Udon water quality questionable

[papafabio]

Hello to all the members. I am new to Udon Thani. I am now spending a long stay here in Udon Thani. I have being here for about 2 months and I have some problem with the tap water for shower here. I like to know if the long time members know about the city's water quality.

Before I came to Udon, I had several months long stay in Kota Kinabalu Malaysia, and I did not notice any thing wrong or smell with the water. First I came here I stayed in Centara Hotel about one week, and moved to Panarai Hotel for another 1 week, I did not notice any wrong with the water. Because the high cost of the hotels, I moved to small hotels to cut the cost.

I moved to a small hotel near the Landmark shopping, and I start to notice the water quality is very different from the Centara and Panarai hotel. The water smells and feels rough, and I put in the water bottle it looks a little brown. And the bad part is that after I wash my hair, my hair still feel sticky, never get the clean fresh feeling. I first thought maybe this hotel has some dirty pipe or dirty water tank, so I moved to another hotel not too far away.

The hotel also has the same smell water, and water taste bad when wash face or brush teeth, maybe even worse than last hotel, I tried put water in clear water bottle, the water also show somewhat brown if you compare to bottle drinking water, so I guess maybe some parts of city's tap water have this bad smell and brown color, the worst part is
my hair never feel clean after wash.

But the water at Centara and Panarai smell normal and do not look brown in water bottle, do they have different water source or do they have own filter. I went to different places to collect some samples in water bottle, seems like areas near Central shopping water quality better, and areas near Landmark, Baan Huai market, Tesco Lotus Nong Khai road where I stay now, smell and taste very bad, also bad for wash hair, and water appear brown in clear bottle.

Do any long time residents have any knowledge about my observations. I plan to stay about 2 more months, but the water quality for wash hair and shower is troubling me a lot. Because my girlfriend want me to stay here longer, maybe stay with her 1 year or so, but I have to figure out the tap water first.

Anyone knows if the cheaper hotels near Panarai, such as Top Mansion, or At Home Udon have clean tap water, no smell and no color? I hope someone has the knowledge why the Central shopping areas seem to have normal water, and areas east of Central shopping seem to have smelly water with brownish color.

thank you

[rick]

Some people do not like the water, but probably does vary from area to area. I would suggest Ruysuk hotel on Adunyadet road, used to stay there and water never a problem for me. About 1 km from town centre.

[BobHelm]

At Home is not that cheap, but have never had an issue with the water there, nor Top Mansion, nor as Rick says RuySuk.
I lived for a fair while in the last two places.

The only time that I have seen a brownness in the city water here is after a mains break.
Then you can have it for as long as a week..

I cook with & drink bottled water though & always have..

[parrot]

The problem might have nothing to do with the water itself.....but the storage tanks that the hotel uses (most all do). If the tanks haven't been cleaned for a long time or if some critter manages to get inside, the water can turn nasty quickly.
If you're in an older hotel, I'd guess it has to do with the storage system. There's no reason to deal with that situation in Udon today.....way toooo many hotels, big and small, around town to choose from.

[fatbob]

Its most likely to do with the filtration systems the large hotels have before the water hits their storage tanks.

[wazza]

Have you actually shown the water to reception ??

[Khun Paul]

To my knowledge Udon Water has always been a tad iffy, colour wise , this is due in the main to the poor standard of maintainance when they fix a pipe earth gets inside and does horrible things to the water. Most hotles have a reasonable filtration systemm, the problem you state would i think be sorted oif you plonked a bottle of the stuff on the desk at reception and state quite clearly FIX IT.
Cooking with bottles water is the only way to go, living where I am we have had the pipes run for Udon water, but not only is it twice as ex[pensive as the local village water, it is a damn sighter dirtier and its colour leaves a lot to be desired. Smells alright but to me it is something to be avoided like the plague unless you have no other option.

[FrazeeDK]

In my area on the East side the City water is fine.. Clear, no smell, and when I clean my faucet and shower particulate screens there is very little in them. I'd say it depends upon where you live in the city..

[papafabio]

Thank you for the replies. These 2-3 days I took many empty water bottles and went around city to collect water samples. Top Mansion, At Home Udon, and members suggested Ruy Suk, and I also checked a few I don't know the names on Adunyadet, all seem all right, and color were normal very close to drinking water, also collected water from friend's apartments near Nong Sim park, also seem okay.

But I cross Udon Dusatdee Road, and checked a few hotels, and the water taste different and taste bad, and also all the water on this side seem more brown than east side of Udon Dusatdee road, my hotel unfortunately on this side, and I paid 1 month already to hotel until next mid month, so I have to wash hair in hair shop in the east side, i found some hair shops near Central, and the water color and smell is okay, I guess i will wash in hair shop until next month, and move somewhere near Central shopping, Adunyadet road also has a few small hotels, the water taste and smell okay around here.

