This article, while not Chiang Mai specific, says that tap water in Thailand is safe to drink.  If this is true, then why all the water trucks delivering bottled water?

 

Do you drink Chiang Mai tap water?  Is there a way to "test" the quality of the water?

 

http://www.samuitimes.com/tap-water-thailand-safe-drink/

No. The traditional wisdom is that the water might be safe, but the pipes that it runs through are not. I don't know anyone who drinks tap water. 

Nobody left alive to tell the story anyway.

My dentist assures me it's drinkable, but I use it only for cooking, coffee, washing the dishes, and use bottled water for drinking.   

 

The first house I rented had all the tap filters blocked up with carbon particles, but it's the things I couldn't see that bothered me.

Would never do that.

Nothing wrong with CM water if passed thru particle filters ... gritty bits can destroy teeth!

 

The World over, people are making BIG money out of selling water, and it's a BIG con.  I recall Malaysian bottled water being air-freighted into Australia and selling cheaper than local product [which was way over-priced anyway].  

If the question is qualified with, "filtered" then yes, I'd probably drink 10 year aged camel pee, but I think that was not the intent of of the OP, I may be wrong however.

As we all know, Thais use multiple pharmaceuticals for every minor ailment and a high percentage of Thai women are "on the pill". All that gets back into the water supply (even if filtered) so it's not a good idea to drink. It's not even a good idea to cook rice with it as all the water is absorbed into the rice.

Depends where you live in CM and who provides you the water.

Previous thread about testing water in CM on TV :

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/513023-well-water-testing/

Our housekeeper of many years used to tell us that twice a month she would clean the house of some farang English teachers and that all of them would drink water straight out of the tap. She was shocked by this and also had to remember to bring her own drinking water with her when she went to work at their place.

 

I was going to post this at one time but got busy and forgot. In February I think it was, we did a lot of work in the garden one day, including changing the water in all of our large Chinese pots that contain water plants and fish. We do this maybe 3  times per year. It's a lot of work. Any way, on that day and within about 90 minutes, all of the fish died - hundreds of them. Some of the fish we had for 3 or 4 years. The g/f was devastated. Then, over the next 8 days or so I noticed that all of the water plants were dying. By the end of about 12 days, not only had the plants all died but they had disintegrated as well. There was only the tiniest amount of brown residue in the bottom of the pots.

 

Would I drink the tap water here? No thanks.

We ran out of our delivered bottled water today,the big fellas, and I refilled from one of those supposedly, reverse osmosis ,filtered,totally acceptable, road side machines that you feed a few baht into.

 

Now you would like to believe they clean, or replace any filters,clean the pipes and put a dated sticker on the machine to that effect.But of course they don't. I said to my Thai wife we might just as well boil our tap water for drinking,she was not convinced .

 

This water quality issue has been discussed at length on this forum but I still contend unless you tested every drop that enters your household you really don't know what quality you are receiving.

 

A 500ml bottle of supposedly spring fed water in Sydney cost around 90 baht and a major distributor recently admitted that his product came direct from the Sydney Water supply, and was just put through a series of filters.So much for spring fed  blah,blah blah.  Coca Cola has apparently bought out most of the suppliers in Australia, maybe a rumour, but there's big money in water and Sydney water has been safe to drink out of the tap for as long as I can remember. 

My Father-in-Law drank tap water in Thailand all his life and laughed at those of us that didn't.  He died in May at 91, so seems it can't be that bad.   However; it hasn't convinced me that it's safe !

If you are afraid of the tap water... You might add the ice cubes that are put in every glass in Chiang Mai... If you doubt me go for aride along the Ma Naam Ping river and take a look at one of the ice plants...

My dentist assures me it's drinkable, but I use it only for cooking, coffee, washing the dishes, and use bottled water for drinking.   

 

The first house I rented had all the tap filters blocked up with carbon particles, but it's the things I couldn't see that bothered me.

For cooking and coffee??? Do you have any taste buts? Besides what about the chlorine that's put in the water?

Must save you 20 Baht a week on bottle water, yikes.

