I have a couple of questions about tap water in Thailand and hopefully someone in the know has the answers.
#1 It is advised NOT to drink the tap water here in Thailand. Why is that? Bacteria? Chemical pollution? Both?
#2 If the tap water not drinkable, can it safely be used to wash food items that will be consumed?
How about in cooking?
Have discussed with friends and all seem to have differing opinions. Help!!
:cyclopsani:Similar Threads:
I once had a mosquito bite on my ankle which became infected. When I went to the pharmacist to get something for it, I was told that it had probably become infected by the water, ie, not covering it when I was in the shower. So I guess that gives an indication of how dirty the water is.
I don't even brush my teeth in it, and if I have to wash anything like drinks glasses, I use the tap water, but then give it a final rinse in clean bottled water. It's impossible to avoid ingesting the water from washed food, as you've no idea how restaurants wash the food before they serve it to you, or where the ice has come from in your drinks. So far though, I've never had any nasty bugs to speak of.
I don't really think there's an abiding need to go as far as the above reply.
This has worked for me fine for since I've been coming to Thailand (i.e. 9 years now). I've had ocassional minor bouts of the runs (one long one of a week, and three or four 24 hr bouts ... none of which I would say for sure was the water. Frankly, I'd be somewhat more suspicous of food in unclean street stalls ):
- Drink only bottled water (cheap here!! 6 pack of 750 ml bottles of water around the corner, 20 baht). Also coffee and tea of course are from bottled.[/*:m:wv0a2ow8]
- Brush teeth in tap water. Seems like a very minor risk (see 'the runs' above).[/*:m:wv0a2ow8]
- Ice in bars and restaurants is NOT tap water, I have them in my drinks all the time.[/*:m:wv0a2ow8]
- Wash dishes in tap water, also rinse them.[/*:m:wv0a2ow8]
- Bathe in tap water ... obviously some is ingested, so ... (see 'the runs' above).[/*:m:wv0a2ow8]
Up to you ... but as you can see from the above experience, getting a bit more easy-going on the water "problem" in Thailand has affected me hardly at all. Many may/will disagree with the above I'm sure.
Of course, none of the above holds true for those with compromised immune systems. Those folks have to quite a bit more careful, as they do at home.
Cheers ...
Just another reason why I love living in Thailand
totally agree. Mirrors my approachOriginally Posted by Smiles
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This same question has been posted on the Gay Thailand message board by "daddydawg". The only answer so far is from the oracle Gaybutton who says:
"Even the water company says not to drink the tap water. I don't know why, but I go by that advice. I really don't want to find out the answer the hard way and bottled water is readily available and very cheap.
I use tap water for showering, brushing my teeth, washing dishes, and washing food items such as fruit. I have never had any problem, no matter where I am in Thailand.
I use only bottled water for cooking. The only exception I make is boiling eggs in tap water. Again, I have never had any kind of a problem."
Bottled water for cooking? We all know that no one is as well informed about things Thai as GB but surely cooking in bottled water is O.T.T.? Maybe I am wrong but I thought boiling the tap water during cooking will kill the bugs :dontknow:
In and around the residential streets of Bangkok there are these water machines. They are reverse osmosis units, about 1B per l. Bacteria is killed by ionization, more effective than chlorine.
My hobby is keeping tropical fish, so I have all the water testing kits. The tap water where I am now is high on chlorine and chloramine, I don't see how much bacteria or parasites could live in it. I have to dechlorinate it for the fish. The kh (calcium hardness) is 4 to 6 ppm, my guess is that the water supply is being buffered with sodium. GH (general hardness is also in the 4 to 6 range. GH is a concern in that some of the elements could be iron, copper or the more dangerous heavy metals. I don't get dangerous reading on any heavy metals but there could be trace amounts, probably from old pipes rather than the water supply.
Those water machines do work. I have tested the water from them and the kh is 0, ph 6.0-- that's pure water.
So, bottom line, don't I drink Bangkok's tap water, no, but it's does not kill the fish as long as I take the chlorine out.
You have to boil water for 20 min to kill microbes but it's will do nothing for lead, other metals or harmful compounds. There are RO units you can buy.
E Dok Tong
Oh pumpkin...I want to lick your pussy tap or no tap!! Are you game???Me too.totally agree. Mirrors my approach
My cats drink tap water, I have aquarium fish, and large fish in a pond, never had problems. For drinking we use a filter system attached to the main tap, we renew the filters annually, and we don't have very many problems with our stomachs (we live just outside Bangkok).
There a lot of controversy with water filters. Bacteria reproduces once ever 20 min by cell division. One becomes two, two, four, four becomes eight and after a year of this you got a colony of a few million. That one little bugger that got in the filter did it.
E Dok Tong
In Bangkok, indeed there are water machines, 5 baht for 4 liter. But I will go as far as to say, you can drink the tap water in Bangkok. Done that many times, without any problems.
Brushing your teeth with bottled water is over the top, surely you ain't going to drink it.
There are two visible problems with the tap water in Chiang Mai.
(1) There's dirt in it. Anyone who's ever used a water tank to hold water in case the tap water fails knows about this, because once a year or so you need someone to climb down in the tank and remove the sludge that has accumulated. This is not "invisible dirt!"
(2) The second problem is that it's chlorinated. The strength varies from time to time -- but sometimes you can actually smell the chlorine. This is clearly put in to kill bacteria, and might actually make washing fruit and vegetables more efficient! But who wants to drink chlorine? And, another big drawback: NEVER put your tropical fish in "fresh" tap water. They are likely to keel over and die from the chlorine. Put the tap water in a big jug or something and "age" it for 7-10 days: the chlorine will go away, and the water will then be fine for your fishies. But don't take my word for it: ask anyone who sells tropical fish.
I'm not sure everything in Bangkok is the same as Chiang Mai, though.
I've been here a long time and I shower in (filtered) tap water (it smells better), brush my teeth in the same, wash the dishes, boil the spaghetti, etc. When the water actually becomes an ingredient, I generally switch to bottled water: cheap bottled water for soup stock, stews, etc., and good Singha water for coffee and tea. My drinking water is Mont Fleur.
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