Thai Editorial: What Goes Wrong Between The Source And Tap?

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EDITORIAL
What goes wrong between the source and tap?
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Bottled water is expensive, but many people prefer drinking it rather than tap water because they are wary about health and safety standards.

Bottled water has become an essential part of everyday life, and discarded plastic water bottles now form a large part of our garbage output. Thailand's drinking-water market is worth an estimated Bt19 billion annually and growing. All major beverage and soft-drink makers also sell bottled water. In addition to a handful of major drinking-water manufacturers, there are many other producers in the form of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Bottled water is sold at about Bt10 per litre, compared to Bt0.01 per litre for tap water. That is a difference of 1,000 times. If people consumed less bottled water in favour of tap water, it would be good not only for their own finances, but also the environment.

Consumers appear to trust drinking water in bottles and other containers more than tap water, despite repeated attempts by the water authorities to convince them that tap water is drinkable. Since 1999 both the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority (MWA) and the Provincial Waterworks Authority (PWA) have repeatedly assured the public that their tap water meets the World Health Organisation's standard and therefore can be consumed straight from the tap. However, the ever-expanding drinking-water market is proof that the authorities' attempts have largely failed.

This seems to be a global issue, even in developed countries where the tap-water pipe network is more reliable than in Thailand. In the United States, according to Annie Leonard, an American proponent of sustainability and a critic of excessive consumerism, people buy about 500 million bottles of drinking water every week, even though a third of bottled water in the US actually comes straight from the tap. Leonard presents such facts in her brief documentary "The Story of Bottled Water".

The documentary says the US bottled-water industry manages to create "manufactured demand" by misleading consumers about tap water and seducing them towards bottled water. It says the industry scares people with its marketing tactic, the suggestion that tap water is unsafe for drinking, while creating a fancy image for bottled water. "When we're done, tap water will be relegated to showers and washing dishes," the documentary quotes a top industry executive as saying.

According to the quality-assurance methods used by the MWA and PWA, which are respectively responsible for supplying tap water in the Bangkok metropolitan area and the provinces, their water is safe enough for drinking without boiling or filtering. They test the quality every month, which is more frequently than many producers of bottled water. But consumers still suspect that tap water can be contaminated somewhere in the large network of pipes, many of which are ageing and situated underground. For peace of mind they boil tap water before drinking or use expensive filtering devices.

The MWA has come up with a new plan to encourage more people to drink tap water. In addition to supplying drinkable water, the MWA vows to supply "good-taste tap water" within two years, timed to coincide with the advent of the Asean Economic Community. Advanced treatment methods, such as adding ozone or activated carbon, might be used, but the cost of supplying it will be three times higher. Nevertheless, the enhanced tap water will remain much cheaper than bottled water.

Why do consumers trust bottled water more than tap water? Is it because of concern about quality? Is it because of the bottled-water manufacturers' success in creating "manufactured demand" for their products? Or is it because of the water authorities' failure to convince people that tap water is safe for drinking?

The answer could lie underground, in the vast network of tap-water pipes. It appears that people don't question the quality of water at the plant of origin, but rather the way it comes out of the tap. To gain more trust from consumers, the authorities should constantly maintain their pipes and replace old ones. Also, they need to inform the public that they do so regularly.


-- The Nation 2013-05-30

[Bellweather]

I most definitely wouldn't risk drinking tap water and the article states " consumers appear to trust drinking water in bottles " BUT does anyone have any knowledge of quality control and standards especially in respect of local mineral water?

I ask because many years ago when in Manila a TV station did an expose on local mineral water by buying samples of all available and having them tested by an independent laboratory which produced an eye brow lifting report that a large percentage of the bottles contained nothing more than ordinary tap water.

[BookMan]

It took my GF a few weeks to absolutely trust that she could drink the water from the tap in Australia. She thought I was playing a trick on her the first time I gave her a glass.

[Scully]

Last month I was in Bangkok for the motor show, ran a bath in the hotel as it was a bit of a novelty having a bath, rather than having a shower all the time. The water was brown, they probably have their own water storage from the mains which turned it brown but I certainly wouldn't drink it.