I use water from the roadside machines that dispense water. I have done this in Phuket, Phang Nga, and Chiang Mai and have never had a problem in over 3 years. I have no inclination to drink tap water, altho I have no evidence one way or the other. My main problem with bottled water is the issue of solid waste: too many plastic bottles.

If you are afraid of the tap water... You might add the ice cubes that are put in every glass in Chiang Mai... If you doubt me go for aride along the Ma Naam Ping river and take a look at one of the ice plants...

That's bull, water all over the world is taken from lakes, rivers, filtered and cleaned waste water. As if Thais would make ice cubes from straight river water.

If you are afraid of the tap water... You might add the ice cubes that are put in every glass in Chiang Mai... If you doubt me go for aride along the Ma Naam Ping river and take a look at one of the ice plants...

That's bull, water all over the world is taken from lakes, rivers, filtered and cleaned waste water. As if Thais would make ice cubes from straight river water.

Sorry for the confusion - I Did not say the water came out of the river I just said the ice factory was on the road along the river!

The last time you made a salad - did you wash it with deionised water?

 

I've gotta say, I hate the domestic (mother >50 years old) standard of hygiene - it simply doesn't exist. Have you observed Thias washing their hands after toilet? OK - if so.. I believe you .....

 

Hygiene here happened somewhere else - get used to it. Take good care of yourself https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHrgNKo5az0

No. The traditional wisdom is that the water might be safe, but the pipes that it runs through are not. I don't know anyone who drinks tap water. 

 

We've been drinking it for years and no bad effects.....aside from entire family now growing two heads each.

 

All jokes aside, we have excellent filtration at our house and my wife also invested in an Alkaline Ionizer which makes it very drinkable.

 

No. The traditional wisdom is that the water might be safe, but the pipes that it runs through are not. I don't know anyone who drinks tap water. 

 

We've been drinking it for years and no bad effects.....aside from entire family now growing two heads each.

 

All jokes aside, we have excellent filtration at our house and my wife also invested in an Alkaline Ionizer which makes it very drinkable.

 

 

All jokes aside, I only get proper stools when I have looked after my own food. I don't trust anyone, any tool or any platter. It is generally washed in the dark by someone in their '60's+ who's idea of germinology is perhaps a Western thing. Advise as such: imagine you touch a chicken covered with paint - now avoid contact with paint hereafter.

 

Best of luck.

 

My gut has swollen from 30" to 34" - I do not eat more, I have not had a non-medically induced solid stool in the last eight months. I know my gut is infected, by what I don't know. Carry on...

The last time you made a salad - did you wash it with deionised water?

 

I've gotta say, I hate the domestic (mother >50 years old) standard of hygiene - it simply doesn't exist. Have you observed Thias washing their hands after toilet? OK - if so.. I believe you .....

 

Hygiene here happened somewhere else - get used to it. Take good care of yourself https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHrgNKo5az0

Love this

 

 

If you are afraid of the tap water... You might add the ice cubes that are put in every glass in Chiang Mai... If you doubt me go for aride along the Ma Naam Ping river and take a look at one of the ice plants...

That's bull, water all over the world is taken from lakes, rivers, filtered and cleaned waste water. As if Thais would make ice cubes from straight river water.

Sorry for the confusion - I Did not say the water came out of the river I just said the ice factory was on the road along the river!

 

Well, you insinuated though.

 

 

No. The traditional wisdom is that the water might be safe, but the pipes that it runs through are not. I don't know anyone who drinks tap water. 

 

We've been drinking it for years and no bad effects.....aside from entire family now growing two heads each.

 

All jokes aside, we have excellent filtration at our house and my wife also invested in an Alkaline Ionizer which makes it very drinkable.

 

 

All jokes aside, I only get proper stools when I have looked after my own food. I don't trust anyone, any tool or any platter. It is generally washed in the dark by someone in their '60's+ who's idea of germinology is perhaps a Western thing. Advise as such: imagine you touch a chicken covered with paint - now avoid contact with paint hereafter.

