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drinking water

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ORIGINAL POST
Posted by widemoose 17 yrs ago
Hello everyone,


Just moved to HK. I have been buying bottled water, but would like to stop due to enviro and cost reasons.


Is there a reputable water purification/filter company that anyone is using?


Is this necessary? I've heard the water quality is terrible.


What are other people doing for their drinking water?


Thanks!



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COMMENTS
dasia 17 yrs ago
We have been in HK for almost 6 years and always drink water from the tap.

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dasia 17 yrs ago
I'm amazed you are still here birdman.


I'll keep drinking tap water and when I succumb to all those bad things you say it will give me I can then think 'I should have listened'!!!


Until then, like you I will stay here and enjoy the city.

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axptguy38 17 yrs ago
While I think that perhaps birdman is being a bit too careful, we don't drink the tap water or use it for cooking. Too many stories of lead and such. Boiling doesn't remove dissolved metals. With two small kids we'd rather be safe than sorry.


We have a Watson's Water dispenser (they deliver in nice 18 liter jugs) and also get sparkling and still bottled water.


Brita filters certainly help. You can buy them at Wing On for example.

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evildeeds 17 yrs ago
Filtered and boiled at home and is fine. Wife grew up on the water, as did her family so can't be as evil as people think. Remember some of the bottled water here is in fact filtered tap water!


I assume Birdman is leaving tomorrow..........

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Digital Blonde 17 yrs ago
Well I lived in Hong Kong for over 30 years and always drank boiled tap water so far touch wood there hasn't been a problem.

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Nutmeg 17 yrs ago
I love HK, but I won't even give the tap water to my dog!


While the Water Supplies Department states "the quality of tap water supply conforms to the Guidelines for Drinking-Water Quality recommended by the World Health Organization," even they admit that the lack of proper maintenance to pipes and water tanks going into buildings can affect the water quality in the home.


Old pipes, which crisscross the city, leach heavy metals into the water, such as copper and iron. So while the water from HK mains may be great, that is not necessarily what you get from your faucet. Heavy metals are neither removed by boiling nor by most filtration systems. (A few reverse osmosis and ion filtration systems claim to remove heavy metals.)


But one of the most telling statistics I found is an international study showing that fewer than .5% of HK residents drink tap water. Draw your own conclusions.

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Connee 17 yrs ago
While I don't agree with a lot of Birdman's thread, I thought it was hilarious! When we arrived in Honkers 8 yrs ago, our GP told us to avoid tap water like the plague. I've had the odd slurp from the tap (closest water source to the bed to assist painkillers down the gullet when hungover!), but I wouldn't drink it as a staple. We have the dispenser. I think we're all different and some of us can tolerate the water chemicals while others can't. Not giving tap water to dogs is a slight over-reaction considering dogs have a gut PH level between 1 and 2. They're stomach juices would just about dissolve rusty nails, hence why they can eat rotten food without getting crook.

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axptguy38 17 yrs ago
"Remember some of the bottled water here is in fact filtered tap water! "


Ï have no doubt the water that comes out of the purification plants is clean. But as Nutmeg notes the pipes are a big problem. As the water travels to your tap, it is frequently contaminated. As Nutmeg also mentions. boiling does not remove metals.


In contrast "bottled tap water" travels in the sterile interior of a bottle from the plant to your lips. Big difference.




I would say that if you're an adult, do as you will. But kids' systems are more susceptible to dissolved metals as they grow.

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Digital Blonde 17 yrs ago
Well if I ever come down with heavy metal poisoning, I will be sure to let this forum know.

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axptguy38 17 yrs ago
As I understand it, certain metals build up very slowly and it can take years and years for problems to develop.

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cd 17 yrs ago
We drink bottled water, and boiled tap water to mix with cordials.

We use tap water for cooking and washing veg.

I don't like the taste of free water that you get in restaurants, it always taste very chlorinated to me. Also in our house, the water often runs brown for a sink full when you first turn the tap on in the morning so it puts me off drinking it.

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Digital Blonde 17 yrs ago
I gotta say I prefer beer from the tap. I do understand that heavy metal poisoning does take years to build up, but I am a second generation expat Hong Konger, and no one I know has ever come down with any problems related to heavy metal poisioning or issues related to water. That covers a sixty year history period in Hong Kong if you include all my parents aquaintances. Now not all the people I know drink straight from the tap but a lot of them would have done, and if there was a problem you would think at least one person would have come down with something. There is the possibility that someone has and that I just haven't found out about it, but I do have to say, its not something I am terribly afraid of.

