Drinking Water Testing

[TongueThaied]

As I am preparing to build a house and will have a refrigerator with cold water and ice, I have become interested in water quality. Unlike you folks who have your domestic water supply sucked out of a filthy river, I live in a small community with a well for the community water supply. The metered water is distributed to homes via underground plumbing. Because my village is on slightly elevated ground, it has been village land since time immemorial. The well is toward the middle, there are no dumps and the closest agriculture is at least 200 yards away -- as the crow flies. The water tastes good and has no odors, but nonetheless, I have only used it for washing and some cooking. I have been drinking water from the five gallon plastic carboys one can have delivered to the house.

But I wonder, what if the domestic water supply is perfectly potable? I could use only a sand filter to be sure of removing any residual turbidity, maybe a UV filter to kill the errant bacteria, and drink away, not having to deal with those pesky bottles anymore. The thing is, the guy that delivers the five gallon bottles has his own filtering system and he refills the bottles. I seriously doubt that he uses reverse osmosis, given the volume he processes. Perhaps the water he is delivering is the same as what already comes through my pipes! Perhaps those bottles that surround the delivered water are nothing but psychological comfort for somebody from the US where such things are more closely regulated.

Well I decided to find out and set about to get the water tested. Jesus, it was hell finding out where to do this, but I put my head down, dug in and, with wife in tow, unhappy about all my questions, I got answers. Despite advice from many people that the big University in town would test water, they did not. They sent us to the government Science and Medical Research Center, No. 9 (in Phitsanulok). After lengthy cross examination, I was able to acquire the information I needed, part of it rather shocking. The SMRC is the official water testing lab for all government testing. The supervisor there absolutely insisted that other than the SMRC offices sprinkled around the country (the next closest one is in Nakhon Sawan), there was no other place in Thailand to get water tested, unless, perhaps, somewhere in Bangkok, but nobody in the office seemed to know anything about that.

Now here's the shocker: They test for ONLY these things (taken from the menu list they gave us): pH, total solid, total hardness, chloride, fluoride, nitrate, iron, lead, MPN coli forms (E. coli bacterial count), E. coli, salmonellae, and S. aureus.

That's it! Those are the only water quality tests available for domestic supplies. What's more, the supervisor proudly and perkily announced that if my water passed these tests, I could sell it! "Huh?" I asked, "You mean I can bottle it and sell it?" She said, "Sure."

Now you've all seen these mom and pop plastic water bottling plants that bottle all that water we have been buying from the Lotus or 7-Eleven Store. Is this water clean? I gave you the standard tests above -- that's all that's required, and who would do more? And to think a lot of it has been pulled out of these filthy rivers! Those rivers are chemical dumps -- I have personally witnessed dumping. And dumping anything under the sun into storm sewers is routine.

So no tests for benzenes, MTBE, or other petro contaminants, PCB's, arsenic, nitrites, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides . . . Holy shit folks. That plastic bottle we all depended on has lost its psychological advantage for me. I remember a few years ago, some aid agency went to Bangladesh and dug a lot of wells for the poor people. They all started getting sick, hair falling out, a lot of them dying. They finally tested the water and found arsenic, which is not an unusual well water contaminant. Well that water would have passed with flying colors here in LOS.

I am going to send some water samples to the US for testing. If I find it full of agrochemicals or even trace arsenic, then it's a pretty sure bet that all those five gallon carboys I have been drinking from were similarly contaminated. I hate to go to the slow assed reverse osmosis (I hate those things), but we'll see. I'm too old to die now.

In any event, I thought some of you might want to know that the bottled water you are drinking, may or may not be clean, and there is not way to test it and know way to know. Perhaps beer is the answer. Imported -- that is. Sweet dreams.

[Boksida]

The standard water tests done in Thailand are as per the attached sample. Additional testing can be done on request. There are several places in Bangkok doing this.

[TongueThaied]

Interesting, that water report from Bangkok. I guess we just don't have the same services "out in the provinces." I have attached the menu of available tests from the government Science & Medical Research Center No. 9 in Phitsanulok. the officer there told me these were the ONLY tests available. But then I have to remember, "Where am I?"

However, I note that while the BKK report shows test that cover fertilizers, neither seem to have a option for arsenic, hydrocarbons (petrochemicals), pesticides or herbicides. Perhaps there is no arsenic in Thailand, but it is a definite water containment in many parts of the world. And we all know how pesticides are sprayed around indiscriminately, and a few of them are quite nasty. Hydrocarbon contamination could easily come from deliberate (and ignorant) dumping of used grease and oil near the water supply, or fuel spillage.

I sure would like to find some additional tests without sending water samples all the way to the States.

[trogers]

Be wary of pesticide contaminants If your home is in the midst of agricultural activities, and chemical contaminants if next to industry.

In the end, store and treat rain water for consumption may be the safest.

[mrbojangles]

Only drink beer.Problem solved.

[jaapfries]

Be wary of pesticide contaminants If your home is in the midst of agricultural activities, and chemical contaminants if next to industry.

In the end, store and treat rain water for consumption may be the safest.

NOT a good idea, if you are aiming for 'safe' drinking-water either. There are a lot of (air-borne) contaminants in the air, in Thailand, from time-to-time.

There IS only one way to be completely safe and that is, unfortunately called "R/O" or Reverse Osmosis Systems.

These systems used to be very expensive, but nowadays one can purchase a decent system for around Bt. 10K (and given that you can forget about the old pesky bottles, much less dragging them around; that's a pretty good proposition).

[KED]

Can anyone suggest a reliable company in Bangkok to have tap water tested?

[monty]

Be wary of pesticide contaminants If your home is in the midst of agricultural activities, and chemical contaminants if next to industry.

In the end, store and treat rain water for consumption may be the safest.

NOT a good idea, if you are aiming for 'safe' drinking-water either. There are a lot of (air-borne) contaminants in the air, in Thailand, from time-to-time.

There IS only one way to be completely safe and that is, unfortunately called "R/O" or Reverse Osmosis Systems.

These systems used to be very expensive, but nowadays one can purchase a decent system for around Bt. 10K (and given that you can forget about the old pesky bottles, much less dragging them around; that's a pretty good proposition).

Totally relying on R/O treated water is not healthy either, especially in a tropical country where the advised amount of consumption is in the multiple liters per day, even more so for people leading an active (read sweating) lifestyle.

While it is true we should not need to source minerals in drinking water (decent diet should supply plenty), drinking R/O treated water tends to actually remove minerals from our body.

I guess at least part of your daily intake should be proper bottled mineral water, preferably from a reputable brand....

Sent from my GT-I9001 using Thaivisa Connect App

[eeeya]

"Now here's the shocker: They test for ONLY these things (taken from the menu list they gave us): pH, total solid, total hardness, chloride, fluoride, nitrate, iron, lead, MPN coli forms (E. coli bacterial count), E. coli, salmonellae, and S. aureus."

I have this kit in my bag at work (oil rig) less the bacteria test.

Simple test strips dunked in water and matched on a colour chart.

[55Jay]

Somewhat related to real estate.

You know the problem and the solution.

Process water slowly, or die a slow death.