Just buy the huge 10 baht reverse osmosis, ozonation blah blah bottles, cheap and no plastic waste.

[kimamey]

Is tap water safe across Thailand. I'd heard it's OK in Bangkok but I'm not sure if it's the same in Isaan where I am for instance. I don't drink tap water although we do filter it at home at my sister in law's house. Not sure if that works or not but it doesn't seem to hurt me.

Back in the UK I always drink tap water as it's safe. In fact a while back tests were done which showed it was safer than some bottled water

[MaxLee]

Tap water in Thailand.... you wanna die????

[moe666]

the problem is the old water piping and the non use of backflow preventers

[Thai at Heart]

Thailand is what goes wrong with it.

[keestha]

I could be wrong, but I always thought the problem with tap water is metals that got into it through the pipe system.

Edited May 30, 2013 by keestha

[nottocus]

Water filter and then boil it.

[Scott]

I usually boil it, but sometimes drink straight from the tap in my home. I wouldn't trust water out of the tap in some places because of wells and storage tanks.

Quite a few years back there was a popular brand of bottled water that had a high level of fecal matter in it. If I want to drink crap, I don't want to have to pay for it!

[tuky]

It took my GF a few weeks to absolutely trust that she could drink the water from the tap in Australia. She thought I was playing a trick on her the first time I gave her a glass.

Same mate, but she still wouldn't drink it because of the taste.

[MartinL]

I live in a small town near Khon Kaen.

Mains supply water here is filthy. It's usually brown in colour with lots of suspended material in it. The last couple of times I've cleaned the shower water filter, I've found small worms in it - we call them bloodworms in UK, but they're midge/mosquito larvae - alive & wriggling, Who knows what other, smaller creatures are lurking in there.

I've never bought bottled water in all my years in UK - tap water's perfectly safe - but would never buy anything else for drinking here in Thailand. Having said that, I don't really trust that the bottled water has been properly treated to make it safe but you've got to drink something .....

[bigbamboo]

It took my GF a few weeks to absolutely trust that she could drink the water from the tap in Australia. She thought I was playing a trick on her the first time I gave her a glass.

Was it during the drought when Australians were practically having to drink recycled p*** ?

Tough for anyone whose not used to Aussie beer.

[BookMan]

It took my GF a few weeks to absolutely trust that she could drink the water from the tap in Australia. She thought I was playing a trick on her the first time I gave her a glass.

Was it during the drought when Australians were practically having to drink recycled p*** ?

Tough for anyone whose not used to Aussie beer.

Nah, it was good water. Just doesn't drink the tap water in bkk or back on the farm. She watched me drink it a few times first, just to make sure.

I can understand totally.

[comserve]

I have been drinking filtered rain water collected in my tanks. Sweet as! My wife still buys bottled water for herself though. I also have the rain water plumbed to the upstairs bathroom too. Great to shower with too. It's only when the tanks are running a bit low that the bathroom gets the town water. I'm in Satuek, Buriram & the town water is very good. The main town water pipe runs right passed my house but it still cost 4,000Baht to get connected, but worth it.

[mrdome]

No way would I drink the tap water in Thailand, even if I still lived there. One of my most vivid memories of my last trip to Bangkok was how (bad) the water smelled coming out of the shower head. Then, I went to Phnom Penh and had a good comparison sniff and it's just fine there (although I wouldn't drink their tap water either, of course).

[jayceenik]

I drink tap water in my BKK and Pattaya apts but I have home filters in both places because if I trust Metro BKK/PTY water quality I don't like that my tap water is pumped first in the apt rooftop tanks.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Every house has a bum gun, not one has a reverse flow cut-off in it.

So every toilet has the potential to add contaminated water back into the pipe system.

To those using water filters, most only filter for particles and taste, only the very expensive ones filter bacteria.

Edited May 30, 2013 by AnotherOneAmerican

[qdinthailand]

Just had a talk today with my water delivery guy. About one in every 3 or 4 20 liter bottle he delivers, I can taste either chemicals or 'staleness' - like the water from a pond with rotting leaves. These are the 20 liter heavy plastic bottles they deliver all over - recycle back at the water plant.

