Vending Water Not Up To Standards: Thai Health Dept

[Richb2004v2]

I have a 5 gallon (I think) bottle delivered weekly. My wife uses it for cooking and not drinking directly, but I've always wondered about how safe it is. If they can find a way to do things cheaper here they will regardless of safety. With minimal regulation of anything here I always worry about such things.

[dunkin2012]

I am not so worried about bacteria.

I am worried about heavy metals and pesticides/insecticides/fertilizers, industrial pollutants.

Boiling water will kill bacteria, but not remove heavy metals and chemicals.

If you get a bacterial gut infection, you will get the runs for a day or two, and after that you'll be fine.

It may even make your immune system even stronger!

For severe cases, there are antibiotics, but such cases are typically acquired from undercooked meat that is not fresh, not potable H2O.

Heavy metals and chemicals will not make you immediately sick in low concentrations,

but years later come the cancers, organ failures, and other irreversible health problems after sufficient exposure.

Anyhow, You still can't get rid of Heavy Substances......

I don't know they should be ways to reduce them..... or completely remove them.

Edited March 24, 2011 by dunkin2012

[AgentSmith]

All water in the US is chlorinated, but I don't know about Europe, Australia and Canada.

tap water in Holland is never chlorinated. We use reliable and constantly monitored surface water reservoirs. Before it goes in the pipes the water passes through high doses of deadly uv radiation not affecting taste. This rather simple technique renders chlorine totally redundant and since I heard about it years ago I never understood why in other parts of the world they would still use chlorine. They say Dutch tap water is amongst the best worldwide.

In Thailand I have regular outer ear infections just by taking showers. I am considering to start using rain water for a while already. It would definitely help my ears lot.

I hardly ever drink pure water. But I now start wondering about the quality of the water sources used by companies such as coca cola. And how about the milk we buy from 7/11? Of course the cows are a natural filter by their own when it comes to bacteria but how about chemicals?

Edited March 24, 2011 by AgentSmith

[Sabre]

"Keep drinking water in clean containers. If the containers are large, you still have to clean them every six months."

the clue is to drink running water, and not still.

there use to be times, when you could drink water from the river and canals - it's gone, since some 40 years ago they started to use extensive agricultural techniques, pesticides etc

I should keep this secret, I never buy water but I have more than 2 litres a day...how is this possible???

being an engineer and somewhat of inventor in solving daily problems, here it goes...ready...all you people have air conditioners right? I put it this way when Newton had an apple fall on his head did he recognize gravity? Do you realize that you... the complainers and worry worts...of course out of shape.. yes you with the A/C throw out some of the most purest water in the world and do not know it...du? you struggle to lift heavy jugs of water.

Solution: I have put a "T"tap on the 1/2" gray plastic drain on my Air Conditioner drain line feeding outside my apartment, it is low enough to put a clear 20L hardplastic water jug below onto the balcony., when I do not want water (very seldom) let it flow past and down the roof vent drain.

WHERE DOES THIS WATER COME FROM? well my friend when ya take a beer out of the fridge and let it set on table.."Condensation occurs" the same principle as the evaporation of liquid will be cold... liquid that goes through the radiator mounted in your A/C that gives you cold air from the motorized fan behind. Are you with me...put your hands up engineers aw yes engineers are inventors... the rest of you can go and buy your water...ya never look to nature for your answers do you...watch out for them apples...Rotor Ron

I don't know what sort of aircon unit you have but I wouldn't trust anything coming out of mine. A great source of microbes, dust and who knows what else ....

[AgentSmith]

"Keep drinking water in clean containers. If the containers are large, you still have to clean them every six months."

the clue is to drink running water, and not still.

there use to be times, when you could drink water from the river and canals - it's gone, since some 40 years ago they started to use extensive agricultural techniques, pesticides etc

I should keep this secret, I never buy water but I have more than 2 litres a day...how is this possible???

being an engineer and somewhat of inventor in solving daily problems, here it goes...ready...all you people have air conditioners right? I put it this way when Newton had an apple fall on his head did he recognize gravity? Do you realize that you... the complainers and worry worts...of course out of shape.. yes you with the A/C throw out some of the most purest water in the world and do not know it...du? you struggle to lift heavy jugs of water.

Solution: I have put a "T"tap on the 1/2" gray plastic drain on my Air Conditioner drain line feeding outside my apartment, it is low enough to put a clear 20L hardplastic water jug below onto the balcony., when I do not want water (very seldom) let it flow past and down the roof vent drain.

