Is It Safe To Drink Tap Water In Bangkok ?

[lopburi3]

Water from taps was tested by the medical section of the US Embassy in central Bangkok more than 30 years ago as better than available bottled water. Water quality and lines have greatly improved since then.

Water is processed to international standards and real time reporting is available on-line of the quality at various points in the city.

http://wqconline.mwa.co.th/wqc/OverviewMap.aspx?uiculture=en-US

Water supply lines are much younger than in many other countries and it is replaced when old.

Many Thai will still filter water and there is always a small danger but most places now have high enough pressure to be reasonably sure of drinkable water at tap.

[swisstouristpattaya]

I drink from these machine,filter in the street,all ok....

[pampal]

I use tap water for Tea and cooking. No problems.

[lovetotravel]

I drink from these machine,filter in the street,all ok....

How do you know they are OK? Many reports exist saying otherwise, specifically one done here in Pattaya. Have you tested the water? Saying it's fine to drink reminds me of these ads years ago. We now know the truth:

[welbymd]

No!

Why risk it? Bottle water is cheap.

[Chivas]

I've drunk the tap water wherever I have been in Thailand. As pointed out maybe after 20 years you adjust to any bugs that may lay you low otherwise.

[lovetotravel]

I've drunk the tap water wherever I have been in Thailand. As pointed out maybe after 20 years you adjust to any bugs that may lay you low otherwise.

It's not the bugs. Those can be killed with chlorine, which they are using. It's the pesticides, chemicals and drugs that are being dumped into the water system. Which is where your tap water comes from. As well as bottled water.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

Short and safe generalization - no.

Side note but relevant: since I was a young boy my father taught me to avoid the hyper-sterile sanitation practices normal in America so that my immune system would have the chance to build up resistance, and I have lived in third-world conditions over most of my life without any problems.

The more finessed truth, feel free to skip: many areas of Bangkok's tap water system deliver water as clean or cleaner than what is required by western standards, and is therefore completely safe to drink. Most of the time.

When the water table rises due to the runoff from heavy rains, the wastewater drains overflow, and sometimes this contaminates the tap water system. At these times it is not safe. The tap water in some areas of Bangkok - where they haven't got around to upgrading the system - is rarely if ever up to standards.

I have lived in the lower Sukhumvit and Silom areas, now south of Sathorne Road, and although I don't actually drink the tap water, I am not paranoid about it - hot drinks, spaghetti, soup, brushing teeth etc. I think using bottled water to wash fruit and veg is silly, because we actually soak them in a full sinkful - the pesticides are IMO much more dangerous than anything in the tap water.

The only longer-than-one day case of "Bangkok belly" I've had in a dozen years turned out to be a bacteria not present in Thailand I must have picked up on a visa run to Phnom Penh. I can highly recommend the gastro specialists at the "tropical diseases" unit at BNH - they brought me back three times before they finally figured out what the specific bug was before prescribing me the targeted antibiotic, where I'm sure 95% of other places - including the most expensive "medical tourism" shops - would have pretended to know and just given me a generic medicine and crossed their fingers.

Edited March 30, 2012 by BigJohnnyBKK

[77fidelio]

And what about washing fruits and veggies, plates, dishes etc with tap water in Bangkok? Is it safe?

[yourauntbob]

I use it to brush my teeth and other small intakes but would not pour a glass of the stuff. A filter installed in your house is only a few thousand baht and then changing the filter every 6 months to a year is not that expensive. its works out to be as cheap as the giant machines you can fill a liter for a baht or whatever. If your going to be in the same place for more than a year I would recommend it.

[Pool Villarer]

To use for cleaning food is okay to drink is not okay.

Khlong Prapa is the Khlong used for this water if I remember correctly, and a few months ago a body part was fished out of it.

They call that 'Flavouring' in Isaan,like a rat in a keg of cider!

[noddy77]

I was with an organisation in Bangkok and we tested several bottle brands of water and local Bangkok water. The water was tested by 2 methods. We used an electronic probe first and then electrolysis and the results certainly amazed me. Bangkok tap water tested better than most of the brand name bottled water. The worst water was the brand we always bought so that knocked me. We don't buy that one anymore. There was only one bottled water that tested as good as Bangkok Tap water. We also tested water filtered by reverse osmosis which won first prize but there is a theory that it's too pure and has no goodness in it.

So, to answer your question. Yes, I would drink Bangkok tap water all day. But I would buy one of those filtering jugs and stick it in the fridge. Bottoms up!

[meatboy]

How long have you been here?

Did you not read anything before you came?

You should not drink the tap water.

