5 ms·
Boy, talk about timing. I just used up about 16 liters of bottled water in about 4 days because we started to doubt that our tap water got us all(family) sick
by reacharavindh 5y ago
Boy, talk about timing.
I just used up about 16 liters of bottled water in about 4 days because we started to doubt that our tap water got us all(family) sick at the same time. When I tried to test the water, I found no easy way to do so; all test kits on Amazon turns up with comically bad reviews. Local water testing lab only tests for specific pollutants with legal precedence like Lead, Cadmium, Mercury etc. There was not a single trustworthy test I could find to say here is a decent test profile we ran on your sample, and here is the water quality score.
Context: I moved 2 weeks ago to Amsterdam, NL from Denmark where we had been drinking tap water without any thought and trouble.
A scientifically dumb test to get off tap water while we were all sick(sore throat, bad stomach, and mild fever - yes, COVID negative) worked and we are not sick now. I don’t know whether to stop using bottled water and go back to tap water or to continue this environmentally bad choice of bottled water in fear of health.
I used to believe that tap water is a good natural choice as it packs minerals and useful natural solubles that would have been filtered out in bottled water. But, if it could get me sick, I don’t know what to do.
Hopefully we don’t get the same sickness again now that we are drinking tap water, and I could build up my trust again on tap water.
- gruez 5y ago>Local water testing lab only tests for specific pollutants with legal precedence like Lead, Cadmium, Mercury etc. Does the pollutant list only contain chemicals, or do they include microbial pollutants as well? The EPA for instance has standards for microbial pollutants in addition to chemical pollutants.
- reacharavindh 5y agoI believe the city water department tests for a more detailed set of factors(I could not get proper information because I moved here recently, and I don’t yet speak Dutch). However, the tests I could buy/order from commercial labs around here only tests for specific ones (Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, Nickel, Coliform bacteria). I’m guessing that is because those were the common culprits.
- jules 5y agoBy law, the water from the tap may only contain 1 microgram pollutants per liter, and the water companies usually set themselves stricter standards (and stricter than the standards for bottled water, IIRC). Assuming you drink 2 liters per day that is 0.066 grams over the course of a 80 year life. If the cause of the illness of your family is is the tap water, then it is very likely a problem with the plumbing in or near your house. However, even that is very unlikely. Even if the plumbing in your house is lead, that's not likely to make you ill immediately (but it will over the long term). If the pipes leak, then the water is more likely to go out than pollution getting in, due to the water pressure. Given that several members of a family get ill, the overwhelmingly more likely explanation is either a contagious disease, or food poisoning.
- ivolimmen 5y agoSince I'm Dutch and near Amsterdam (we have the same water facility over here) I can guarantee you that the Dutch tap water is of very high standard. You only buy bottled water if you are a hipster here.
- reacharavindh 5y agoThanks. That’s comforting to hear. My gut instinct was that as well, and I am going back to tap water now.
- Fronzie 5y agoIn case you're curious, look up Bar-le-duc mineral water and the place where the city of Utrecht gets it's water from.
- hackton 5y agoI leaved for 3 years in Amsterdam coming from another European country, moved flat several times and always had bad tap water in my house. I never got sick though, but the taste was always awful. My feeling was it was not the water that was bad, but more the pipes, as most house I leaved in was old. Either way, I gave up and bought water bottle
- barsonme 5y agoDumb question: isn’t it possible you got sick normally (because you moved to a different country, etc.)? And the tap water timing coincides with recovering?
- lottin 5y agoWhy do you blame tap water specifically? I've never heard anyone getting sick from drinking tap water in a developed country.
- reacharavindh 5y agoIt is not scientific at all. Myself, my wife and my 2 year old all got sick with the same symptoms, and we did not eat the same food in the last few days. Drinking water seemed like the common denominator.
- failrate 5y agoI'm here to second that drinking the local water in a new place will loosen you up even if it is clean.
- quicklime 5y agoTime to split the family up into a control and test group. For science.
- dariosalvi78 5y agoLooks like one of you got a bug and passed to the others
- cortesoft 5y agoYou were all in the same space, though, right? It could have been something contagious.
- rrrrrrrrrrrryan 5y agoSounds more like a stomach flu to me, which is often spread throughout a household via contaminated surfaces.
- lostlogin 5y agoIt happens more often than you’d think. Here is one example from New Zealand, where many got sick, lots were hospitalised and some may have died. Colleagues describe the bedlam at local hospitals and the smell of the place as they were inundated with the afflicted. Whether or not we are a first world country could be queried. https://watersource.awa.asn.au/community/public-health/lessons-from-nzs-2016-havelock-north-water-supply-outbreak https://watersource.awa.asn.au/community/public-health/lesso...
- semi-extrinsic 5y ago> There was not a single trustworthy test I could find to say here is a decent test profile we ran on your sample, and here is the water quality score. The local authorities are the ones you should be reaching out to here, not random Amazon test kits. Testing for microbial contamination is difficult and requires specialized equipment and training. There is no reliable way to DIY it, unless you have a couple of years training in a microbiology lab. Of course the local water works in any first world country test the water every day at the water production station, but a common failure mode is that sewage and water lines run in the same ditch, and both suffer a breach. For this reason, water works are typically very interested in receiving reports from the public and testing samples. For Amsterdam, two minutes on Google tells me you should contact Waternet. I also found a service page where you can check whether your area is within a known fault, a and submit your complaint/info. Google Translate works well for reading this: https://www.waternet.nl/service-en-contact/problemen-met-water/ https://www.waternet.nl/service-en-contact/problemen-met-wat...
