Chiang Mai: Well Water Vs. Municipal

[dthisb]

Hi - I am thinking of moving into my wife's family house just outside of the moat near Siam TV in the next year or so.

They currently use well water and a pump to get it to a holding tank on 4th floor.

We discussed with the parents how the well water may not be clean and they agreed possible with a comment they don't know if municipal water is clean either

But they said we can feel free to pay to connect to municipal water if we want to.

Water just used for bathing / cleaning dishes I guess - but still you get some end of taking in a little with these activities I believe... also you would not want unclean water on your skin...

Questions:

- Does anybody know if the well water about 1 block off the south moat near Siam TV is likely to be unclean? (and how unclean / unhealthy)

- Any idea if the municipal water is actually clean / cleaner?

- Any idea on roughly how much would cost to connect it to municipal system?

- House is 3 stories so I guess still need to pump it to holding tank on 4th floor as I heard the water pressure is not very high to go to third floor (?)

- If still need a pump probably can't re-use existing well pump, any idea on rough cost?

thanks much...

[cheeryble]

Thoughts:

1. If you don't use the water for drinking, you will not have to worry about mineral contamination eg heavy metals.

Your only worry then is bacterial contamination from say brushing teeth from tap. Personally I think if you're going to live here best to get resistance to all the bugs and not worry about that.

2. Yes some well and stream sources get muddy sporadically and are not OK for clothes washing every day of the year. The relatives will know this.

[masuk]

I had some advice from a medical person here in CM, and was told that the water is considered good enough to drink, though few actually do.

The Local govt folk should know, or maybe the water testing laboratory.

[stejames1975]

I am not keen to drink well water from any heavily populated area with lots of septic tanks of unknown condition and frequency of emptying. My preference is for municipal water, that has been treated, but I still would not drink it.

[Ricardo]

Have you considered one of those darn-newfangled water-filters at your main kitchen-tap, we had to fight off people selling them on-commission, when we first moved here ! And electric-protection boxes, which seemed awfully-similar to a trip-switch, at B12k-B20k each too.

As our own pumped borehole water has a 4-foot-high filter, I have to backwash it every month or two, might be worth checking whether your wife's family house already has something like this, up on the roof ? I recently renewed the layered-sand/gravel/charcoal (I think) filter after several years.

But we still use bottled-water (15B for 20 liters) for drinking, anyway. Or 20B delivered weekly to-the-door.

Anyway, welcome to Chiang Mai & ThaiVisa !

[DavidOxon]

Should backwash weekly to maintain optimum performance and longevity of the medium!

[nivram4491]

Should backwash weekly to maintain optimum performance and longevity of the medium!

Are you talking about the tanks, about 1.3 meters high, which are usually panted blue? What is the medium inside and what is the average lifetime of the medium if it is backwashed regularly?

[johnmcc6]

you can safely drink tap water from Chiangmai municipal supply. If you think you can taste chlorine or whatever a simple filter will fix it. If you wash a glass clean and let it air dry there will be no residue stains .I clean my tank once a year with only very fine sand as a sediment and not much of that either.

My well water smells and is not clear and I am close to Airport plaza behind the mental hospital. For gardens only. My next door neighbor has a well that is very clean and used for everything but drinking. He says it is because his well is deeper???

[simoncnx]

Absolutely correct - it depends on the depth of the well. The Government water is heavily chlorinated and in my area anyway, has a lot of iron in it which leaves a brown stain in the shower room and surely your whites will not be white after a few washes.. I would suggest you try to measure the depth of the well. Does it have a submersible pump or a surface pump? Submersible would suggest it is fairly deep but a pump at the wellhead would suggest a depth of less than 20m.

[Diablo Bob]

you can safely drink tap water from Chiangmai municipal supply. If you think you can taste chlorine or whatever a simple filter will fix it. If you wash a glass clean and let it air dry there will be no residue stains .I clean my tank once a year with only very fine sand as a sediment and not much of that either.

My well water smells and is not clear and I am close to Airport plaza behind the mental hospital. For gardens only. My next door neighbor has a well that is very clean and used for everything but drinking. He says it is because his well is deeper???

There are a lot of misconceptions here......

A filter will NOT remove the odor or taste of chlorine, the filter only removes particulate matter. Chlorine is an oxidizer, Ozone is better but more expensive. When you test your water there is a figure called BOD which is Biological Oxygen Demand which is the amount of oxidizer required to neutralize the biologic content in the water. Agitation of the water (Pumping) increases the BOD and will remove excess chlorine (Excess chlorine dosage = odor/taste in your water)

The depth of the well is very important. Contamination to a water aquifer normally is introduced from the surface, the further from the surface the less contamination. Other interesting facts to note...... the temperature of your well water will probably be close to the Mean Average temperature where the well is located. Water only migrates horizontally around 300mm/year (1 Ft.) so if your well tests as contaminated, your only option is to go deeper, you won't live long enough to wait out nature......

[Greenside]

You can easily get your well water checked - details here.

Our borehole passed as safe to drink and we use it for everything including cooking. For drinking though, we use 20L bottles which are of consistent quality and taste and minimal cost and a neat little pump system to automatically feed the fridge cold water dispenser and ice maker.

[BuffaloRescue]

Is tap water added fluoride?

[1Gringo]

I've read on this forum there is a water testing station on Wua Lai soi 6. I made one pass there and didn't see it and have no idea what the cost is, but would like to know more.

[Thorgal]

With the best pumps, the best filters, etc...no problems...

What about the state of your pvc piping : how old... ?

[tangcoral]

Our condo well water was said to be 60m deep, supposedly thats deeper than normal but I dont know what normal is.

I saw some kind of filtration tank thats full of iron like deposits. Our water is crystal clear, no smell and taste great so I guess something is done right.

I'm near nimenhemin