Drinking Water

[paulklee]

I'm trying to make some decisions about getting and storing drinking water for my family (short term storage only) and would appreciate some input. Maybe this is a topic of interest to others too. Certainly it's a topic where the options, opinions and the science seem to change frequently so I'm not depending on any previous threads.

I've been in Thailand quite a few years and have tried most of the options including using delivered Sprinkle and other suppliers (19L bottles), buying the 5/6 litre bottles in supermarkets, sometimes refilling those bottles with RO water from machines in apartment blocks; using an in-line water supply filter system (tho I've never owned one); buying 1.5L etc water bottles on demand. I've never drank tap water or stored rainwater (I live in Bangkok).

Currently, the wife's family messenger takes our 5/6L bottles to a "trusted" RO machine and refills for us. I'm a bit worried about this cos I'm not sure of his hygiene standards and I'm not convinced that the machine - or the process the messenger uses to fill from the machine - is actually to be trusted. I then decant the big bottles into Lock & Lock Fridge Jugs which are refilled almost daily and washed out once a week. The jugs are maybe a year, 15 months old. We ditch the 5/6L bottles every 5 or 6 refills and get filled new ones from the supermarket. We get through about 8-10 5/6L bottles a week, it's used for some cooking too.

Recently there seems to be some smell to some of the water, my daughter describes it as "like pineapple". I can also smell and taste something different. This smell is only with water from the recycled bottles. No idea of the source of this "contamination" (if that's what it is) - RO machine? Hygiene issues? Degradation of bottle/jug plastic? Absorbing smells from the fridge? BPA effects?

In a general sense I'm also worried about the lack of minerals in RO water and the BPA in plastic and polycarbonate materials. Though this isn't meant to be a debate about whether BPA fears are "real" or whether RO water is good for you, just part of the overall picture.

So, I want to change and upgrade the drinking water system for the family. At the moment I'm leaning towards the installtion of a filter system to be used with the city water supply; and to upgrade my fridge jugs to non-BPA materials using eg Rubbermaid or similar products (eg we use Zojirushi flasks for the kids' take-to-school water).

OK, would anyone like to comment on their experiences with drinking water? Am I doing something wrong? if you were to change your current system what would you do? Any strong recommendations for a particular brand or model or supplier for a filter system?

Thanks for the input..

[mmh8]

RO is pretty good , so long as the machine is erviced. nestel bottled water and a noumber of other brands do the RO of the water and sell it.

so worry not about minerals in your water, since it is the water itself that is important not the minerals in it, if truly worried about hydration put a bit of salt and sugar in to make sure you get your na and K ions for proper functioning. an electrolyte sachet will do the same. but forget your minerals

the BPA is not really a problem, while the scare is there and the EU were the first I imagine followed by california and the us. you do not need to worry about it unless you heat that polycarbonate bottle up and leave it in the light and even then it don't really matter. Your drinking bottle is made of pet usually. not polycarbonate which is an incredibly expensive engineering polymer used in front light of car headlight for example. it was used in baby bottles due to heat resistance but the scare stopped that.

you are worried about plasticisers in plastics, don't be greenpeace did a good job of scaring people away from pvc but i digress don[t worry aobut your jugs, I expect most will be pp microwave safe or pe it matters not, if you leave ithem in the light and it turns green you got probelms

you can buy your own filter machine with ro and uv light to purify it. Many good makes, I recommend spending a lot of money on something japanese or german, a bit of online research will show you which

[warriorbangkok]

Get an e-spring filtering system from Amway. It's a bit pricy but well worth the money. The filter gets rid of everything harmful to the body, including fluoride. If you message me your details I can put you in touch which my friend who installed the e-spring system for me.

[steven100]

Is this topic for real ???

guess that's why there was only one reply ..

[paulklee]

Is this topic for real ???

guess that's why there was only one reply ..

Hi Steven100, let me know why you think there was something unreal about the post topic. It's real to me. I'm about to make decisions and spend money here and wanted other people's opinions. So far I've got 3 responses, 2 of helpful quality and one sh$t response. You choose.

MMH8, thanks for the info. When you've got two young kids the questions have to be a bit tougher about what's in the plastic, what's in the water etc and I appreciate the steer and confirmation of the filtered (ro+uv) water solution. I'll do the checking and see which brands do best in Thailand.

Warriorbangkok, thanks for the info and offer. As MMH8 says I'll check out the options online first before making a decision.

[FalangBaa]

Don't drink water, it's tasteless and over-rated and contains zero nutritional value. Instead of water, just drink beer. The bacteria in the brewing process make the water in it safe to drink no matter how bad the water was originally. Problem solved... Beer saved millions of lives in Mediaeval Europe and it can save yours too. I'd probably be dead by now if it wasn't for beer. I don't trust the tap water in Bangkok, so I even wash with beer.

Edited February 21, 2014 by FalangBaa

[mmh8]

Despite the excellent record of the antiplasticixses campaigning against the pthalates the results of all tests are still considered bad science such as bad statisitics etc. the original study that casued the pthalate problem was due to cancer in rodents, if you check what they do they ffeed rodents stuff till they die to determine its toxidity. the texsts on apes did nothing.

latest jan rulings was dop the pthalate you are worried about being considered as safe as its alternatives such as dinp.

as a parent myself I have followed the argument and professionally followed it. I forget who quoted originally but wrt to the plasticisers it was something like if your children are eating plastic you have more to b e worried about than plasticisers. or sometyhing

go for glass every time, wrt to bottles.