- theli0nheart 5y ago> The local authorities are the ones you should be reaching out to here, not random Amazon test kits. Testing for microbial contamination is difficult and requires specialized equipment and training. There is no reliable way to DIY it, unless you have a couple of years training in a microbiology lab. Absolutely not. Remember what happened in Flint, MI? Moreover, there can be hyperlocal differences in water quality due to factors outside of a water utility's control, such as old pipes. The best approach is to find an independent, non-government associated testing facility and send them your water for a fee. They have high-end equipment that no consumer would reasonably want to acquire and will provide unbiased results.
- semi-extrinsic 5y agoNote that I wrote "in any first world country". I'm sorry if your country does not qualify as such. Then the best solution is to keep paying for bottled water, or to move. I'm not being flippant here. If, on a general basis, you can't trust the country where you live to provide you with access to clean drinking water, then you have literally failed the UN's Sustainable Development Goal no. 6: "By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all." This is something that every nation on earth aims to achieve during this decade.
- philipps 5y agoTap water in Amsterdam is tested daily and perfectly safe for drinking: https://www.waternet.nl/en/service-and-contact/tap-water/can-you-drink-tap-water-in-amsterdam/ https://www.waternet.nl/en/service-and-contact/tap-water/can...
- Retric 5y agoEven if you don’t trust tap water, reusable 5 gallon jugs are still a much cheaper and more environmentally friendly option. As to everyone getting sick at the same time, that’s likely a function of your move. Moving long distances to a new area means being exposed to a huge range of new microbes. It’s very common to get sick in the first several months as your immune system adapts.
- pajko 5y agoAs a temporary solution Brita water filter might help. For the longer term, you could install a reverse osmosis water purifier in the kitchen sink. https://www.thespruce.com/best-reverse-osmosis-systems-4586893 https://www.thespruce.com/best-reverse-osmosis-systems-45868...
- jules 5y agoThis was tested and they found that this made the water quality worse, because the Dutch tap water is already of high quality and the water filter makes it dirtier because bacteria start to grow on it after a while. In fact, the water company filters the water through the same type of activated carbon filter, except that the filter in the Brita is at best a couple of centimeters long whereas the filter of the water company is 2x250 centimeters long (and they use other filtration steps, not just activated carbon).
- syntaxing 5y agoInteresting situation. Is there a particular reason a reverse osmosis filter isn’t a good possibility? I guess the better test would of been to have half the family keep on drinking tap water and see if anything changes but at the expense of the control group.
- pomian 5y agoCity tap water in Europe and North America is regularly tested for common parameters and yearly, more or less, for most other constituents(pollutants, minerals, chemicals etc.) It is very very unlikely you got sick from the tap water. If you want to test your own water, find an "environmental laboratory". Communicate with them, they will help you decide which range of tests. They will also provide you with the appropriate sample bottles. (There are organic and inorganic parameters with different protocols for sampling.) It won't be cheap however. Especially one time testing. You can spend anywhere from ($CAD) 50-150 for inorganic tests (arsenic, lead, etc.) And 150 - 500+ for organic tests ( DDT, PCB, etc etc.) Cheap and easy - but all cities do it all the time, is hardness, pH, etc. If you are suddenly sick it is likely organic, and most likely biological (bacteria, virus.) Also most likely from food. But, it is fun to test your water, and interesting. (Same with the soil around you.) The world around us complex and the interweaving of systems is fascinating; as is our infrastructure to allow city living. (Source for my diatribe: 20+years Environmental Engineer)
- tomjakubowski 5y agoThe city may well test tap water and find it to be safe, but this testing wouldn't account for contamination that happens downstream from their systems, e.g. caused by poor building plumbing.
- Xylakant 5y agoI’m on the equivalent of a HOA in Berlin, and we are required by law to have periodic checks of the tap water, mostly for Legionella bacteria but afaik also general water quality.
- rrrrrrrrrrrryan 5y agoProper testing includes samples from the faucets of random households. California cities do it every year, and the results are public: just look up "water quality report" or "consumer confidence report" + your city.
- jozvolskyef 5y agoIn 2015, approximately 11000 people got sick in Dejvice, Prague 6, after wastewater contaminated the fresh water supply[1]. I was out of town, but when I returned in 2016/2017, the incident was still fresh in people's memories and their water consumption patterns clearly changed in favour of bottled water. [1]: https://vodnihospodarstvi.cz/dejvicka-havarie-a-epidemie-nebyla-nahoda/ https://vodnihospodarstvi.cz/dejvicka-havarie-a-epidemie-neb...
- msie 5y agoAt least in Britain, if there are separate taps for hot and cold, you shouldn't trust drinking from the hot tap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfHgUu_8KgA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfHgUu_8KgA
- leipert 5y agoOur rental agreement (Germany) actually contains instructions on how to ensure that a certain kind of bacteria (legionella) doesn’t build up in the apartments plumbing. If you are gone for > 7 days, open your taps on the hottest setting and let them run for 2 or 3 minutes. Let them run for a minute on the cold setting. If you have a house rather than an apartment, maybe check whether there is any filtering system installed that would need a potential replacement.
- sershe 5y agoA typical thing they do in less developed countries where tap water is decent but not quite reliable enough is either install an in-line filter for drinking water, or get a pitcher filter (like a Brita).