[quote=“Sir Donald Bradman”]If you drink bottled water, you should know that a test a couple of years ago, failed nearly all brands on safety. Apart from Evian, the only safe brand that you commonly see is ‘duo he shui’ in Chinese with a tiny little English ‘More’ on the bottle (black and white).
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I didn’t even know they were the only ones who passed that test. I just buy it because I didn’t like the way the other ones tasted when I was testing out brands upon my arrival. It’s the only locally-bottled water that tastes okay to me, even if it is left out after it has been opened the first time. The others taste too aerated or too metallic or too much like plastic. My roommates put only bottled or filtered water (we have a Brita attached to our kitchen faucet) into the water heater, but I only drink that water when I am making a hot drink. I run the filter on the faucet when I need water for cooking something, and I give my cat only bottled water because the last time I gave him tap water, it made him sick. He only gets “duo he shui” water too. As someone who has imbibed almost nothing but water since she was little (when other kids had milk and cookies, I preferred water and cookies), I can taste the differences in waters and ‘duo he shui’ has a slight taste where evian has no taste whatsoever. Both are great and the only kind of water I will drink cold here in Taiwan when I have a choice.
I imagine that just looking at the landscape and condition of water sources is enough of a statistic. To my knowledge, all kinds of nasty things are disposed of through the sewers and I imagine that the standards for industrial waste disposal are minimal. That being said, there was another thread that said that when a study was done on bottled “pure” water, only about three brands were really pure. I drink “Yes” brand most of the time, but my boyfriend just boils his. Neither of us are dead yet, to my knowledge.
in addition to water, you should be careful of eating those shredded ice snacks they have during the summer. a lot of them use tap water. the only safe one i know of is the one in Chang Gung Memorial hospital basement. they do regular testing of the food…if it fails, they send the food vendors/suppliers packing.
I use water from the dehumidifier and air conditioner to water plants, but some Taiwanese people insisted that it is poisonous and will kill the plants. I can’t think of any reason why this water should be poisonous. It’s just distilled water, isn’t it?
Anyway, my girlfriend runs a cafe that has reverse osmosis filters installed. Actually I think the water goes through two filters - one RO and the other charcoal. The filters get replaced every six months or so. So we get to drink this super filtered water and we don’t have to boil it.
Juba I was just kidding about the dehumidifier water. As for poisoning the plants I can’t see why, though in general you shouldn’t use filtered water on plants as they need the minerals in regular water.
On a water related issue, you know that little grounding wire on the back of the water cooker, tied in a little bundle: has anyone ever unstrung that wire and connected it to anything? Why?
[quote=“blueulyssess”]only drink canada water!!! especially when i miss home[/quote]I know some of the bottled water from Canada is glacial water. Any idea about the health value of that, as compared to say spring water?
A lot of yachties have watermakers that desalinate seawater - powered by solar/wind if done properly - but no one ever uses them inshore. Unless you’re planning on heading out into blue water every time you need a drink I would recommend that other sailor’s saviour: Bacardi!
Concern over potentially toxic shards from the space shuttle temporarily closed Texas schools, affected Louisiana drinking water supplies and sent more than 100 unnerved residents to local hospitals.
Two major chemicals in the spacecraft’s propellant, monomethyl hydrazine, a fuel, and nitrogen tetroxide, an oxidiser, could have been present when the shuttle plunged to the earth.
Hydrazine is a clear nitrogen and hydrogen compound with a “fishy” smell, and is similar to ammonia, according to NASA. Nitrogen tetroxide, a reddish fluid, has a pungent, sweet smell. Both fluids are highly toxic, and can affect the central nervous system, the respiratory system, the liver, blood and eyes.
New discoveries included one of the seats from the spacecraft, a set of tanks that were spewing unidentified gases, and a syringe containing the contents of a biological experiment.
I live next to the mountains (hills) here in Beitou… We have a line from the fresh-water spring up there on the mountain. The water tastes very clean and pure. But I still boil it everytime, but don’t bother with a filter.
When I water my plants, I usually add a few drops of vinegar to mellow the hardness somewhat. The water is really very hard and that would be explained by the exceptionally rich variety of mineral deposits riddled through the soil of the mountain; not far from my place you can see a whole lot of that sulfrous white soil, in fact. I went hiking up there once and found a very exotic fern, and some peculiar Japanese pines which seem to feed off that infernal earth rather nicely…
I use 7-11 water and Ocean Bear Pure water (10NT) at the local store. If not actually safe, I know the magic of GMP smilely face will protect me.
Our family buys their water from the huge self service filtering stations located on the side of the road. It tastes ok for soup. For drinking, they boil the water and leave it in the family tea kettle
I just can’t stand that taste! When I first got here (Pingtung County) four years ago, I couldn’t tolerate the taste or the smell of the water at McDonalds nor the tap water for brushing my teeth. I can now. Either, the water got better or I developed an immunity.
I am a Taiwan distributor of Cuno Water Filters, a product of Nuskin/Pharmanex. I personally have been using this filter for 2 years in Taiwan and have found it very effective in filtering chlorine and other things found in the water here.
The filter material is made of the same stuff found in kidney dialysis machines. I know many, many satisfied customers. The filter is NT$9900 and a filter is NT$4200 (lasts about one year).
If you are interested, please feel free to send me a PM. I am happy to come install it for you. Usually, it will take about 10 minutes.
Dos anyone know if it’s worth it to install one of those fileters?
The cost is quite high and I gues the filters witch also is not free nead regular replacement.
An there is no lifetime warrenty that I know of.
Filtering vs boteled water what is cheaper over a 5year period?
It depends! I live in the county at Tuchen. Next to my home is a water filter store that has a stand out front. I can get pure filtered water for 30 NT that fills about a five gallon container. I do it often. But sometimes, you just want some water and you haven’t visited the source lately. It depends. If I want tea, I boil. If I want a splash of water with my scotch, I get it from the tap. Alcohol takes care of any problems. If I was a non-alcoholic, I would simply get it from the vending machine or buy gallons from 7-11.
