Water purification In Southeast Asia

DAVIDDOLAN

I will be travelling through Southeast Asia for about 5 months, and I am trying to get information on safe drinking water, I am not too keen on always drinking bottling water for a few reasons.

1. I am drinking the water that is taken away from poor people and exploited by world water company,s for a nifty profit.

2. The amount of plastic bottles that I will be using up and probely leaving behind is a burden on the enviorment

3. Its just plain evil.

As I understand tap water in nearly all parts is not good for you, Can anybody tell me if whether boiling tap water before drinking it is a good method, I have also heard of Charcoal tablets you can take before drinking.

If anybody has had expierences with these or other methods I would be very grateful for your advice or solutions, Thanks

Victor

Water purification tablets are available - camping and outdoor type shops would be a good place to find them. Purification and / or boiling are good methods of obtaining drinkable water, but make sure the original water source is reasonably safe in the first place - no sense in drinking water polluted with metals, poisonous chemicals or raw sewage.

No need to only drink bottled water or use bottles only once. In drinking water, you aren't particularly depriving anyone in South East Asia of water, where the issue is quality, not quantity.

Generally avoid ice in drinks and try to go for fresh fruit juices.

Plain alcoholic drinks are typically OK from a water safety point of view, but remember that alcohol will dehydrate you and you can't go around all day with a beer buzz.

killbillvol2

DAVIDDOLAN wrote: »

1. I am drinking the water that is taken away from poor people and exploited by world water company,s for a nifty profit.
2. The amount of plastic bottles that I will be using up and probely leaving behind is a burden on the enviorment
3. Its just plain evil.

1. It pisses rain every day in SE Asia - you'll be depriving noone of water.

2. Recycling is a way of life in SE Asia.

3. Don't forget your tinfoil hat.

In Vietnam, it's the level of metals in the water that makes people drink bottled water. This could apply to the rest of South East Asia. Coming from Ireland, you're going to be drinking a crazy amount of water for the first while until you get used to the heat and humidity.. Completely impracticle to consider preparing your own water unless you are going to be living in one spot. In all of my backpacking experience, I can't remember coming across a place to boil my own water.


You're going to Asia.. You have to leave trivial ideals like this behind you at the airport.

DAVIDDOLAN

Thanks for the replys guys, its been a great help, and the tin foil hat comment confuses me

killbillvol2

DAVIDDOLAN wrote: »

Thanks for the replys guys, its been a great help, and the tin foil hat comment confuses me

Tin foil hat

DAVIDDOLAN

What does a tin foil hat have to do with me inquiring about alternative water supply,s in Southeast Asia, I would think zero, makes no sense, unless it is coming from a crazy person,

and this is an information forum, why post something about a tin foil hat, sorry to sound crude and all but Jesus, whats with that. do you think I am a meth addict or some mad scientist or some thing, no. Im just an ordinary person who is inquiring about water quality and don,t really care for tin foil hats.

killbillvol2

It was a reference to your statement that bottled water is "just plain evil" which suggests a level of paranoia at the very least.

DAVIDDOLAN

Well not like that, I meant more on The Capitalist ideal as a global political system. not on being paranoid about anything.

GenericName

The South East Asian populace has benefited more from globalisation and market capitalism, especially in the last 15 years, than any other region on earth. I've lived there long enough to not just have read that in some liberal economic propaganda pamphlet like The Economist.

South East Asia is not facing water shortages. Indonesia, after Brazil has the most plentiful supply of fresh water on earth. Ireland faces a crisis in comparison. In almost every South East Asian nation, bottled water and ice are produced efficiently and in scale at government plants. The rate of recycling is very impressive.

You will be hurting no one and probably have a smaller impact than the production process for your purification tablets.

