Vending Water Not Up To Standards: Thai Health Dept

[surangw]

thai health dept. on Rachavithi Rd used to have a water cooler with a cup on a string in the lobby ( Until It was pointed out to someone there it was a good way go spread germs)

I wonder where to cooler water comes from ?

[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

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

sure, as soon as you "produce, with Sources (not cartoon like websites) – reliable, scientifically PROVEN Data - which validates that" whatever water you drink is safe!

[Lancelot]

At one time, I was buying drinking water in those big translucent plastic bottles. The last bottle I bought had mosquito larvae swimming around inside the bottle. I now run rain water through my own filters.

So true! I was working in Bangladesh and bought a bottle of water from a shop. I checked the shrink wrap seal, yep in place, so I opened it up and took a swig... the i saw the worm floating around. Took it back to the shop, the clerk looks at the worm, shrugs his shoulders and gives me a new one.

Musat have been a "healthy" worm cause I didn't hae any problems.

Like another poster stated, yoou never really know if the water you buy is good or not...

[Anyse]

Somyos advised people to boil or add an appropriate amount of chlorine to water before drinking it.

You can't advise people to add an appropriate amount of chlorine without telling them what an appropriate amount is (any guesses what that amount would be?)....... even then they'll probably get it wrong and the whole of Thailand will resemble February in Chiang Mai.

I didnt know you used chlorine in drinking water ( im no expert ) but i remember i had the taste of chlorine, in Florida once, and i asked locals why the water tasted look pool water, no one knew :-]

so how much pool water should we drink today ?

i bet the bottles are better, :-]

Here in the US, many systems use chlorine as part of the cleansing process. Chorinated water is a common thing here. I hate the taste of it! So, I drink coffee and canned drinks instead.

[plushly]

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

I think this is missing the point of the article. If I was presented with radioactive water and there was no other option, yes I would distill (distilling can remove much, but not all radioactive isotopes - so risk is reduced but not eliminated). Similarly, if I was presented with the necessity of drinking my own urine, yes I would distill. Fortunately the water situation hasn't come to that yet in Thailand and there are plenty of alternatives.

From wikipedia:

1. Distillation involves boiling the water to produce water vapour. The vapour contacts a cool surface where it condenses as a liquid. Because the solutes are not normally vaporised, they remain in the boiling solution. Even distillation does not completely purify water, because of contaminants with similar boiling points and droplets of unvapourised liquid carried with the steam. However, 99.9% pure water can be obtained by distillation.
2. Reverse osmosis: Mechanical pressure is applied to an impure solution to force pure water through a semi-permeable membrane. Reverse osmosis is theoretically the most thorough method of large scale water purification available, although perfect semi-permeable membranes are difficult to create. Unless membranes are well-maintained, algae and other life forms can colonize the membranes.

Edited March 25, 2011 by plushly

[dunkin2012]

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

I think this is missing the point of the article. If I was presented with radioactive water and there was no other option, yes I would distill (distilling can remove much, but not all radioactive isotopes - so risk is reduced but not eliminated). Similarly, if I was presented with the necessity of drinking my own urine, yes I would distill. Fortunately the water situation hasn't come to that yet in Thailand and there are plenty of alternatives.

From wikipedia:

1. Distillation involves boiling the water to produce water vapour. The vapour contacts a cool surface where it condenses as a liquid. Because the solutes are not normally vaporised, they remain in the boiling solution. Even distillation does not completely purify water, because of contaminants with similar boiling points and droplets of unvapourised liquid carried with the steam. However, 99.9% pure water can be obtained by distillation.
2. Reverse osmosis: Mechanical pressure is applied to an impure solution to force pure water through a semi-permeable membrane. Reverse osmosis is theoretically the most thorough method of large scale water purification available, although perfect semi-permeable membranes are difficult to create. Unless membranes are well-maintained, algae and other life forms can colonize the membranes.

plushly: we are talkin' science.

Although, wiki gives you a rough idea of how the distillation works but it says nothin' about removin' the RadioActive atoms though.

Haha........................ Sorry me If I am wrong.......dude

[boggle]

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???

Good Luck!!!!

Information from a FAQ at the Allergy Buyers Club web site

http://www.allergybu...ditioning.shtml

"Q. How does the air conditioning system inside a home become a source

of microbial contamination?

A. The air drawn into a system contains dust, much of which is

biological spores and other organic particles. Even the best filters

capture only part of this material. Much of the rest falls out of the

air stream onto the heat transfer surfaces. It combines with the water

and the spores germinate and grow rapidly"

"Contaminated central air handling systems can become breeding grounds

for mold, mildew, and other sources of biological contaminants and can

then distribute these contaminants through the home." (The Inside

Story-A Guide to Indoor Air Quality published April 1995 by the U. S.

Environmental Protection Agency).

"Air conditioning - home to deadly bacteria?

reproduced in fmuk - Facilities Management U.K. Issue -

November/December 2002

http://www.eclipsesc...onnaires-ac.htm

All facility managers should know that air-conditioning systems and

cooling towers are a potential breeding ground for Legionella bacteria

... Their ability to survive and reproduce in poorly maintained water

systems has given rise to the threat of Legionnaires' disease...

Reports show that the disease is fatal in approximately 15 per cent of

reported cases... "Over the past 3 months in our laboratory Legionella

pneumophila was identified in 82 per cent of positive samples, 21 per

cent of these were the clinically important serogroup 1." Figures

like these show how prevalent the bacteria are in water - cooled air-

conditioning units and other water systems."

[Nisa]

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

You really need to do some further research on this. The list is very long as to why this water can be EXTREMELY toxic to drink.

I think you also may want to get your A/C checked out if it is producing enough condensation to fill more than 2 Liters a day. Sounds like it is time to get it cleaned.