I discussed the water quality with my girlfriend and her friends, I guess most Thai folks have no idea about this topic, they never realize how brown the water they boil and drink until I show them.

[wazza]

Papafabio

Could I perhaps say and its not racist etc ( If your Italian ) then Italy has an obsession with bottled water, biggest market in the world from some stats etc Perhaps your cultural background may also be influencing this issue.

The other thing to remember is the cheaper the hotel / room , the less the hotel provides, I would imagine that in line water filters for the premise is probably the first on the budget cuts, once their licence has been issued.

Just a thought

[old-timer]

The water quality at my house is ok, behind makros area where there are some reasonably priced and furnished apartments. It's (the water) transparent and not sticky although I wouldn't recommend putting it in your mouth because it tastes like cats p1ss.

OT................

[papafabio]

The long stay life in Udon is not too exciting, looking for some clean apartment and clean water become my daily routine. I have some new finding, the water source here is not good from the begining, one hotel manager told me Centara and Panarai and other more expensive ones have in house filter before release to the room guests, that is why water is okay.

I checked out many apartments around town, and one finding is that buildings with higher floors use Thai style plastic tank, the high floors get water from water tank, and I guarantee these buildings never wash their tanks, the upper floors always have more brown water, some places are really like piss color, and the down floor water always more clear.

So advice to new comers, when you rent apartment on upper floor, bring some big plastic bottles, and compare water with the first floor, the color difference may surprise you. But a few apartments do have similar water quality up and down, but in general after i checked over 10 places, this is mostly the case. And one maid in apartment told me after big rain storm, sometimes the water turn brown for many days, I guess roof rain is running into the container, maybe is intentional, hotel or apartment owners collect rain to save money??

Anyways, I am still washing my hair near Central shopping, only like 2 euros, wash and massage scalp, shoulder, dry hair for you, the water smell taste okay in a few hair shops, I just pick some shop with young ladies to wash hair for me until I move apartment maybe mid month. 2 euros plus a little tip to have young lady wash hair massage your head and shoulder, not too bad, maybe i am getting addicted to wash hair outside.

Anyways, that was my water test in Udon. By the way, I have nothing to do with Italian.

[Khun Paul]

Water quality ion Thailand has at best been iffy, one is advised never to drink from the tap , advice i adhered to religiously.
however with the move to my own premises I sourced water that was at least clean, the local village supplies water clean and slightly chlorinated to remove nasties, but with the use of steel tanks which allows the sediment to descend below the output pipe means that I also eliminate sediment in the taps. I clean the tanks once a year,I never use water from the tanks to drink but use the 20 litre bottled variety ( 10 baht ) a bottle refill.
Some places the water is dirty some it is clean. if paying and staying complain. Simple really .

[dingdong]

Environmental criticisms[edit]


No matter where one is on this great earth
can you guarantee what we are drinking, civilized, nearly civilized or uncivilized places
Good luck
Hope this helps
Ding


THE UK
In July 2011, the think tank Policy Exchange reported a significant decline in river quality due to abstraction carried out by water companies. The report calls for water companies to be charged more for using the most environmentally vulnerable rivers and aquifers in drier parts of the country, with cheaper rates where water is more abundant. It also called for higher water charges during droughts.[23]

In 2009, an investigation conducted by the BBC's Panorama concluded that the operation of more than 20,000 Combined Sewer Overflow pipes (CSO) was leading to the routine spillage of untreated wastes around Britain's coastline, potentially leading to very dirty water around some of the most popular beaches in the UK. The CSOs, intended for use in very rare occasions, were not covered by the existing legislation for waste emissions.[24]

CANADA 7 DEAD from DRINKING WATER

Walkerton Tragedy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search


The Walkerton Tragedy is a series of events that accompanied the contamination of the water supply of Walkerton, Ontario, Canada, by Escherichia coli bacteria in May 2000.



Contents [hide]
1 Summary
2 Aftermath
3 See also
4 References
5 External links


Summary[edit]

Walkerton is a relatively small community. At the time of the event in May 2000, Stan Koebel was utilities manager and Frank Koebel was water foreman. Neither had any formal training in this position, retaining their jobs through three decades of on-the-job experience. The water supply became contaminated with the highly dangerous O157:H7 strain of E. coli bacteria, from farm runoff into an adjacent well that had been known for years to be vulnerable to contamination.

Starting 11 May 2000, many people of the community of about 5,000 people began to simultaneously experience bloody diarrhea, gastrointestinal infections and other symptoms of E. coli infection. For days the Walkerton Public Utilities Commission insisted the water supply was "OK" despite being in possession of laboratory tests that had found evidence of contamination. On 21 May, an escalation in the number of patients with similar symptoms finally spurred the region's Medical Officer of Health, Murray McQuigge, to issue a boil water advisory, warning residents not to drink the tapwater.