DAVIDDOLAN

Thank you for your comment, I am more knowledgeable now, I agree with the Ireland problem, Appearently 70 per cent of Irish water supply,s have traces of Flourine in them, and Flourine has been banned in many EU countries.

breadmonkey

If you really want to avoid drinking bottled water just pick up some iodine tablets as Victor suggested. The problem is that they make the water taste like ****! I did it for about two weeks once but I was honestly fed up by the end of it.

two wheels good

Your attitude is commendable. Just because you're visiting a developing country doesn't mean you have to compromise your principles.

It's many years since I visited South or SE Asia. Mostly I relied on tap water from guest houses to fill my water canteen without any (obvious) ill-affects. A dropper bottle of iodine - not recommended for long-term or heavy use - helped in remote areas or when I was doubtful about quality.

Bottling and transporting water and disposing of packaging is hugely wasteful of energy and materials.

Recycling the plastic bottle (or other packaging) is only a small part of solution. Reduce and Reuse are the other two equally\more important objectives.
The damage to the environment and wildlife by discarded plastics is horrendous - e.g the huge gyres of plastics in the major oceans
. More here.

greenprincess

Really dont worry about the recycling point, a lot of areas may be littered but there are never any plastic bottles as people get money to recycle them. Usually you can hand them to some one searching through bins lookin for them

two wheels good

greenprincess wrote: »

Really dont worry about the recycling point, a lot of areas may be littered but there are never any plastic bottles as people get money to recycle them. Usually you can hand them to some one searching through bins lookin for them

Hmmm... out of sight , out of mind. Here's an idea! Find some safe tap-water to drink and give the poor scavenger the price of the bottled water.

I have my doubts about the ultimate destination of some of recycling material collected here in the west. Tales of recycling material thrown in with landfill material, waste falsely classed as recyclable being shipped to developing countries, plastics being transported to the UK, electronics shipped to India\China for recycling, newsprint going to Germany.

As I say. Reduce, Re-use, Recycle.

DAVIDDOLAN

Thanks for the Info, very helpful. Do you know of any Documantary,s on world recycle practice,s that I could watch, I watch a lot of enviormental docs on www.topdocumentaryfilms.com but I can not find any on recycle practice.s. Perhaps you could recommend some for me.

greenprincess

Ok well I am not up to date on recycling practices in South East Asia but they have to be getting used for something. Because people wouldnt collect them if they werent gettin paid for them, and people wouldnt pay for them if they werent going to use them for something.
I dont think it is usually wise to give money out, usually i just bought them some food

Civilian_Target

Have you considered bringing a water purification bottle? They're by far the easiest way of cleaning not-too-dirty water. The candle in them is usually good for about 100-200 litres, and they can purify half a litre in about 20 minutes.

Something like this: http://www.lifesaversystems.com/

two wheels good

DAVIDDOLAN wrote: »

Thanks for the Info, very helpful. Do you know of any Documantary,s on world recycle practice,s that I could watch, I watch a lot of enviormental docs on www.topdocumentaryfilms.com but I can not find any on recycle practice.s. Perhaps you could recommend some for me.

I haven't looked at topdocumentaryfilms for ages. Thanks for the reminder. I don't know of any environmental documentaries to recommend. My previous comments were based on info I picked up from newspaper articles. The video on rubbish in the ocean gyres was just one of many that were listed on youtube.
One video mentioned that in geological time the planet will have a layer of plastics laid down "like a layer of clingfilm". Such a depressing notion.

There was a TV documentary about Fiji bottled some months ago. Here

two wheels good

greenprincess wrote: »

Ok well I am not up to date on recycling practices in South East Asia but they have to be getting used for something. Because people wouldnt collect them if they werent gettin paid for them, and people wouldnt pay for them if they werent going to use them for something.
I dont think it is usually wise to give money out, usually i just bought them some food

I don't mean to sound like an expert on SE Asia or recycling; I'm not. I take the same attitude to the wastefulness of bottled water here in Ireland. Yes, it is better that there is some crude incentive for someone to gather the waste.