Of course it's fine. Tap water is part of your everyday life or don't you realise that?

My kids always drink it when they have a shower, the little devils, and they've never been sick.

In fact it's advisable to drink a few glasses of tap water per week whenever you spend an extended period of time in a new country to get your body exposed to the local bacteria etc

you got to be kidding,a few months ago some chemicals got into the water system it was foul but nobody was warned about till the water company got complaints when all the fish were dying,in 30yrs i have never drank a drop,30ltr.bottles for 10bht.and never been sick.

tap water

[StreetCowboy]

I drink tap water, the rest of the family don't.

SC

[Scully]

If you stay in a hotel with a bath then run one and take a look at the water.

It's like having a bath in coffee, I felt cleaner before I got in.

[MrHammer]

It tastes horrible so even if ok, I wouldn't drink it. The times I've drunk it, it always felt like you were still thirsty after drinking it.

[Payboy]

Is It Safe To Drink Tap Water In Bangkok ?

I'm disappointed they didn't win the tap water tasting award.

[muythai2013]

Don't drink from the tap, I get my water from the Khlong, nothing like a cocktail.

[lovetotravel]

I was with an organisation in Bangkok and we tested several bottle brands of water and local Bangkok water. The water was tested by 2 methods. We used an electronic probe first and then electrolysis and the results certainly amazed me. Bangkok tap water tested better than most of the brand name bottled water. The worst water was the brand we always bought so that knocked me. We don't buy that one anymore. There was only one bottled water that tested as good as Bangkok Tap water. We also tested water filtered by reverse osmosis which won first prize but there is a theory that it's too pure and has no goodness in it.

So, to answer your question. Yes, I would drink Bangkok tap water all day. But I would buy one of those filtering jugs and stick it in the fridge. Bottoms up!

I remember a test they did years ago on the cheapest bottled water available in Thailand. It tested worse than tap water.

But the problem with tap water is where do you test it? The delivery system in BKK is questionable. It might leave the treatment plant in fair shape, but once it gets to your house/apartment all sorts of nasties could have gotten in. Testing needs to be done where you are drinking it.

With your test above, did it look for pesticides or heavy metals? These things are being dumped into the Chao Praya river on a daily basis. Which is the source of drinking water for BKK.

[FiFtHeLeMeNt]

It is definitely not safe to drink tap water. you may say that you drink a little when you take a shower or brush your teeth but it is just a little and can not harm you. it is like the bacterias living around us. you have the most dangerous bacterias on your hand right now and they will enter your body , but your defensive system kills the bacterias because there are not many. but if you enter a significant amount of same bacteria in your body you will die !

It is the same thing , a little amount doesn't hurt. but if you use it continuesly it will hurt you.

[isawasnake]

I must say, I almost literally can't believe there are some that seem to be contending that Thais are even capable of maintaining a relatively sterile and effective delivery system.

[smokie36]

It's safe, supposedly, and if you injest some while cleaning your teeth, showering, etc. it's fine. To me the main thing that puts me off drinking large glasses of the stuff is the temperature - refrigerated, filtered tap water is the way to go.

This is the correct answer.

[uhuh]

check the water storage tank of your condo/house/apartment building.

If its clean, your water is ok to drink.

Water is clean when it leaves the water plant, but it can stay in the local tank for a while and these tanks can be very filthy,

Due to chlorination, even from a dirty tank it is pretty safe - but you may not want to drink it after you have seen the tank.

[lopburi3]

I was with an organisation in Bangkok and we tested several bottle brands of water and local Bangkok water. The water was tested by 2 methods. We used an electronic probe first and then electrolysis and the results certainly amazed me. Bangkok tap water tested better than most of the brand name bottled water. The worst water was the brand we always bought so that knocked me. We don't buy that one anymore. There was only one bottled water that tested as good as Bangkok Tap water. We also tested water filtered by reverse osmosis which won first prize but there is a theory that it's too pure and has no goodness in it.

So, to answer your question. Yes, I would drink Bangkok tap water all day. But I would buy one of those filtering jugs and stick it in the fridge. Bottoms up!

More that 30 years ago the US Embassy Medical Unit conducted such tests and found the same - tap water in central Bangkok was consistently safer than bottled water (which most foreigners were drinking). The variable was delivery/storage but in 30 years that has been vastly improved (much better pressure a main point). That said I still use and recommend at least a cermatic type filter for drinking to prevent any high concentrations of bacteria from a local event. This is one of the few places on earth where water quality is displayed for the public in real time.

http://wqconline.mwa.co.th/wqc/OverviewMap.aspx?uiculture=en-US