

[Damaz6052]

Will be getting Spa delieved this week and report the quality difference. (32 vs 12 baht)

I have only been in Phuket 2 years, how do I find out the quaility of water that comes out of my tap? If I did a charcol filter or RO unit would that make pure good water?

Thank you for the research on RO units,

Not sure about the quality of water out of the tap I don't know anybody that drinks it!! The charcole filter will only remove sediment The RO/UV water filter is as clean as you'll get for the home although it wont remove any medicines also the RO filter will take out Fluroide if it's been added.

[markg]

I have been in Phuket for 7 years, for the first 2 I bought the 'white' water and it was good enough only 10 Baht a bottle in my area.

There was an occasional bottle that I had to discard for smelling or tasting off and one I remember for smelling like it had once carried petrol.

When my wife became pregnant I decided to upgrade for the good water and we went SPA and never went back. You can taste the difference, you can see the clarity in the water and overall I'm happy we made the change when we did. SPA water is only 25 baht a bottle in my area.

What do the SPA bottles look like? The bottles of water i've seen being delivered in our area are 1. Hard white plastic 25 litre bottle for 10 baht. The other is a see-through bottle with a slight blue tint to it, think that is also 25 litres.

I understood that some parts of Phuket's water table has been tainted by heavy metals left over from the tin mining days. Certainly some government sources of water come from flooded tin mines.

I am not sure if adding chlorine or even doing charcoal filters and reverse osmosis can cure this.

I've never really had a problem with the 25 litre water barrels to be honest but would be interested in hearing more about the SPA brand.

[Damaz6052]

Have a look at this site for further informtion I've got a pressure pump attached to my unit it wouldn't work otherwise.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_osmos...er_purification

[ozymandious]

[

What do the SPA bottles look like? The bottles of water i've seen being delivered in our area are 1. Hard white plastic 25 litre bottle for 10 baht. The other is a see-through bottle with a slight blue tint to it, think that is also 25 litres.

I understood that some parts of Phuket's water table has been tainted by heavy metals left over from the tin mining days. Certainly some government sources of water come from flooded tin mines.

I am not sure if adding chlorine or even doing charcoal filters and reverse osmosis can cure this.

I've never really had a problem with the 25 litre water barrels to be honest but would be interested in hearing more about the SPA brand.

The SPA bottles are the clear blue see-through ones.

[hackerthai]

just today we got 2 bottles of SPA water Reverse ossmosis. It is very noticable compared to the 12 baht bottles. We did a random taste test and hands down SPA is better and more expensive too (32 baht in Southern Phuket).

I want to know how to do a water analysis and find out what minerals or chemicals are left in the water after the RO process.

I won't go back to the cheep 12 baht water, the next best way is to install your own RO unit but I think it needs to be of high quality to work good.

[HDRIDER]

Hi

Anybody know where i can get my water quality checked?? did a serch but did not find anything on phuket, my GF say it taste strange,, i think its OK but she win

Edited November 21, 2009 by HDRIDER

[macahoom]

You can have your water analysed in the shop that sells filters downstairs in the HomeWorks building. Just bring them in a half litre bottle of the stuff. I believe they have it checked in the university.

There's also another filter shop between Supercheap (same side of the road) and Phuket Town - they'll do it also. Sorry I can't give better directions.

I've been told there's a government testing facility somewhere in the Thalang area but you have to go and collect their empty bottle first and then bring it back to them. No idea of exactly where it is. Sorry.

[HDRIDER]

HI

Thx for that will go and talk to them (homeworks)

[Royale]

Can anyone who is buying SPA water please tell me if there is a deposit to pay on the bottles , and if so how much?

[Kimera]

Can anyone who is buying SPA water please tell me if there is a deposit to pay on the bottles , and if so how much?

250 baht and full mind

[ballzafire]

Regarding RO units, keep in mind that although water quality is great in the beginning, it will steadily decline from that point up to six months until ALL the filters will need to be replaced (about 1800 baht). Needless to say, this can add up over time. So, remember to factor that into your overall cost equation...

Edited November 21, 2009 by ballzafire

[Royale]

Can anyone who is buying SPA water please tell me if there is a deposit to pay on the bottles , and if so how much?

250 baht and full mind

I paid 500B per bottle! When he comes round next week i'm going to give one of them back and ask for my refund.

[pete600]

I have been getting mine from H2O Drinking water 50 baht and 100 baht deposit for the bottle. Can some one give me the contact details for SPA water

Thanks

[baabaabobo]

We use SEAHORSE which is RO and bottled in Chalong. Costs 50 baht per 19 litre bottle delivered.

