Is Taipei tap water safe to drink? Or do y’all filter / boil it first? I’ve had conflicting views…
The rooftop bacteria breeding, eh storage system makes boiling an imperative. Filtering is better however to remove god knows whatever else is in there.
Even the locals dare not drink it … Imagine what it would do to your stomach
From what I heard, In Kaohsiung you can’t drink it due to bacteria and chemical contamination. Supposedly Taipei does not have the chemical contamination issue from what people told me, but as Tempo Gain said, the bacteria is still a problem.
To counter my argument however, the Water department says tap water is OK to drink
I’d always boil tap water and also filter it anywhere in Taiwan.
I’ve heard that the water around Kaohsiung has elevated concentrations of arsenic coming naturally from the surrounding soils.
Water in Taipei is theoretically safe to drink, and I’ve drunk it untreated on occasion. But out of habit, locals like to boil it. It’s perfectly safe when it leaves the water treatment plants, but people talk about bacteria and other contaminants entering through old, corroded water mains. I just use a Brita filter.
This is probably a poll-worthy topic. I just filter it (3M cyst filter). Never bother with boiling, but I also personally inspect and clean my rooftop reservoir.
I think filters handle bacteria, making boiling superfluous. Not sure if there’s any other point to boiling.
I don’t think filter kills bacteria, especially not when you’ve been reusing the same filter for at least a month. Filtering is mostly for metals, especially heavy poisonous metals.
i don’t recommend drinking from tap anywhere in the world…
filter and get a water boiler and boil that sucker.
I don’t care how clean any city claims their water to be coming out of water treatment plants, do you know how long it has been since the pipes are install in your city/building? how would they go about cleaning those pipes after they are installed? don’t drink from tap, it makes no sense anywhere.
Germany and Japan are probably the cleanest countries in the world, and yet the best home water filters in the world, Brita and Panasonic are made by these two countries. My friends in Japan have Panasonic water filters install in their house, when I lived in Germany I had a Brita, frankly that’s where I first saw a water filter. If people in Germany and Japan have concerns about drinking from tap, why do it anywhere else in the world?
Reverse osmosis filters remove bacteria, viruses, heavy metals, nitrates and a few other things. They’re not all that expensive, maybe around NT$10K, and as long as you change the filter according to the manufacturers recommendation, you’ll be fine.
Boiling gets rid of the chlorine in tap water. I boil and then remove the lid to allow a thorough evaporation. Takes about an extra 30 minutes, but your body will thank you for it.
I drink it neat, or sometimes with a single ice cube.
I prefer a couple of drops of spring water.
I don’t even cook with it.
I buy foreign water for consumption.
I don’t like going somewhere and they offer me the obligatory glass of warm water.
I always think, where the hell did that water come from?
I always pretend to take sips.
i use a water distiller that i bought from pchome. the container for the water has turned red on the bottom from the stuff that is left behind.
Go to RT-Mart or Carrefour they sell filters from around $3000NT - $20000 NT Chanson brand. I would get a Reverse Osmosis/ Ro filter to remove sodium fluoride from the water as well as other the usual stuff. They cost about $10,000 NT and require a 110v power point under your sink. Cost for running was about $2500 NT a year from memory. Worth it because taking water home by scooter is pain in the ass if you drink your recommended daily intake.
I must be a tap water problem drinker because every time I try to drink a glass from the tap, my Taiwan friend slaps it out of my hand and says “Stop drinking that! Not even one glass!”. I still do it occasionally when there is no bottled water available, but only in secret.
My partners employer deems Taipei water to be so bad they supply us with bottled water.
Next time he eats rice do the same thing. Rice fields are notoriously polluted with heavy metals. If your friend reacts indifferently then you know he is talking bullshit on the water.
There was an article a month ago or so that said Kaohsiung’s tap water was actually okay but the problem was that people don’t clean their water tank and that is where the bacteria enters the system. Regardless if it leaves the plant clean(ish) I don’t have any interest in drinking it. I’m not paranoid about it and cook in it but I try to limit my exposure to it. The gas explosions last month in Kaohsiung reinforces my hunch that city engineers don’t have any idea what is going on under the streets. I wouldn’t be shocked if they put a toxic pipe (pick any of dozens) right next to the drinking water and there was seepage at the joints of each. Perhaps it was relatively clean (debatable) when it left the plant but there are too many sources of contamination before the tap.
Drinking chlorinated water won’t kill you.
But do you really want to?
I always leave the water for a few days to evaporate the chlorine before I add it to my aquarium or water my plants.
There’s no way I’m going to drink chlorine after what I’ve seen what it does to simple bacteria, goldfish, vegetables, etc.