When I taste chemicals, I wonder if the bottle had been used on a farm somewhere to mix chemicals, as in for diluting pesticides or herbicides, or in some factory for similar.

As to the 'musty, stale' taste, I wonder why I am paying for bottled water.

I think I'm going to drink it from the tap. Do I trust the Chiang Mai water works? No more or less then the bottled water companies. But if it tastes the same day after day, then it'll be an improvement over the bottled stuff I'm drinking now.

[Payboy]

Thailand's drinking-water market is worth an estimated Bt19 billion annually and growing.

That's enough incentive to not do anything to improve the quality of tap water.

[Nowisee]

Hey qdinthailand. Let me know how it's goes. Im tempted to start drinking the condo water here in CM.

Any place I could take a sample first to have it tested? CMU some where?

[hellodolly]

I come from a cummunity of around 100,000 people in British Columbia Canada. We were assured that are tap water was drinkable.

The reality of it was they got it from 5 different sources one whole area was from well water. One area we lived in for a year it was kinda yellowish and they assured us it was drinkable.

I wonder how many different sources the tap water comes from and how is the underground water pipe.

"To gain more trust from consumers, the authorities should constantly
maintain their pipes and replace old ones. Also, they need to inform the
public that they do so regularly."

Has any one ever seen them digging up the streets just to replace water pipes?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Every house has a bum gun, not one has a reverse flow cut-off in it.

So every toilet has the potential to add contaminated water back into the pipe system.

To those using water filters, most only filter for particles and taste, only the very expensive ones filter bacteria.

That why, as mentioned above, many of us using tap water follow at least a two-step proces:

--First, everything from the tap goes thru a PUR water filtering system I brought with me from the States, and one where I decide and know when the filters need to be changed -- unlike the crappy water sales machines on the street.

--Second, once filtered, the water goes into a large electric water kettle for boiling. And after that, into pitchers for cooling and use.

Apart from the hassle, why would I want to buy locally bottled Thai water and pay for it when odds are, what they're putting in their bottles is just tap water to begin with.

As for just raw tap water, I don't trust it even here in BKK... Too many failure points -- bad/leaky/old pipes, contaminated storage containers, in-house backflow contamination, etc etc.

Edited May 30, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[rshoemake]

If you get the bottled water from FreshMart you'll notice it claims to have gone through reverse osmosis. That's what I prefer.

[DualSportBiker]

The first movie I saw in Thailand was some hollywood flic with a scene where a housewife offered a policeman a glass of tap water as it was obviously hot out... The Thai audience laughed, apparently because they understood that like them, the housewife did not like the police and she wanted to make him ill. The people I went with were shocked to hear that we drank exclusively from the taps in my family... I now drink both filtered tap water here as well as bottled... I did not go near tap water here when I first got here...

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

If you get the bottled water from FreshMart you'll notice it claims to have gone through reverse osmosis. That's what I prefer.

CLAIMS being the operative idea, there...

And even if it has gone thru such a process, do you trust the companies doing it to run the process in a clean, responsible way???

I don't... Not here.... not the way business is done here.

I think it also depends on where you are... Generally speaking, overall, BKK is supposed to have better tap water than a lot of places upcountry, though I'm sure there are exceptions on both sides of the fence.

Edited May 30, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[bangkokstick]

What is crazy is that people pay for tap water in a bottle when they can buy MINERAL WATER in a bottle for the same price ! Nobody ever told them that mineral is better ?

[lovetotravel]

A few threads worth reading:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/385634-bottled-water-is-it-safe/

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/571167-just-one-fifth-of-wastewater-in-thailand-is-being-treated/

Bacteria is one thing, chemicals is another. And will be present in both tap water and bottled water. Industrial plants that dump chemicals into the river upstream and runoff from agriculture is serious.

That lead contamination from klitty Creek flows into rivers that eventually become water supply for thousands and thousands of people. And nothing has been done to clean it up.