[pete600]

We use SEAHORSE which is RO and bottled in Chalong. Costs 50 baht per 19 litre bottle delivered.

I think Seahorse has the same owner as H2O if we miss our delivery seahorse will exchange bottles for us

[phuketsub]

I have a degree and work experience in hydrology and grew up working in a family-run business that installed water mains and hooked up homes to municipal supplies.

In my home country, the US, we generally drink the tap water.

The frequency and thoroughness of water contaminant testing for municipal supply there depends on the amount supplied. This is mandated by law. A large, metropolitan supply system will be tested daily for a wide number or contaminants, whereas a smaller municipal or county system will be tested less frequently for a smaller number of contaminants.

Here in Phuket, it is obvious that you can't drink tap water, so any discussion of the testing the municipal is moot. Where I live in Phuket Town the water is often too brown to use even to wash clothes...

In Kathu, where the largest of the island's two reservoirs is located, they use the basin for Loy Kratong floating and seem to make almost no effort to protect the catchment area from contamination. They have even pulled dead bodies out of it. Of course it is treated after the fact, but chlorine can't kill everything and has no effect whatsoever on a wide range of inorganic contaminants, most of them man-made.

I suspect the quality of water at the new Bang Neaw Dum reservoir in Tambon Srisoonthorn could be of a drinkable standard with proper treatment, but the problem is in the supply system -- and the provincial waterworks authority simply doesn't think along these lines.

Even the water produced from the desal plant in Karon at great cost (monthly electricity costs in the millions of baht at the outset) is simply mixed in with the low-quality tin mine water.

I don't know why they don't make it available to consumers as the point of production at a low cost. It could be the one saving grace of a project that is a complete failure in every other respect.

As far as the commercially available drinking water goes, I generally choose buy the big 10-liter jugs and use it for most purposes.

Never underestimate your own abilities to detect impurities in water: the human nose can sniff out less 1 part per million of hydrocarbons (a carcinogen) in water, and many other contaminants as well. If it doesn't taste right, don't drink it.

As for RO water, it is not really what we were designed to drink -- nor do I think it tastes very good, regardless of previous posts have written. 'Purity' (ie just H2O molecules) is not all it is cracked up to be when it comes to drinking water. Try a sip of pH neutral distilled water. It tastes wrong, because it is wrong.

The best tasting water will be slightly acidic, containing a variety of minerals.

Although it is not scientifically based, my recommendation would be to limit as much as possible ingesting any water from municipal supply (eg. don't even brush your teeth with it) and using a standard brand of commercially-available water (eg. Nestle's, Minere, etc) that you enjoy the taste of, if you can afford it.

Better yet, just drink beer!

I

[HDRIDER]

Hi

I only use my system for ice and water in the fridge, otherwise i buy bottle water so its not in use that much

[Valentine]

To those of you asking about water testing there is a department in Vachira Hospital that can run a wide variety of tests. They will give you sterilised bottles for you to collect the samples.

[thefalang]

I've used SPA for over 4-years.

Although the water quality seems good (I've never had it tested), the customer service is very poor in the Rawai area. It sometimes requires 4-8 calls (or more) and up to 5-days to receive water.

The deposit on their bottles is very expensive (200 baht+ per bottle) and they will not refund the deposit unless you keep the original receipt (nevermind that the bottles are actually embossed with the Spa name). This effectively minimizes the number of customers that decide to cancel their service, as most customers have invested substantial money (bottle deposits) that will never be returned!

[ozymandious]

my deposit for the SPA bottles was the same as it was for me for the white bottles 100THB

[LivinLOS]

Although it is not scientifically based, my recommendation would be to limit as much as possible ingesting any water from municipal supply (eg. don't even brush your teeth with it) and using a standard brand of commercially-available water (eg. Nestle's, Minere, etc) that you enjoy the taste of, if you can afford it.

Interesting post..

What about the idea that small exposure to various bacteria then increases your bodys antibodys and immune system to deal with those ?? Kind of like the kid that end up eating dirt actually grows up stronger then the kid kept is super clean sanitary isolation ??

I kind of go by that theory and brush my teeth with local water all over the world, Indo, India, cambo etc. While its totally unscientific and anecdotal I nearly never get sick and can tolerate all manner of street food noticeably better then many others. When you think about the visibly brown toxic water that humans do manage to survive on as regular supply is it that bad ??

I would be FAR more concerned about heavy metals and other toxins than 'natural' bacteria.. But maybe thats just my ignorance ?