WHERE DOES THIS WATER COME FROM? well my friend when ya take a beer out of the fridge and let it set on table.."Condensation occurs" the same principle as the evaporation of liquid will be cold... liquid that goes through the radiator mounted in your A/C that gives you cold air from the motorized fan behind. Are you with me...put your hands up engineers aw yes engineers are inventors... the rest of you can go and buy your water...ya never look to nature for your answers do you...watch out for them apples...Rotor Ron

I don't know what sort of aircon unit you have but I wouldn't trust anything coming out of mine. A great source of microbes, dust and who knows what else ....

Exactly! Aircon units quite often make people sick. This has nothing to do with the cold air. It's the microbes inside the unit that get distributed in the room, often because the unit blows tiny drops of contaminated water in the air.

I don't use them. Hell I even slept under a thick blanket last night. If I wanted to feel colder I would have never moved to Thailand in the first place.

[softgeorge]

which ones should we be avoiding?

[BigBikeBKK]

One more reason to stick to beer!

[jimbeam1]

By vending machines, do they mean the reverse osmosis systems?

We do use this water only for tea/coffee or cooking. For drinking only use bottled?

When I lived in the wids of Korat, used stored rain water all the time for drinking. Liked the taste, never got ill.

jb1

Have you heard of the acid rain? Please stop drinking it...

you will live longer.....

Ah but they are clever little Bs. They let it run off for a good 5mins before they start collecting it.

I know it can't be the most hygenic of drinking water. But I never did get ill.

jb1

[TheFishman1]

By vending machines, do they mean the reverse osmosis systems?

We do use this water only for tea/coffee or cooking. For drinking only use bottled?

When I lived in the wids of Korat, used stored rain water all the time for drinking. Liked the taste, never got ill.

jb1

liked the taste? water shouldn't taste of anything....

[jimbeam1]

By vending machines, do they mean the reverse osmosis systems?

We do use this water only for tea/coffee or cooking. For drinking only use bottled?

When I lived in the wids of Korat, used stored rain water all the time for drinking. Liked the taste, never got ill.

jb1

liked the taste? water shouldn't taste of anything....

But it does.

jb1

[TheFishman1]

I lived in Belize and a few times I when with the water guy in charge of the Water Supply for the second biggest town there and he would check a few times a day the water supply and add chlorine to it.About the a/c thing wow How much chlorine do you add per gallon? And does boiling get rid of the metlas etc.

[frenchfarangjomtien]

Only Thai and retarded believe that bottled drinking water of famous brands as Sin... is better, right ?

First i still don't understand why they still buy drinking water when mineral water as Minere is cheaper ! (maybe it's about education and knowledge?)

Who is using a home purifier water system ? Is it the best solution to get clean drinking water for coffee and food ? How much did you pay it, and what about maintenance ?

Thanks.

[Thaddeus]

All water in the US is chlorinated, but I don't know about Europe, Australia and Canada.

tap water in Holland is never chlorinated. We use reliable and constantly monitored surface water reservoirs. Before it goes in the pipes the water passes through high doses of deadly uv radiation not affecting taste. This rather simple technique renders chlorine totally redundant and since I heard about it years ago I never understood why in other parts of the world they would still use chlorine. They say Dutch tap water is amongst the best worldwide.

Just because it is clean when it goes in to the pipes doesn't mean that it is still clean when it comes out of the tap.

[jimbeam1]

Apart from the kind poster offering to share his own personal water testing unit, does anyone have leads on a service available to the public?

I've never had problems with it myself, but I'd like to test our bottle water vendor (14 THB per big bottle delivered to the house!)

Anyone know where you can buy a water testing unit + price. I am thinking something simple, that lets you know if it is, drinkable, ok for cooking or hazardous?

jb1

[bartender100]

I use the "Namthip" brand made by Coca cola, it says it is UV ozonated , and has a Ministry of Public Health number on it, is it safe ?? B10 per 1.5LT One would think it should be

[plushly]

Even in Australia, 30% of bottled water sold contains higher levels of bacteria than tap water - so don't be surprised regarding Thai brands, this is fairly normal and not really a cause for concern.

The reverse osmosis machines on the street corner I think is the the main reference at the beginning of the article. Many are dirty and often a fair bit of chunky grit comes out some machines; some even smell a bit. Frequency of filter change is neglected much like people neglect to change oil in their bike when they should.

A teaspoon (5ml) of plain domestic bleach is generally plenty enough to chlorinate 20 litres of unfiltered rainwater (don't use any fancy bleach with suds). Let it stand for a few hours and most of the chlorine smell and taste will disappear. If the water source is cloudy, more bleach is required to purify.

