How Bad Is The Tap Water?

[Jomtienwow]

Everyone knows the tap water in Thailand is not potable, but I am curious, just how bad is it?

I don't even use Thai tap water for tooth brushing. I also know Thai locals use bottled water also.

However, I am assuming there are lots of Thais too poor to even buy the cheapest bulk bottled water.

So, what diseases might a person get by drinking this water?

Any farangs on this board who swear by Thai tap water and are alive to tell the story?

How much tap water would you need to make you sick, a couple of glasses, or drinking it for a week?

[britmaveric]

Cholora, Ecoli and probably a number of other bugs that would put you in the loo either from your bum or vomititis.

Edited September 16, 2005 by britmaveric

[dannyboy]

Everyone knows the tap water in Thailand is not potable, but I am curious, just how bad is it?

I don't even use Thai tap water for tooth brushing. I also know Thai locals use bottled water also.

However, I am assuming there are lots of Thais too poor to even buy the cheapest bulk bottled water.

So, what diseases might a person get by drinking this water?

Any farangs on this board who swear by Thai tap water and are alive to tell the story?

How much tap water would you need to make you sick, a couple of glasses, or drinking it for a week?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Jomtienwow]

Ouch.

[dannyboy]

don't even think about it !!

any cold drinks you have (cola, iced tea etc), unless straight from an unopened bottle or can will come sloshing around in lots of nice cold (tap-water) ice full of bugs; at best you will spend half you hols in the loo, at worst in hospital !

take plenty of kaolin & morphine and imodium or similar. I am speaking from too much experience dannyboy.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Morphine ?

[buadhai]

I won't drink the tap water in Korat, but whenever I'm in Bangkok I always have a glass of tap water just to replenish the bacteria in my gut and keep my immune system on top of things.

Works like a charm because I never have intestinal distress when in LOS....

[chownah]

Cholora, Ecoli and probably a number of other bugs that would put you in the loo either from your bum or vomititis. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This is very interesting...where do you get your information.

[Soph]

Ive drank the tap water here on a few occasions and never got sick. The whole thing about not using it to brush your teeth Now come on, were not exactly in India

[RamdomChances]

Tap water vairies a lot depending on where you are. The local Gov water here comes out of a bore hole and is drinkable (at a push). All my water comes from our own bore hole and we use it for cooking no problem . ICE is made from clean water and bought in bags...never had a problem from it.

Most Locals drink rain water collected in big tanks, then left for about a year to settle....strangley they are'nt all dying, so it cant be that bad.

[RamdomChances]

duplicate post

Edited September 17, 2005 by RamdomChances

[chico]

However, I am assuming there are lots of Thais too poor to even buy the cheapest bulk bottled water.

So, what diseases might a person get by drinking this water?

in the villages, Thais have two possibilities :

- drinking rain water, collected from the roof, running down by 'clean tubes",

- diiging a hole, drinking 'ground water'

actually, it can't be too bad, as some of them grow very old too!

as to buadhai:

how to you tell the 'bad bacteria' to stay away, and only let the good ones come and help you replenish?

to Soph: in most countries, including Mexico, ... people to use 'bad water' to brush their teeth, as they usually don't down it, and a brandy after works wonder - I would suggest it in Mexico after every meal anyway (no harm, if it's a bigger one!)

to Random:

some areas have nice government water, but the water some use to make ice???

got some ice from the official supplier, forget to empty the cup - next day looked lil bit brown and dirty!

[The Coder]

I live in a relatively new, modern high rise. I brush my teeth with the water and cook pasta with it figuring boiling water should be ok. My gut feel is to say "never had a problem" but how do you really know or not? I considered converting from drinking bottled water to tap water like I used to in the USA, but the astonishing thing is some times of the year filling a bucket with tap water I noticed a brownish tint to the water! I would say drinking it CAN be done, but is it really a good idea is the real question? Seems doubtful even in Bangkok. In America, the water company has to send you the results of periodic testing of its water listing all the contaminents and quantities versus safe levels. I have seen no such thing in Thailand so it seems a big unkown and also a lack of incentive to make it safe as you can just keep your customers in the dark.

