Salty Tap Water

My mom likes to travel to Thailand. All the food, people and beaches are lovely there except she does not like the drinking water there. Every time, she needs to buy the bottled water instead of getting the drinking water directly from the kitchen faucet.

Sanitation and hygiene have improved in the past 20 years for the nearly 70 million people that live in Thailand. However, prior to 2000, many people lived without access to basic hygiene necessities or clean drinking water. Irregular flood and drought patterns continue to pose a significant threat to the country’s water resources, making the issue of water quality in Thailand a crucial one to address. Major water quality problems in Thailand’s rivers are dissolved oxygen depletion, fish kills, high ammonia nitrogen, high coliform bacteria, and eutrophication phenomena.

Approximately 43 million people in Thailand drink contaminated water, which can cause diseases like diarrhea, typhoid, and dysentery. Poor sanitation and hygiene, combined with low water quality, spread diseases to the people living there.

Water quality in Thailand varies throughout the country. The tap water there is used for everything but drinking.Due to the continued presence of sea water and river water, the tap water in some areas has a salty taste, and the salty smell cannot be eliminated by boiling the tap water.

The spokesperson of the Metropolitan Water Authority, said, “People in good health can drink it as usual, but it is best to adjust their food intake; people with chronic diseases should avoid it.” People with kidney or heart disease, or patients with high blood pressure or diabetes, as well as the elderly, infants and small pets, should avoid drinking tap water directly. And he also said that even if you boil tap water, the salty taste will not disappear, because boiling will only evaporate the water, but make the salt more concentrated.

The residents have to rely on water purifiers, drinking water machines, and bottled water for purified water. Unfortunately, not all people can afford to buy purified water. Hopefully, when the rainy season comes, the situation can be ratified.