[asiawatcher]

I gave up the osmosis systems as the owners have filter units when bought but do not carry out maintenance and by the time the filters are clogged, you are drinking water far more polluted than what comes from the tap! I looked at all the water filters and the replacement cartridges etc and gave up- bought a stainless triplicate system from home pro and have used that with replacing filter cartridges. Still tastes strange but I guess some measures are better than none and by changing filters annually I am at least getting rid of polluted choked ones. Who knows? No idea....

[Svadhistana]

I distill my own... Does not get any better....

This is the only realistic statement of this thread. Reverse osmosis is the only safe existing water treatment. Do not trust me. Deeply search.

Any more words not needed.

[ginjag]

I use the "Namthip" brand made by Coca cola, it says it is UV ozonated , and has a Ministry of Public Health number on it, is it safe ?? B10 per 1.5LT One would think it should be

I have the 5 gall plastic bottle and keep 6 all the time, this type I get for Thai people thats what they say is o.k. For myself I buy Nestle 1.+ ltr at 14 bht and buy a case, used for coffee, and making fruit drinks. if we have a shortage of tap water, I use the 5 gall one for showers. Tap water is used for the auto washer, cleaning the concrete areas. Not forgetting my garden flowers, and my car to hose down.

[plushly]

I distill my own... Does not get any better....

This is the only realistic statement of this thread. Reverse osmosis is the only safe existing water treatment. Do not trust me. Deeply search.

Any more words not needed.

Distilled water is not "real" water. Yes it may be pure, but many of the good things in water ( e.g. minerals, oxygenation and most importantly, flavour and sweetness) are also filtered out. Exposure to minute amounts of some bacteria can actually be beneficial for our immune systems. Great tasting water usually means that you drink more of it; which is healthy. Coffee and tea also tastes better and fresher when made with rainwater. Potable tap water available in the safest countries in the world still contains some bacteria.

I brew beer, which involves a sensitive living organism, yeast, requiring a relatively bacteria free environment to work properly. Rainwater with a dash of bleach never results in an infection in the brew and it tastes great. Certain styles of beer (British Ales and Stouts specifically) actually taste better made with cloudy bore water. Try brewing beer with "distilled" water and see how you like the taste? Distilled water generally means there is not enough oxygen for the yeast to activate properly, so it goes more slowly (longer) which means greater risk of infection than a healthy fermentation with rainwater.

If I was collecting water from a puddle in sub-saharan Africa - yes I would distill it. In Thailand, I don't think it has come even close to that yet. Distilled water is still primaryily for topping up the steam iron and car battery in my view..

[p_brownstone]

"Keep drinking water in clean containers. If the containers are large, you still have to clean them every six months."

the clue is to drink running water, and not still.

there use to be times, when you could drink water from the river and canals - it's gone, since some 40 years ago they started to use extensive agricultural techniques, pesticides etc

I should keep this secret, I never buy water but I have more than 2 litres a day...how is this possible???

being an engineer and somewhat of inventor in solving daily problems, here it goes...ready...all you people have air conditioners right? I put it this way when Newton had an apple fall on his head did he recognize gravity? Do you realize that you... the complainers and worry worts...of course out of shape.. yes you with the A/C throw out some of the most purest water in the world and do not know it...du? you struggle to lift heavy jugs of water.

Solution: I have put a "T"tap on the 1/2" gray plastic drain on my Air Conditioner drain line feeding outside my apartment, it is low enough to put a clear 20L hardplastic water jug below onto the balcony., when I do not want water (very seldom) let it flow past and down the roof vent drain.

WHERE DOES THIS WATER COME FROM? well my friend when ya take a beer out of the fridge and let it set on table.."Condensation occurs" the same principle as the evaporation of liquid will be cold... liquid that goes through the radiator mounted in your A/C that gives you cold air from the motorized fan behind. Are you with me...put your hands up engineers aw yes engineers are inventors... the rest of you can go and buy your water...ya never look to nature for your answers do you...watch out for them apples...Rotor Ron

I don't know what sort of aircon unit you have but I wouldn't trust anything coming out of mine. A great source of microbes, dust and who knows what else ....

My life is plagued by “engineers” .

The condensation which appears on the outside of a cold Beer bottle or any other container is quite basically the result of what is called “Heat Exchange”, the cooler liquid inside the container meets warmer, moister air at the glass interface and the two disparate conditions try to “equalise” ; so the colder, inside bottle atmosphere, develops condensation on the outside when it encounters the warmer, moister, outside atmosphere and liquid results – something that appears to be pure “water”.