GabbyJay

Some very strange attitudes in this thread. Surprised that I should point out the huge difference between drinking bottled water in Ireland and doing so in South-East Asia. By means, avail of the crisp and pure tap water back home, but the stuff that comes out of the taps in SE Asia will make you sick. There is a reason why the locals along with everyone else drink bottled water instead of tap water; except for the people who are so poor that they cannot afford it. When it comes down to it, of course you are right that plastic bottles in general are harmful to the environment and wasteful, etc., you really must pick your battles. I agree with Ads by Google - this ideal, while noble in Ireland, definitely qualifies as trivial in SE Asia where there are very good reasons for drinking the bottled water. You have to draw the line somewhere, but you could bear in mind that not all bottled water is produced by Coca-Cola, etc. You don't have to drink Fiji water, by all means research some of the other brands and see which one is the least evil.

Regarding the recycling of plastic bottles, I have heard the same stories about how Irish recycling doesn't always end up where it should. But I have also been involved first hand with an organization in SE Asia that does take in huge quantities of recycled bottles and uses them to make PET blankets, buckets, etc., which are then distributed as disaster relief and for charity. The scavengers who collect the bottles are given a means to scrape by and I don't think it's necessary to deprive them of that. A 500ml bottle of water costs about $0.15; when you add the costs of all your alternative purification techniques along with the inevitable treatment for dysentery, or whatever else you'll eventually be landed with, it's probably not a huge difference.

two wheels good

"Strange attitudes"? Really. Where exactly? I assumed we would all agree that it was important to reduce waste,pollution,CO2,consumption of valuable resources (i.e oil).

You seem to be justifying consumption of bottled water because it's a resource stream of materials and a job creation scheme for poor workers. It reminds me of a litter-lout I once challenged who justified his littering as job-creation for council workers. (I kid you not!)
Why not just make those blankets and buckets from some other source of recycled plastic. There's no shortage. Blankets and buckets probably don't even require high quality food-grade plastic. (And sell them if you wish. It's irrelevant in this case that they go to charity.)

As I said, in Sth and SE Asia I found sources of tap water (and well water too) that didn't make me sick. I was able to reduce significantly my use of bottled water Maybe the water quality has deteriorated dramatically since then - or maybe it's often better than you think.

No, I'm not claiming the safe tap water is available everywhere. Bottled water will be a necessary in many cases. If in doubt, or without a reliable method of purification then buy the bottled. I don't advocate anyone taking unreasonable risks with illness - but then travel to far-flung places involves additional health risks anyway.

On a wider point: Why is bottled water so popular? Why do so many people here in Ireland pay for bottled water when they could avail of this "crisp and pure tap water"? I wonder could it be due to the marketing by bottled water companies, and a lack of understanding by consumers? Could it be these companies have a similar influence in Asia? Consumers the world over are susceptible to fashion brands and marketing.

My reference to the Fiji water documentary was in response to an off-topic request by the OP. I remember the doc. covered the shocking situation of expensive bottled water shipped across the world while locals had little access to clean water.
BTW I also remember another documentary - on Killer Coke (aka Coca Cola) in South India and their over-exploitation of a community's water's supply. Then they has the cheek to give the local farmer's toxic waste from the plant claiming it could be used as fertiliser. Water politics is becoming a contentious issue. - globally. (This last bit is off-topic too)

GabbyJay

two wheels good wrote: »

"Strange attitudes"? Really. Where exactly? I assumed we would all agree that it was important to reduce waste,pollution,CO2,consumption of valuable resources (i.e oil).

