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Beard Man Feb 24th 2009 3:02 am

Re: boiling water
 

Originally Posted by Dry as Dust (Post 7313581)
The water in the mains here is fine. The problem with tap water is that it has been sitting around in roof or ground tanks in both villas and apartment blocks. The water in the tanks is at relatively high temperatures, often with inadequate covers (hence birds, vermin, dust etc.) can get in, in conditions suitable for bacterial growth.

Boiling will kill bacteria but only if you do it for long enough - which you probably don't.

I do drink boiled tap water at a push - but not for preference.

There are potential problems with the quality of water in the large bottles - but at least you can see what you are getting.




how long do you need to boil the water to kill all the bacteria ?





Originally Posted by B Bear (Post 7313757)
...as long as you boil for 4 minutes it will be OK

is it for sure ?

Blue Cat Feb 24th 2009 5:40 am

Re: boiling water
 
Beardman you have lived here all your life, what do you use for drinking water?

eylesda Feb 24th 2009 5:50 am

Re: boiling water
 
IMHO one thing to consider is kidney stones.
An awful lot of people who drink tap water seem to get them, locals and Asian's.

But I am talking Saudi and Bahrain.

Have you ever looked inside your water tank?

Jeez, there was half an inch of sand, leaves, old bikes and prams in mine!

lionheart Feb 24th 2009 5:52 am

Re: boiling water
 

Originally Posted by eylesda (Post 7316727)
IMHO one thing to consider is kidney stones.
An awful lot of people who drink tap water seem to get them, locals and Asian's.

But I am talking Saudi and Bahrain.

Have you ever looked inside your water tank?

Jeez, there was half an inch of sand, leaves, old bikes and prams in mine!

Several dead birds in mine...but I will still use it, boiled, mainly because I suspect many of the bottled water brands are just fakes...

Charismatic Feb 24th 2009 5:57 am

Re: boiling water
 

Originally Posted by Beard Man (Post 7316364)
is it for sure ?

Some bacteria spores can survive boiling :).

As mentioned distilling water will make it superclean if done the right way but I probably wouldn't recomend it for your long term health (i.e. years).

If your really that anxious about water quality though perhaps be better off drinking your own piss TBH :lol:.

Nic1 Feb 24th 2009 6:20 am

Re: boiling water
 
Years ago we moved into a villa with a ground water tank - we opened the lid and it was pretty manky so asked the LL to have it cleaned. Next day two chaps turned up, emptied the tank to about a foot of water, then jumped in fully clothed (including flip-flops, used some manky old rags to wash the sides down. Jumped out, filled it up and said 'all done Madam' . . . .

In retrospect we decided we preferred the original mank to the scabby feet, sweaty clothes, unwashed body mank that now filled our tank. We emptied it and refilled it so many times it cost us a fortune . . . Only time I've ever used bottled water for EVERYTHING. Ugh, makes me shudder even now just thinking about it.

Now we don't look in the tank, what doesn't kill us will make us stronger . . .

N

Inselaffen Feb 24th 2009 6:50 am

Re: boiling water
 

Originally Posted by eylesda (Post 7316727)
IMHO one thing to consider is kidney stones.
An awful lot of people who drink tap water seem to get them, locals and Asian's.

But I am talking Saudi and Bahrain.

Have you ever looked inside your water tank?

Jeez, there was half an inch of sand, leaves, old bikes and prams in mine!

had those. not nice

nottmbantam Feb 24th 2009 8:51 am

Re: boiling water
 

Originally Posted by Norm_uk (Post 7313553)
Makes sense since the tap water in most parts of India is not safe.

Tap water in the UAE has more people checking it than bottled water - actually that's the same in most western countries too. Bottled water is often a big con (paying double, triple or more for the same commodity because it's in a plastic container) and most of it rarely comes from real natural springs.

N.

Was dining out a couple of weeks ago, one of the guys we were with got talking to a 'water expert' from Saudi, as they were both interested in 'water'.

Basically, the same thing was mentioned. Tap water is more stringently controlled than bottled water, which has far more relaxed monitoring methods than tap water does.

We started off using tap water for the kettle and cooking, but occasionally it used to smell strongly of chlorine and not taste nice. So we started using bottled water and found we using stupid quantities every week.

So, took someone else's advice,fill up a large jug with tap water, the keep that in the fridge, which somehow gets rid of the chlorine smell. WOrks a treat.

Beard Man Feb 24th 2009 9:09 am

Re: boiling water
 

Originally Posted by Blue Cat (Post 7316712)
Beardman you have lived here all your life, what do you use for drinking water?



normal water (i think you call it tap water) ofcourse going through a filter.

that's all

Beard Man Feb 24th 2009 9:10 am

Re: boiling water
 

Originally Posted by eylesda (Post 7316727)
IMHO one thing to consider is kidney stones.
An awful lot of people who drink tap water seem to get them, locals and Asian's.

But I am talking Saudi and Bahrain.

Have you ever looked inside your water tank?

Jeez, there was half an inch of sand, leaves, old bikes and prams in mine!



it is good to get the tank cleaned once a year ....

Beard Man Feb 24th 2009 9:12 am

Re: boiling water
 

Originally Posted by Charismatic (Post 7316742)
Some bacteria spores can survive boiling :).

As mentioned distilling water will make it superclean if done the right way but I probably wouldn't recomend it for your long term health (i.e. years).

If your really that anxious about water quality though perhaps be better off drinking your own piss TBH :lol:.



i am not that worried :)

and we live a healthy life *Al hamdollaah*

benzonar Feb 24th 2009 12:14 pm

Re: boiling water
 

Originally Posted by nottmbantam (Post 7317112)

So, took someone else's advice,fill up a large jug with tap water, the keep that in the fridge, which somehow gets rid of the chlorine smell. WOrks a treat.

Chlorine will normally gas off and dissolve into the air if you leave water to stand for 24 hours. Its an old trick to use for fish tanks when refilling them (fish don't like chlorine).

The problem is more places are using chloramine these days which is a much more stable compound and does not gas off to the extent that standard chlorine does.

I have been in two minds to get an undersink RO system for the kitchen, only problem is like most things over here they try and rob you blind. One place wanted 2000dhs for a system that costs only $77 IN THE us.

Tiger989 Feb 24th 2009 12:25 pm

Re: boiling water
 

Originally Posted by Spugsy (Post 7313417)
Alreet, so.....some of the lads here think I'm mad more using tap water to put in the kettle, they say the filters are crap and I should use water from the water coolers,

but surely if I boil the water its ok to use for tea?

Or is it?

Water in the UAE is transported by Steel Pipelines and not plastic like in the uk. I wouldn't recommend drinking tap water here as its not healthy.
The rust, the corrosion and the chemical inhibitors they put inside the pipelines is few of the reasons you shouldn't drink tap water.
Boiling the water will kill the germs but won't get rid of the chemicals. So your health or couple of dirhams is the question for your health.

Charismatic Feb 24th 2009 1:00 pm

Re: boiling water
 
My local pipes in the UK where victorian, sealed with lead and the local reservoir was half filled with mud that used to make the water brown when they could no longer pump water to keep the levels up ;).

PVC pipes indeed.

Still better stick to drinking imported beer just to be sure :lol:.

Confucius Feb 24th 2009 4:08 pm

Re: boiling water
 

Originally Posted by lionheart (Post 7316732)
Several dead birds in mine...but I will still use it, boiled, mainly because I suspect many of the bottled water brands are just fakes...

Penn and Teller had a very nice perspective on bottled and branded water...



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