[Wolfie]

I use tap water to brush my teeth, but i dont run off the government water system i have my own well.

As for drinking it, nah, go for the bottled water dont risk the tap water.

[lopburi3]

Bangkok tap water is processed to international standards and is fit to drink when it enters the pipelines and is considered drinkable from taps in most sections of the city. The problem is possible mix of surface water in areas of low pressure of during maintenance of pipes so most Thai do use a basic ceramic filter for drinking water. As for bottled water - tap water consistently tested better as far back at 1980 so if you drink bottled water you should be fine using tap water for normal cooking and toothbrushing (and 99% safe drinking it) here in Bangkok. Up country I would be a bit more careful.

[Tolley]

I dunno about tap water being safe to drink..... giardia is often caused by tap water

All the plumbers that i know use water purifiers.....

The problem is often with the pipes....

Get yourself a reverse osmosis water purifier if you want really clean water.

[chico]

forget to mention, we live in Isaan, and it's our own well - just to make sure everything is ok!

[loong]

Last time I was in Bangkok, I'm sure that the water had a strong chlorine smell, rather like a swimming pool and after showering, my eyes were sore. All the while I can afford bottled water, I think I will stick with it.

I never used bottles water to brush my teeth tho.

[chico]

Last time I was in Bangkok, I'm sure that the water had a strong chlorine smell, rather like a swimming pool and after showering, my eyes were sore. All the while I can afford bottled water, I think I will stick with it.

thats what drove me crazy in the US! not only on cruise ships (ofur to five star standard) but allover the country, restaurants, everywhere, the water has so much chlorine, you are not used to it, can't drink it!

[ProThaiExpat]

lopburi3 once again brings reason to the thread, rather than fear.

Chiang Mai water is drinkable from the tap but sanity does dictate some attention to the piping system that delivers it to your abode.

Los Angeles has world class drinkable tap water of which the municipality is justifyably proud and yet more bottled water is sold there than in any other place in the world, in my opinion. I used to live up a mountain near Lake Arrowhead and watched the Arrowhead Mountain Water Company truck pull up to a hydrant at the base of the mountain, load up, then drive to the bottling plant in Los Angeles.

I have posted before with my adventure with trying to make ice with bottled water and further posted on buying an automatic ice making refrigerator, which runs the tap water through a particulant filter. The filter has a clear warning that the filter will not make unsafe water safe to drink. Thus I have concluded that the many horror stories that were projected to happen to me in T.V. by drinking ice made with tap water was just fear based bunk.

I do use bottled water for making coffee and serving to tourists, but there is tap water ice in their drinks and no events to date.

I have a bottled water ice maker for sale if anyone is interested in picking it up in Chaing Mai for half price.

Edited September 17, 2005 by ProThaiExpat

[Totster]

I drink tap water when in Thailand. The only problem I have ever had was on Koh Samet, and I believe this is due to the fact that water is shipped over to the island in the hull of a boat and then pumped into storage areas on the island. Not clean.

Never had any problems anywhere else, including my wifes village.

I am of the opinion that as soon as the body gets used to the different quality or mineral content of water there will be no problems anyway. After all the locals don't normally have problems do they ?

totster

[britmaveric]

Cholora, Ecoli and probably a number of other bugs that would put you in the loo either from your bum or vomititis. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This is very interesting...where do you get your information.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

- Read it someplace, not to mention if I recall correctly one of members sent water out to be tested in Patters and well results were shocking. Personally I'd rather play it safe and use bottled water rather than be ill.

[ChiangMaiMike]

Tap Water Safe?

How safe is the bottled water that is delivered in 5 gallon(?) jugs to my house?