Where do you imagine this "water" comes from?

It is derived directly from the local environment - for example if you are sitting in a roadside Bar then it will contain elements of pollution from passing cars, the smoke from the local Grilled Squid cart etc. etc..

The water which seems to be produced from your Air Conditioner is exactly the same; what cools the Unit is the Coolant - Freon, R22A whatever - which circulates through the enclosed Fins of the Unit, these Fins are cold and only in contact with the internal air in your room and so the whole “Heat Exchange” process takes place exactly as described above.

In other words any pollution – cigarette smoke, whatever – you expel into your “Air Conditioned” room will inevitably end up back in the “water” you drink from the drain on your Air Conditioner.

That is most certainly not a good liquid to drink.

Patrick

Edited March 24, 2011 by p_brownstone

[Tanaka]

Only 40% of rainwater passed quality test? Talking about air pollution. So, how many swimming pools out there are unsafe?

You are not supposed to drink the water in the swimming pools!

[Svadhistana]

I distill my own... Does not get any better....

This is the only realistic statement of this thread. Reverse osmosis is the only safe existing water treatment. Do not trust me. Deeply search.

Any more words not needed.

Distilled water is not "real" water. Yes it may be pure, but many of the good things in water ( e.g. minerals, oxygenation and most importantly, flavour and sweetness) are also filtered out. Exposure to minute amounts of some bacteria can actually be beneficial for our immune systems. Great tasting water usually means that you drink more of it; which is healthy. Coffee and tea also tastes better and fresher when made with rainwater. Potable tap water available in the safest countries in the world still contains some bacteria.

I brew beer, which involves a sensitive living organism, yeast, requiring a relatively bacteria free environment to work properly. Rainwater with a dash of bleach never results in an infection in the brew and it tastes great. Certain styles of beer (British Ales and Stouts specifically) actually taste better made with cloudy bore water. Try brewing beer with "distilled" water and see how you like the taste? Distilled water generally means there is not enough oxygen for the yeast to activate properly, so it goes more slowly (longer) which means greater risk of infection than a healthy fermentation with rainwater.

If I was collecting water from a puddle in sub-saharan Africa - yes I would distill it. In Thailand, I don't think it has come even close to that yet. Distilled water is still primaryily for topping up the steam iron and car battery in my view..

Interesting point....explain it to the Japanese people who are dealing with radioactive water and let me know whether they agree with you......:jap:

[p_brownstone]

Interesting point....explain it to the Japanese people who are dealing with radioactive water and let me know whether they agree with you......:jap:

Distillation will not remove Radioactive Isotopes from water.

So your point is???

Patrick

[elshaheen]

I don't really care for water coming out of those vending machines. I mean the process that these machines uses ends up taking all the good stuff, minerals such as salts and makes the water very dry. Dry means your body can't use it and just passes through the body and out.

When I was in the U.S. Navy several years back. Most of your large ships such as Aircraft carriers, used to distill their sea water to make it palatable for people onboard and out to sea. The only drawback was, you had to keep going back for more and going to the toilet often.

[cloudhopper]

Distillation will not remove Radioactive Isotopes from water.

Patrick

Are you sure about that? I would think that most if not all harmful fallout in say contaminated rainwater, would be fairly heavy isotopes and be quite effectively removed by distillation.

[Nisa]

Distillation will not remove Radioactive Isotopes from water.

Patrick

Are you sure about that? I would think that most if not all harmful fallout in say contaminated rainwater, would be fairly heavy isotopes and be quite effectively removed by distillation.

I think you are right but is their a problem with Radioactive Isotopes in the drinking water in Thailand?

[rayongtoffee]

Aah,you can,t beat Peckham Spring,good,wholesome and pure.

[Svadhistana]

Interesting point....explain it to the Japanese people who are dealing with radioactive water and let me know whether they agree with you......:jap:

Distillation will not remove Radioactive Isotopes from water.

So your point is???

Patrick

read up on reverse osmosis before posting false information, thank you

[p_brownstone]

Interesting point....explain it to the Japanese people who are dealing with radioactive water and let me know whether they agree with you......:jap:

Distillation will not remove Radioactive Isotopes from water.

So your point is???

Patrick

read up on reverse osmosis before posting false information, thank you

Read up - and produce, with Sources (not cartoon like websites) – reliable, scientifically PROVEN Data - which validates your assertion that Reverse Osmosis, will remove Radioactive Isotopes and render previously irradiated water drinkable for human consumption.

Patrick

Whoops - almost forgot my manners!

"Thank you."

Patrick

Edited March 24, 2011 by p_brownstone