I never claimed that it is not important to reduce waste, etc., I'm pointing out that you must draw the line somewhere. I saw a thread on the film forum awhile ago by a guy who loved to watch Jurassic Park. He watched it all the time in the 90's until he started noticing a little peep of a sound-effect that seemed like a slapstick representation of a cartoon character slipping on a banana skin. It ruined the movie for the guy. That's what this thread reminds me of. Unless you want to live in a tree wearing fig leaves, you need to put things in perspective and choose where to draw the line. You're taking a first world ideal and trying to apply to an extreme that is simply bizarre. Unless you're walking to work every day and wearing organic clothing you could easily find yourself branded a hypocrite.

two wheels good wrote: »

You seem to be justifying consumption of bottled water because it's a resource stream of materials and a job creation scheme for poor workers. It reminds me of a litter-lout I once challenged who justified his littering as job-creation for council workers. (I kid you not!)
Why not just make those blankets and buckets from some other source of recycled plastic. There's no shortage. Blankets and buckets probably don't even require high quality food-grade plastic. (And sell them if you wish. It's irrelevant in this case that they go to charity.)

You're completely missing the point there... I never claimed that the recycling of plastic bottles was the justification for anything. The justification for consumption of bottled water is the fact it means I'm not going to lose 4 days of work/tourism due to severe diarrhea and vomiting. My point about the charity org recycling the plastic bottles for the sake of the environment and then giving them out to poor people in the region was an example from my own experience to show that it's not all evil, just in the event that you're opposing this solely on an ethical level.

two wheels good wrote: »

As I said, in Sth and SE Asia I found sources of tap water (and well water too) that didn't make me sick. I was able to reduce significantly my use of bottled water Maybe the water quality has deteriorated dramatically since then - or maybe it's often better than you think.

You could also sleep with prostitutes without using a condom and not get aids; doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. So you drank well water in South and South-East Asia... I'm hoping that it was because of an emergency and not because of your ethical stance. How much damage to the environment will there be when you find yourself airlifted to a Singapore hospital with encephalitis or some other one of the trillion viruses that you can pick up here? Will you tell the doctors not to use a plastic bag of saline when they put you on the drip?

No, I'm not claiming the safe tap water is available everywhere. Bottled water will be a necessary in many cases. If in doubt, or without a reliable method of purification then buy the bottled. I don't advocate anyone taking unreasonable risks with illness

So what have you been talking about all this time? I've spent time in nearly every country in South-East Asia and aside from Singapore, maybe parts of Malaysia, I can't think of anywhere that the tap water is not unreasonably risky. Where did you have in mind? Myanmar? Cambodia? Thailand? Vietnam? Indonesia? East-Timor?

but then travel to far-flung places involves additional health risks anyway.

... which is why you reduce risks by taking necessary precautions like drinking bottled water. It really does sound like you are advocating unreasonable risks with illness actually.

On a wider point: Why is bottled water so popular? Why do so many people here in Ireland pay for bottled water when they could avail of this "crisp and pure tap water"? I wonder could it be due to the marketing by bottled water companies, and a lack of understanding by consumers?

Off-topic: it's because they prefer the taste and feel of the bottled water. Lots of other threads about bottled water where you can see the debate between people who say all water tastes the same, and people who say that Volvic is much nicer than Ballygowan. In my case, I drank water straight from the tap in some places where I lived in Ireland because it tasted nice and refreshing, while in other places I did not drink it because it did not taste nice, so I bought Volvic or Tesco water (both of which go down easier than Ballygowan in my opinion). Nothing to do with a lack of understanding or marketing I'm afraid.

Could it be these companies have a similar influence in Asia? Consumers the world over are susceptible to fashion brands and marketing.

