If You Think China’s Air Is Bad ...

[craigt3365]

Guess we are lucky here in Thailand!!!

For visitors, China’s water problem becomes apparent upon entering the hotel room. The smell of a polluted river might emanate from the showerhead. Need to quench your thirst? The drip from the tap is rarely potable. Can you trust the bottled water? Many Chinese don’t. What about brushing your teeth?

Measured by the government’s own standards, more than half of the country’s largest lakes and reservoirs were so contaminated in 2011 that they were unsuitable for human consumption. China’s more than 4,700 underground water-quality testing stations show that nearly three-fifths of all water supplies are “relatively bad” or worse. Roughly half of rural residents lack access to drinking water that meets international standards.

For all of the dazzling progress that the world has come to associate with a booming 21st century China, the quality of its water supply has failed to keep up with the country’s leap into modernity.

Continued:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/opinion/if-you-think-chinas-air-is-bad.html?ref=opinion

[topt]

When I saw the title I did not read it properly and thought it was going to be about China Air (the airline). Unfortunately I don't appear to be able to access the link from China

I asked here in the office and was told that many people think water bought from the smaller shops could be a copy of the real brand.....

Also people can be wary of the quality of the water in the 5g drums but then is that any different to Thailand? They tend to drink it heated but whether that helps or not I have my doubts.

[phuketrichard]

One reason why every Chinese hotel room has a hot water thermos in it.

[alfalfa19]

I've been in hotels in Thailand, where there is a sign in the bathroom saying don't drink the tap water. I ignored it, thinking my cast iron stomach would save me. I was mistaken.

[BlackJack]

shitting in your own nest comes to mind

[wizoo]

I've been in hotels in Thailand, where there is a sign in the bathroom saying don't drink the tap water. I ignored it, thinking my cast iron stomach would save me. I was mistaken.

hahaha, yes that sounds very familiar to me. After my first trip there i never drunk any again, even ordered my drinks without ice.

[MrWorldwide]

All the travel advisories still tell us to use bottled water to brush our teeth in Bangkok hotels - I've lost count of the number of times I've completely forgotten that and found myself with toothbrush in mouth and the tap running. Made the effort in Cambo, though, and its still the only place where I've been poisoned : including China. There were times during that 48 hours of my body working continuously to eject the nasties when I would have gladly died - it's a memory I'll be taking with me on 2014 trips to Cambo and Vietnam.

The ratbags who keep insisting that Australia should have 60+ million people (purely so they can 'grow their businesses' ..) seem blithely unaware of the impact of population pressures on everything from roads to sanitation - stories like this are an example of too many people being jammed into cities. God help the planet over the next century if we dont soon wake up to ourselves.