Edited March 25, 2011 by Nisa

[Emster23]

And just this morning I was musing about Thailand being ahead of Japan regarding the possible radioactive water there in the taps. Here problem solved because you shouldn't drink from tap anyway.... Coke and beer seem the way to go to replenish essential bodily fluids. See Dr. Strangelove for further information

[plushly]

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

I think this is missing the point of the article. If I was presented with radioactive water and there was no other option, yes I would distill (distilling can remove much, but not all radioactive isotopes - so risk is reduced but not eliminated). Similarly, if I was presented with the necessity of drinking my own urine, yes I would distill. Fortunately the water situation hasn't come to that yet in Thailand and there are plenty of alternatives.

From wikipedia:

1. Distillation involves boiling the water to produce water vapour. The vapour contacts a cool surface where it condenses as a liquid. Because the solutes are not normally vaporised, they remain in the boiling solution. Even distillation does not completely purify water, because of contaminants with similar boiling points and droplets of unvapourised liquid carried with the steam. However, 99.9% pure water can be obtained by distillation.
2. Reverse osmosis: Mechanical pressure is applied to an impure solution to force pure water through a semi-permeable membrane. Reverse osmosis is theoretically the most thorough method of large scale water purification available, although perfect semi-permeable membranes are difficult to create. Unless membranes are well-maintained, algae and other life forms can colonize the membranes.

plushly: we are talkin' science.

Although, wiki gives you a rough idea of how the distillation works but it says nothin' about removin' the RadioActive atoms though.

Haha........................ Sorry me If I am wrong.......dude

" The main contaminants by far should be soluble solids, e.g. metal salts of e.g. radioactive caesium, rubidium etc. These can not be filtered e.g. by charcoal or any ceramic or paper filter with whatever fine pore structure since they are dissolved! You can only either try to demineralise that water (e.g. by reverse osmosis) or purify it by distillation thus leaving the radioactive solids behind (the condensed water in the lids of your pots consists of such distilled water droplets). A third potential method would be chemical precipitation. However, in order to know which chemical to use to precipitate the contaminant(s) with, you'd first have to analyse the water components. And in all probability the traces would be too small for normal analysis and if the salt etc. was determined then you might find there is no precipitant to go with it or it may have adverse side effects, e.g. be poisonous. So de-mineralisation or distillation it is."

Information from:

http://crisismaven.w...r-e-g-in-japan/

[Sabre]

Somyos advised people to boil or add an appropriate amount of chlorine to water before drinking it.

You can't advise people to add an appropriate amount of chlorine without telling them what an appropriate amount is (any guesses what that amount would be?)....... even then they'll probably get it wrong and the whole of Thailand will resemble February in Chiang Mai.

I didnt know you used chlorine in drinking water ( im no expert ) but i remember i had the taste of chlorine, in Florida once, and i asked locals why the water tasted look pool water, no one knew :-]

so how much pool water should we drink today ?

i bet the bottles are better, :-]

Here in the US, many systems use chlorine as part of the cleansing process. Chorinated water is a common thing here. I hate the taste of it! So, I drink coffee and canned drinks instead.

Most coffee and canned drinks actually make you thirstier as they are effectively diuretics.

[Thaddeus]

Most coffee and canned drinks actually make you thirstier as they are effectively diuretics.

So is beer.

And my original post in this thread was not to point out if chlorine should be added or not, it is one of the best ways of getting rid of some of the nasties, but rather to illustrate that you can't use the phrase of "an appropriate amount" to a nation that measures pinches of salt by the cup.

Incidentally, chlorine does evaporate from water quite quickly, that's why swimming pools smell of it, if you buy water that does have a wiff of chlorine about it, pour it into an open jug and let it stand for an hour, it'll be gone.

[Sabre]

Most coffee and canned drinks actually make you thirstier as they are effectively diuretics.

So is beer.

And my original post in this thread was not to point out if chlorine should be added or not, it is one of the best ways of getting rid of some of the nasties, but rather to illustrate that you can't use the phrase of "an appropriate amount" to a nation that measures pinches of salt by the cup.

Incidentally, chlorine does evaporate from water quite quickly, that's why swimming pools smell of it, if you buy water that does have a wiff of chlorine about it, pour it into an open jug and let it stand for an hour, it'll be gone.

All good points.

[ableguy]

70% only?

Why should I pay more for this low quality drinking water?

What about in 7/11? There are many brands of bottled water to choose from. Any clues?

40% for water supply utility?

Pretty low indeed. ..

most of restaurants in Thailand don't care to use clean water.... Eatin' out here in Thai is to destroy your health.....

I want them to check restaurants , food courts and street stalls too.

I really doubt.... Will it be lower than 40% passin' the quality requirements,FDA?

What you want is to get in touch with reality.

[TAWP]

If any sold brands fail tests then we need to be informed. The only proper way is to have a full list of tested brands and show exactly what they rate at and where the cut-off level of 'save' is deemed to be.

Then we can vote with our wallets and those that lack in quality have to improve.

[onlycw]

Wake up and buy only Mineral Water like Minere. It bothers me that the local restaurants has mineral water on the menu but they sell the non-mineral water junk.

What's the saving? 2 Baht per bottle? I keep getting painful cramps in my calf muscles if I drink the non-mineral water for a few weeks.

[dunkin2012]

Wake up and buy only Mineral Water like Minere. It bothers me that the local restaurants has mineral water on the menu but they sell the non-mineral water junk.

What's the saving? 2 Baht per bottle? I keep getting painful cramps in my calf muscles if I drink the non-mineral water for a few weeks.

hypochondriac?

[Thaddeus]

I keep getting painful cramps in my calf muscles if I drink the non-mineral water for a few weeks.

I get that just after I've stuck my foot in my mouth.