Ummm... no. Your statement is pretty amazing actually. I can't believe you said that. I probably should not reply to this, maybe I have been trolled. But just in case you are serious:

No, consumers in South East Asia do not drink bottled water as a fashion statement due to a lack of understanding caused by the marketing companies of bottled water. They do it for their health, strangely enough. Maybe it's fine for you in a first world country to come to Cambodia or Vietnam and think you're a big man because you drank a glass of water from a well; because you're not going to risk losing your job if you don't show up at work the next day because you're sitting on the toilet all day. You can go to a fancy clinic and get some expensive drugs (not eco-friendly) to treat your illness. In developing countries with a lot of poverty, getting sick is a bad thing. Rural hospitals in many cases can make you sicker or get you killed. I contributed to water improvement projects after I met a father of 7 in Cambodia who was dying, with some of his children sick, due to a contaminated water source. I was struck by what an absolute shame it was that this man died and left his family in dire straits solely because of was drinking unsafe water. It made me aware of how lucky the likes of you and I are that we can don't have to deal with problems like this, and it means we can trivialize an issue like this with silly patronizing implication that people are being seduced by marketing companies when they decide to reduce their risk of getting sick.

And as for "safe" water, even in the first world we can't get this right. Maybe you remember this, pretty close to home. As I recall, Batt O'Keeffe was informed well before the outbreak about the cryptosporidium in the water supply, and that it was not only an issue in Galway. In my experience living in the USA, I also came across a number of major incidents to "safe" water supplies that would give me cause to think twice about trusting my local politicians on the matter. If people get sick from "safe" water in places like Galway, what do you think happens in countries where they do not have good sanitation and flooding makes all the sewers overflow?

This has gone quite a bit off topic, but to sum up: OP, by all means eat a fistful of charcoal and boil your water twice, and pat yourself on the back for your efforts. Or alternatively, every few days you can spend 40c on a big 5 litre bottle of water from a reasonably reputable local company that is not owned by Coca-Cola and enjoy your holidays.

DAVIDDOLAN

I think its more of a lack of knowledge rather than a lack of ignorance. People are selfish by nature. I think peoples main concern is their own problems and interests, The whole i,m just one person, what can I do attitude is one of the issues i think.

I have seen the killer coke documentary. I have been boycotting coke and its other drinks for a while now and recently it has brought it to our Xmas dinner table, My mother was more confused as to why I would not drink it rather than WHY I would not drink it. lack of knowledge. Did you know that during WW2 the Coke Cola company traveled with the US army and opened up bottling plants all over Europe even Germany. When the war was over coke was a national institution in the US and the world.

Perhaps I could recommend a documentary called Flow for the love of water. Excellent documentary about the privatization of water my massive corporations. Also you should watch world water wars. also very good.

Are you aware of the cradle to cradle method, it is worth checking out on wiki. There is also a documentary about it called waste=food. you can find it on www.topdocumentaryfilms.com Thank you for your insight.

GabbyJay

Ya well said David... and I genuinely do respect you if you decide to stick to your guns and live and alternative lifestyle free from these. But for most people, even those who "do their bit", there is a line drawn after which you make certain compromises. The bottled water industry is bad, and so is the oil industry, and so is the textiles industry. It's going to be hard to boycott all of those at once, so you can pick your battles. Sticking to tap water when you're in Ireland is a good one, or being selective about your brands, but don't feel bad about going for the bottled water when your in SE Asia.

You can read about Karen Hamill, an Irish girl with friends on boards.ie who got encephalitis from the water in Vietnam that left her brain damaged and in a coma with a hospital bill of €1,700 per day.

two wheels good

Sorry, I'm not going to read/reply to all this in detail. Please allow me to summarise my position for simplicity:

If you need to buy bottled water abroad please do so.
If you can reduce your consumption - and this is possible in many developing countries - I urge you to do so. (Actually it's possible in every country I've visited to consume tap water at least some of the time).
I refer the OP to the purification methods mentioned already.

Just because you recycle your packaging it does not excuse an indifferent attitude to consumption in the first place. (And by "you" I mean "one")

Thanks you and good night
PS. Boycott Killer Coke

DAVIDDOLAN

If you don,t mind me asking, what was the name of the Organization that you worked with out there, I will be doing quite a bit of Volunteer work in my time in Southeast Asia through an organization called HelpX but I would love to have the expierence of being a volunteer with a recycling company also.?? And could you tell me of any bottled water that is of the lesser evil that I could drink.