 

Best of luck.

 

My gut has swollen from 30" to 34" - I do not eat more, I have not had a non-medically induced solid stool in the last eight months. I know my gut is infected, by what I don't know. Carry on...

 

Same for me. I trust my wife cooking for me. Every once in a while some friend/neighbour gives some free food {read leftovers} and even my Thai wife gets the racing shite a bit. I don't touch free anymore. LOL.

 

 

 

The so-called experts in the UK used to say that tap water was safe to drink, but after some major incidences that hit the main headlines people were not trusting it anymore and more and more were buying bottled water. The only time I used to drink tap water in England was for hot drinks after the water was boiled. But even that was not completely safe, as boiling the water does not destroy any poisonous chemicals that may have got into and contaminated the system.

 

Over here, quite frankly, no, I would not risk drinking water straight from the tap, neat, boiled or otherwise. Another point is that it depends on which areas we live. For example if there are factories in the area creating waste chemicals that could contaminate the soil and water sources is something else to take into consideration. But no matter where I lived in Thailand, for me the answer is still a big, NO, NO.

 

 

As we all know, Thais use multiple pharmaceuticals for every minor ailment and a high percentage of Thai women are "on the pill". All that gets back into the water supply (even if filtered) so it's not a good idea to drink. It's not even a good idea to cook rice with it as all the water is absorbed into the rice.

CM's 'tap' water, aka town water, comes from a reservoir or dam.  It is NOT bore water.  AFAIK, most CM bores are ~40m deep and water is quite ok for cooking.

 

@chiangmai - there's a big difference between RO process and simple 3 stage fitration.  10 year old camel pee would be quite safe to drink via RO. Note your User Title ;);)

I am Thai and I don't drink tap water. I either buy a drinking water or fill up and empty bottle with a water machine. I don't use tap water to cook as well.  Germs, virus, bacteria are everywhere in the air. Do whatever you think it saves for you.

America is a first (?) world country but residents where I live drink bottled.

 

Your skin is your biggest organ. You assimilate water when you shower. Think about it.

I've been drinking tap water In my studios in BKK and Pattaya ever since I came to live in LOS many years ago.

But the water goes through a ceramic candle filter I have installed.

Tap water is safe but it's pumped high into gravity holding tanks on top of the buildings and that's where pollution may occur.

 

 

 

No. The traditional wisdom is that the water might be safe, but the pipes that it runs through are not. I don't know anyone who drinks tap water. 

 

We've been drinking it for years and no bad effects.....aside from entire family now growing two heads each.

 

All jokes aside, we have excellent filtration at our house and my wife also invested in an Alkaline Ionizer which makes it very drinkable.

 

 

All jokes aside, I only get proper stools when I have looked after my own food. I don't trust anyone, any tool or any platter. It is generally washed in the dark by someone in their '60's+ who's idea of germinology is perhaps a Western thing. Advise as such: imagine you touch a chicken covered with paint - now avoid contact with paint hereafter.

 

Best of luck.

 

My gut has swollen from 30" to 34" - I do not eat more, I have not had a non-medically induced solid stool in the last eight months. I know my gut is infected, by what I don't know. Carry on...

 

 

if your comment about an infected gut is a serious one get a check for Giardia, it's quite a common little parasite, water carried, and can even live in ice.  10 to 14 days on the tablets but you can't touch the booze in any way when you're on the medication.

Nothing wrong with CM water if passed thru particle filters ... gritty bits can destroy teeth!

 

The World over, people are making BIG money out of selling water, and it's a BIG con.  I recall Malaysian bottled water being air-freighted into Australia and selling cheaper than local product [which was way over-priced anyway].  

only too true!  Water imported from France to Oz is also cheap.  I was charged $3.00 (90baht) at a newsagent for a small bottle of water..

 

I could buy 5 litres of red wine for that amount!

 

Some shopkeepers have said that their biggest profit maker is bottled water.    Coca Cola company (water) are not there for their heath!

 

Chiang Mai prices are much more realistic, and I have 19litre bottles delivered for 30baht.