After spending several hours trying to find out how they might possibly filter or purify it... and reading some test results run on U.S. bottled water... and pondering the general state of technology in Thailand, and the health inspections and tests that might (or might not) be done at these facilities, I've decided to shell out the baht and buy a good Reverse Osmosis Purification System.

I drink several gallons a week and I've no idea of what is really in those jugs... but the list of possibilities is scary... Microbes ~ Radionuclides ~ Inorganics ~ Volatile Organics ~ Disinfectants ~ Disinfection Byproducts... Not generally one to worry about such things, but now that I've thought about it, why take the chance?

I may actually live enough longer to make it a good investment.

[Neeranam]

I used to drink the tap water in Bangkok when I didn't have any bottled water. I wouldn't do it now.

Didn't have any problems.

[meelousee]

Just had it tested.

Go ahead burshe you teeth wash you ass and that tinble is salt.

This this stupid gov. cares?

Smoke some shrimp eat some crab tell me did you like it?

OH I forgot Kiss my bar bill ..... bye dumb ass john you are a knot head. hope you like your silly chonbury flag canuk mie dee jup ching toot

[loong]

Just had it tested.

Go ahead burshe you teeth wash you ass and that tinble is salt.

This this stupid gov. cares? 

Smoke some shrimp eat some crab  tell me did you like it?

OH I forgot  Kiss my bar bill ..... bye dumb ass    john you are a knot head. hope you like your silly chonbury flag canuk mie dee jup ching toot 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If this is what the water does to you it should carry a government health warning!

[Farma]

The following is an extract from the web site listed.

http://w3.whosea.org/EN/Section1243/Sectio...on1357_5350.htm

…..Traditionally, some 5% of the national budget is allocated to water supply and sanitation. This has resulted in sufficient quantities of water being available, although not always of a satisfactory quality. Many agencies are responsible for water supply and sanitation, but they often have overlapping responsibilities, resulting in a duplication of effort and a lack of collaboration. Over time, while the quality of urban water supplies have developed rapidly, those in rural areas have lagged behind.

Nationally, access to an improved water supply rose from a low 10% in 1973 to the current level of 98%. Surveys5 show that access has reached 98% of households in urban areas and 98.5% in rural areas.

Despite these levels of access, many water quality problems remain, particularly microbiological, and increasingly due to chemical contamination, affecting both ground and surface water sources.

Samples of drinking water taken by the Department of Health between 1991-2000 from shallow wells, rainwater, and artesian wells showed that most samples were contaminated with bacteria.6

[wrestler7902002]

I've been using View Talay 2 tap water to brush my teeth and have never had any real problems....well, except the occasional "runs" to the commode.

[Crushdepth]

I met an engineer from Thames water or something like that a few years back, who was out here trying to fix leaks in the Bangkok water distribution system (about 60% 'disappears' through cracked pipes etc), and I asked him much the same thing - how risky is the water and why?

He said that the water that leaves the purification plant is fine, but basically the problem is that the water distribution pipes are laid alongside the sewerage system (digging holes is expensive so why not use the same one, right?). If the water supply and sewerage are cracked around the same place, then sewerage gets 'sucked in' to the water supply as it flows along the pipes.

As he put it, 'shit gets in'.

Cheers!

Edited September 18, 2005 by Crushdepth

[sriracha john]

Just had it tested.

Go ahead burshe you teeth wash you ass and that tinble is salt.

This this stupid gov. cares? 

Smoke some shrimp eat some crab  tell me did you like it?

OH I forgot  Kiss my bar bill ..... bye dumb ass    john you are a knot head. hope you like your silly chonbury flag canuk mie dee jup ching toot 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If this is what the water does to you it should carry a government health warning!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Even more disturbing are the other posts this out-of-control psychopath is allowed to make on TV. Somehow, I don't think it's just from the water:

Thai Hitmen Busy

meelousee Posted on: Yesterday, 2005-09-17 22:57:46

So little time so much to do.

Shiracha John you are next if i can arrange it.. 

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...ic=45195&st=15#