Seven people died directly from drinking the E. coli-contaminated water, who might have been saved if the Walkerton Public Utilities Commission had admitted to contaminated water sooner, and about 2,500 became ill. An experimental drug in Phase III clinical trials, Synsorb Pk, was used to treat 19 children on compassionate grounds under Health Canada's Special Access Program.[1]

During the time of the tragedy, both Stan and Frank Koebel denied any wrongdoing and firmly held that the water at Walkerton was safe to drink. However, as the tragedy grew in severity the two were eventually part of the criminal investigation into the tragedy, and, as a result, both would eventually plead guilty to a charge of common nuisance through a plea bargain. In their plea, they admitted to falsifying reports and Frank admitted to drinking on the job, as a beer fridge did exist at the facility.[2]

They were both formally sentenced on December 21, 2004, with Stan receiving one year in jail and Frank Koebel nine months of house arrest. Reaction to their sentencing was mixed.

No provincial government politician was charged or found guilty of wrongdoing in setting the policies that resulted in this tragedy. As law professor Bruce Pardy notes, "Policy development is not subject to tort liability."[3]

Aftermath[edit]

The Ontario Clean Water Agency was put in charge of the cleanup of Walkerton's water system.

An inquiry, known as the Walkerton Commission led by Court of Appeal for Ontario Associate Chief Justice Dennis O'Connor, wrote a two-part report in 2002. Part 1 was released in January 2002.[4] The Walkerton Report, Part One, described events in the community and a series of failures, both human and systemic, that led to contamination of the water supply. The report made recommendations based on the circumstances of the tragedy. It estimated that the Walkerton water tragedy cost a minimum of C$64.5-155 million and laid much of the blame at the door of the Walkerton Public Utilities Commission:


The Walkerton Public Utilities Commission operators engaged in a host of improper operating practices, including failing to use adequate doses of chlorine, failing to monitor chlorine residuals daily, making false entries about residuals in daily operating records, and misstating the locations at which microbiological samples were taken. The operators knew that these practices were unacceptable and contrary to Ministry of Environment guidelines and directives.[4]

The Ontario government of Mike Harris was also blamed for not regulating water quality and not enforcing the guidelines that had been in place. The water testing had been privatized in October 1996.[5]

Part 2 of the report made many recommendations for improving the quality of water and public health in Ontario.[5] Part Two discussed water safety across the province and the steps needed to prevent similar tragedies. It made ninety-three recommendations. All of its recommendations have been accepted by succeeding governments of the province. The recommendations have also influenced provincial policies across Canada.

Key recommendations touched on source water protection as part of a comprehensive multi-barrier approach, the training and certification of operators, a quality management system for water suppliers, and more competent enforcement. In Ontario, these requirements have been incorporated into new legislation.

The many lessons learned from this incident were described by Kim Vicente in his book The Human Factor.

A 2005 CBC Television docudrama called Betrayed was based loosely upon the Walkerton tragedy.

In 2001 a similar outbreak in North Battleford, Saskatchewan caused by the protozoan Cryptosporidium affected at least 5,800 people.

Progressive Conservative MPP Lisa Thompson stated in 2014 that the regulations put in place after the inquiry have done nothing but increase costs for municipalities and called for a reduction in water-quality testing regulations while increasing enforcement.[6]



Appears not only Thailand are culprits

[wazza]

Saw a great picture on Facebook the other day.

It showed 2 teenage ladies from Sub Sahara carrying on their heads 2 clay pots of water from the local bore.

The Caption was, " Until you have to carry your own water , you just take it for granted "

[BigBubba]

MOST Thais drink some sort of bottled water. That tells me all I need to know! I do brush me teeth with tap water, but thats it. Every once in a great while (4 - 6 months) I'll notice some brownish sediment in the plastic washtub that all Thais keep in the bathroom. On that point, I can't figure out why my wife continues to shower using the bucket and tub method when we have a modern shower head, with good pressure... and HEAT.

[wazza]

Brushing ur teeth. Washing ur dishes. Washing ur hands. All the same exposure as drinking it. Its not associated with volume..its assoc with cross contamination of the bacteria . 5mls of water in your mouth has the same % as 1 glass.

[the-monk]

How about installing one of those Home Water Filtering System ? Any of these systems produces drinkable water ?
Anybody using such a system ? Any suggestions ?

[wazza]

They work. As.long as u use the right filters also.

[dingdong]

The filtering systems are usually activated Carbon and a filter that I have seen in use here in Udon. While they produce CLEAN looking water they do not remove bacteria
Therefore using water that has not been chlorinated should not be used for consumption.
This can been understood better from the deaths that happened in Walkerton Ontario Canada some years ago when their water supply was not chlorinated and had been polluted by runoff from surrounding fields used for farming. One can review the story on Wikipedia
Hope this helps
Ding