Do Ya Drink the Water ?

[Astrid]

Only problem with bottled water on long voyages is space and disposal of empty bottles.

As Tellie said, you could probably make do with a 1 to 5 micron filter to remove the large stuff, charcoal filter, UV and probably treatment with iodine or cholorine and be fine. That way you could make do without having to resort to reverse osmosis and pressure pumps.

[knothead]

Originally Posted by kb79

how many people have filtration systems built into their water circuit? any filters to recommend? i've got camping filters that supposedly filter out microbes - seems like there should be something you can put on a boat that does the same thing.

it'd be nice to avoid the chlorination.

I don't even drink my own municipal water. I sure wouldn't drink it in another country.

At home I collect rainwater and filter it with a Big Berkey. On a boat I would use whatever water I could find and I would use a particulate filter to fill the tanks. Then chlorinate. Then filter what I use to consume.

The filter I use at home is a counter top stacked unit. You pour water in the top and it slowly filters to the bottom. On a boat I suppose I would have to figure out a way to secure it or only use it when the boat is not underway to fill gallon bottles.
I wish they made a gimbaled model.
The thing I like about this filter is that it removes pathogens as well as chemicals like fluoride and chlorine.

Black Berkey water filter technical specifications

[Ex-Calif]

I get tourista when I go back to the USA... A lot depends on what you have become used to in the water.

Here is my unscientific list for Asian cities I frequent based primarily on my perception of governmental attitude towards the drinking water and environment in general + personal experience. Note these are main cities. Coastal areas and marinas require a little more research.

Singapore = Yes
Kuala Lumpur = Yes
Bangkok = No*
Ho Chih Minh = No
Jakarta = No*
Mumbai = No and hell no.
Hong Kong = Yes
Manila = Depends on season. No in dry season
Seoul = Yes
Tokyo = Yes

*= I have and would brush my teeth with tap water but not drink it.
Manila water can vary greatly as he reservoir gets low. I would prefer to drink bottled water if available.

Local bottled waters vary greatly in quality and you should understand as much as you can about what they do to it. Many are simply filtered while some are filtered, ionized and fully treated.

[mikereed100]

I was gassing up at a station in Baja once and asked the attendant if the water was ok to drink. "Like the finest beer" he says, so we filled up the water tank from the pump. We drank that water all the way to Panama and never got sick.

I can't say it was better than the finest beer but it was better than Bud.

[Astrid]

I can't say it was better than the finest beer but it was better than Bud.

That's not saying much thoough.

[Bash]

one should understand that Bud enjoys a hollowed niche in rural Mexico. I've had pangeros offer to trade lobsters for beer, straight across, only to become horrified when I offer them Mexican beers instead of Bud. One Mexican friend claims that Coors gives him tourista, but Bud is fine. Regardless, it's good to carry a case of Bud if you're Baja-bound, because it's worth far more in trades/tips than you will have paid for it.

[jkleins]

Actually even local populations have increased intestinal illness in areas with contaminated water so you don't really get "immune". You do tolerate it better the more times and longer you are exposed but the pathogens are still there and can present chronically rather then with acute "tourista".
Drinking treated water is the best bet to reduce intestinal problems over the long term. From what I understand many of the cities are getting much better at treating it then in the past so it may be generally getting better for everyone.

Jim

[Pblais]

We plan on having a watermaker but if it breaks we'll go with local water. Do you have to purify in certain places? What do you use? Any info would be helpful..

As noted 2 microns is the ticket for filters - period. You can still be chemically poisoned from agricultural materials but you don't want little creatures making a home in you. That is what can make you sick for weeks! Some parasites are very long road to recovery even after treatment and on a passage you could be very much in trouble. I've got several filters all from my mountaineering days but you can use any that go to 2 microns. Charcoal is nice for taste but is totally worthless for filtration.

You can use elemental Iodine but be mindful that there is a temperature and time curve you need to follow. Precise use of Iodine is advised as the stuff can kill you. Iodine tastes absolutely terrible so cooking with it gets fun - so don't. A rolling boiling for one full minute at sea level will kill all. Chlorine bleach is for stains in your clothes and while it may be better than nothing it won't kill all the creatures you need to deal with. Chlorine is for after you get rid of the critters. Looks and taste mean nothing for water quality as far as health. It's all about what you can't see.

[Astrid]

I will remember that about Bud. I don't drink it myself, but maybe it might not be a bad trade item should I get that far south.

[Troubadour52993]

Yes. So far, the water I have filled with in the Bahamas is better than the water I got from the marina in Florida.

[easterly38]

My experience in that neck of the woods is that if someone tells you "Don't drink the water." then I don't. I spent some time in El Salvador a lifetime ago and the water was fine in San Salvador. But outside of the city, my friends from San Salvador would not even drink the water because they would get sick. I followed their advice.

Then, on a hot day in the country, I got a bad case of stupid. We stopped at a small roadside drink stand (Think about the lemonade stand from your childhood, only with an adult central american running it.) and they had some awesome looking fresh orange juice/shaved ice slushy type drinks. It was so hot, I think I ordered two. About an hour later, my stupidity started wearing off and I started wondering where that ice came from. A few hours after that, I got my answer. It wasn't pretty.
If I questioned the water, I think I would filter it somehow or boil it to get rid of the bugs.

[Minggat]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Singapore = Yes
Kuala Lumpur = Yes
Bangkok = No*
Ho Chih Minh = No
Jakarta = No*
Mumbai = No and hell no.
Hong Kong = Yes
Manila = Depends on season. No in dry season
Seoul = Yes
Tokyo = Yes

.

Note in my room in a 5 star hotel here in Semarang, Indonesia. Basically it said, "don't drink the water".

On the cruisers net in La Paz, Mexico, I remember a "cranky pants" US retiree living there full time scoffing at the idea of not drinking the local water. I drank it without a single loss of life. And I don't have the cast iron stomach that I used to have.

[sabray]

One thought. At work we installed water filtratation which has several carbon filters and then a reverse omosis filter which purges the 6o psi water through a screen. Dumps out a little on a run off line to achieve this. What we find is that if we dont clean the spill off that occurs at the base or near the drain mold forms. We have cleaned the water so well that it no longer has all the chlorine,flourine, etc.. in it to fight off things that live. We take the treated city water which we pay to be treated so its drinkable, buy devices to filter out all the stuff we paid to have mixed with the water so we can drink it. The bottled water industry monopolized in this fear. When we filled up plastic reusable bottles we were scared off because there might be toxins leaching from the plastic. I think I heard that if you filled a bottle of drinking water 1/3rd the way it would equal the petroleum it took to bring you the bottle of water.
My marina has untreated well water I treat it with an appropriate amount of chlorine otherwise it turns to a swampish smelling methane yuck you wouldn't drink unless you were very thirsty. If you have been very thirsty you know you would drink even that.Usually municipal treated water will last in your tanks a while without need to worry.True real fresh water if you are storing it you should be concerned. My experience and thought.

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Minggat

Note in my room in a 5 star hotel here in Semarang, Indonesia. Basically it said, "don't drink the water".

If there is complimentary bottled water in the room and a sign that says don't drink the water, it's a pretty good clue for me as well...

[Astrid]

That would do it for me too.