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Digital Blonde 17 yrs ago
I never said that I did know for a fact, if you read my post I did say its entirely possible that someone has and that I just didn't know about it. but given the number of people I have known over the years in Hong Kong, its not something I personally am afraid of. and to be honest bottled drinking water is nothing more than filtered tap water, I doubt I am more at risk than those drinking bottled water and there is no real evidence that is safer anyway.


Read More

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evildeeds 17 yrs ago
[Quote]Correct you can never 100% establish cause effect but the fact is doctors have said they wouldn't drink it so does it not make sense to drink clean water?[Quote]


Is there any link to anywhere that establishes this as a true fact?

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adele78 17 yrs ago
We've not moved to HK yet but when we were there last october I drank the tap water (as I do pretty much everywhere I travel) whilst my then 6 month old son got bottled water (Watsons which I know is just filtered HK tap water anyway) and as my husband was in HK for an important interview and was not going to risk picking up a runny tummy, he also drank only bottled.


When we move to HK in 2 months I'm sure I'll drink tap water (but it's been reccommended to me that I let the tap run for 1 minute first) and so will my hubby for the most part but we plan to have a water cooler delivery service anyway and that's what our son will get. When I'm next pregnant again, I'll probably be extra careful again and watch where I get my water form.

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BV 17 yrs ago
It's true that brands such as Watsons and Bonaqua are just filtered tap water, or distilled water. But there is a company which provides spring water from Australia for only slightly more cost - plus in my experience so far, they provide a very efficient service. Check them out: www.naturalsprings.hk

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woods99 17 yrs ago



I think it is a good idea to boil tap water before drinking it, but I recall hearing a news report on the radio some years ago which said that to remove all bacteria etc water needed to be boiled for 10 minutes!


Yer pays yer money and yer takes yer choices.

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hk_dineshum 17 yrs ago
I came back to HK 2 years ago and found the water quality is much worser before I left HK 10 years ago. I used to drink tap water in states but couldn't keep this habit after I moved back. Friend of mine then introduced me this filter which I found it's pretty good. It's the only residential use water filter that has ultra violet light to kill bacteria and germs.

Read More

Hope this help.

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axptguy38 17 yrs ago
"t's true that brands such as Watsons and Bonaqua are just filtered tap water, or distilled water."


Watson's isn't "just filtered". It's also distilled. In any case "just filtered" isn't a bad thing. The water is pure when you get it, as opposed to tap water which picks up stuff from the pipes it travels in.


As mentioned before I've heard too many stories about the state of the water pipes in HK to want to drink the tap water.



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axptguy38 17 yrs ago
"If you go to Wellcome or Park'n' Shop, you don't see that great turnover in their water shelves -- if that great a proportion of HKers would not drink tap water, every grocery store should have a huge warehouse for water."


I dunno. Our welcome has lots and lots of bottled water. Perhaps it's the expat area thing. ;)

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axptguy38 17 yrs ago
"But then I'm not a worrisome expat wuss."


You've stated your opinion. Fine. No need to resort to insults and name-calling.

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Digital Blonde 17 yrs ago
Speaking as a tap water drinker, I think not boiling it is a little too hardcore, even for me.

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BV 17 yrs ago
Drinking water sent from Australia is surely no different than eating imported seafood or meat or fruit/veg. Just a personal choice thing. Perhaps if expats consuming imported goods is "the most pathetic thing you've ever heard", you are on the wrong website?! Chill out a bit.............

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flowertot 17 yrs ago
Has anybody tried putting Japanese bamboo charcoal in their drinking water? I've seen the packets for sale in places like Jusco but can't figure out if it is to purify tap water or just to give it a better taste...

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Mighty 17 yrs ago
I totally agree with IslandHopper that the so called international survey is misleading. We do drink and use tap water for washing veggies etc. But we dont normally drink it straight from tap. We boil it. One very important fact has been overlooked. Most local families drink tea and seldom drink plain water. If you go to a real local family, you wl often notice there are usually 2 thermos near the kitchen - one is hot boiled water n one is tea. Read an article saying that distilled water might cause cancer because it is acidic, if you believe what is said in that article (may be it is written by a rival of Watsons ^-^) Anyway it doesnt matter what locals drink, coz it is a very personal matter.

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axptguy38 17 yrs ago
"Read an article saying that distilled water might cause cancer because it is acidic, i"


That's not true at all. Distilled water is (if completely pure) just pure water, as opposed to any other kind of water which contains various dissolved gases and solids. These dissolved substances change the acidity/basicity of the water. The theoretical pH of pure water is the definition of pH neutral, or 7.0.


In fact, CO2 dissolved in sparkling water makes it very slightly acidic.

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mooinhk 15 yrs ago
...Re IslandHopper's bottled water consumption in different shops arguement... at the end of the day, most expats use a stand along water cooler which doens't have much to do with what's going on in the supermarkets!

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