Domestic drinking water? How safe?

khanh44 wrote:

In Canada alone I would not drink from the tap. It always has to be boiled. And I never drink the tea or water they offer for free when eating/drinking out.

I also don't drink tap water in Canada but not because of bacteria, because they treat the water with Alum which is aluminum based product (linked to dementia); it's used to help solids settle in primary treatment. They also use chlorine (an insidious poison linked to increased incidents of cancer) to kill e-coli and the like after the Alum has done its job. Some municipalities like to add fluoride as well (linked to Alzheimer’s and tooth damage). If one was to research the health ramifications of each of the 3 aforementioned chemicals, one might be surprised at the potent swill we drink. In all likelihood HCMC uses those chemicals as well but in the hands of poorly educated operators we are all at their mercy. Do you think that boiling is going to reduce the Alum count, the PPM of Chlorine, eliminate the heavy metals? Do you know we have bacteria that are quite happy in water hotter than 100 degrees C? Boiling the water in some situations helps but in normal living it only helps to assuage our paranoia.

I do believe wrote:

We Westerners worry about what we drink and rightly so. Sometimes perhaps excessviely, our own knowledge becomes troublesome. In Canada we have people dying from drinking tap water; in Vietnam I haven't heard of that happening although it is probably happening here too. At some point we have to decide if we are engaging in overkill; in my case I try to restrict myself to bottled water (any brand) and when drinking at a cafe or restaurant, I cross my fingers and get on with it.

You might want to start insisting on a reputable brand (La Vie, Aquafina, Vinh Hao):

http://vietnamnews.vn/society/250497/si … ended.htmlhttp://www.irinnews.org/report/83965/vi … ter-unsafe

Also, some Vietnamese people have told me to avoid local brands because of the scandal from a few years ago: funny tasting bottled water turned out to be sourced from a reservoir that was near a graveyard.

simon.1711 wrote:

Stick to beer, the alcohol acts as a disinfectant!

I presume this is a tongue in cheek comment but when I am in serious doubt of the local water or there's no bottled water that's exactly what I do, stick to beer. Trouble is, tough to get it warm enough to take a shower.

I do believe wrote:

"You might want to start insisting on a reputable brand (La Vie, Aquafina, Vinh Hao):" These are not reputable brands, they are popular brands. The Vietnamese anecdotes are sometimes hilarious and are akin to superstitions. The Vietnamese public accept heresay quite readily and are not a reliable source of information. Bottled water is supposed to be filtered tap water allthough there are some claims to using spring water which is no claim of quality but people like the thought of it. When I worked in the past bottled water companies were my customers and it is quite amazing to watch how careless they are with packaging.  What I am trying to say is, do what makes you feel comfortable by all means; boil the water, buy LaVie etc. but in reality as Dannytan suggests, you have no protection at all.

Fair enough, but Lavie/Aquafine/Vinh Hao are still your best bet. Because the Vietnamese like to sensationalize the news (let's face it, though, that's a human trait), I don't think the Western companies could get away with selling sub-par water: the media and PR fallout would be disastrous. As far as I understand, La Vie and Aquafina make up most of the bottled market in Vietnam, so it's in their best interest to provide a trustworthy product.

Interesting how we've been talking about bottled water and nobody's mentioned the health safety certificates so far... Goes to show how much confidence people place in them?

sensesofvietnam wrote:

Hi Mark,
You are correct as I saw a few times the street vendor just pull out ice from the box which have bottle and can drinks. Do they wash them before putting it in, I doubt it. So just be careful when ordering ice drinks. Take them in a cafe and restaurant which is reputable at least.

If your in Hoi an as pictured, then check out the vendors down by the river markets I always use puritabs or similar 1 tab to 1.25 ltr tap water over night

Dannytan wrote:

Check out the you tube on filter water in Vietnam home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c48nduEvufc

Hey Danny, did you read all the comments, they use a magnet to attract heavy metals   

Jaitch wrote:

Water filters are available at ...... Lãnh Ward, Quan 1.

Oh, I remember, you know all about cheese. Not. So you must know all about where to buy those filters.

Thanks for that.

I do know something about cheese, particularly Cheddar cheese, since I come from where they make it. I also know that much of the stuff they describe as cheese at the METRO cash and carry stores, is expensive and not of the best quality.

Unless the water filters I asked about are made of cheese, then I don't know where to find them but anyway I fail to see the correlation between cheese and water filters.

Thanks for your help.