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Brushing with tap water in Vietnam...

Last activity 26 September 2012 by saigonmonkey

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johnnywastaken

I don't know if this has been covered before... but I was curious as to if other expats brush their teeth with normal tap water...

I've lived as an expat for many years in various Asian countries... and brushing with normal tap water has never given me any ill effects... I do however have two close expat friends who hail from a European country I won't name...(UK)... and they both swear that bottled water is the way to go to avoid any parasites...

Now bare in mind... that I'm only referring to rinsing and spitting...and not actually consuming water straight from the tap in Vietnam.....

laidbackfreak

It's been covered a few times and it shouldn't be a problem. Depending on ywher eyou live.
I brush with tap water no worries and even drink the stuff without worries depending on where I am.

johnnywastaken

The water meets standards when it leaves the filtration stations - it's tested daily.

In Ho Chi Minh City it gets polluted when it enters the ground storage tanks of older buildings.

Since the water mains pressure is only sufficient to lift it approximately 30-40 feet, depending how high above river level you are, it is usual practice to have the street water enter a ground tank - modern buildings use stainless steel - at which point it is pumped to the roof tank where it is gravity fed back down to taps. faucets, etc.

For example, the underground water tank in the Caravelle has newts swimming in their water tank. Several other hotels are as bad. (Not the Sheraton as it was built new foe the Westin before it changed signs.)

In the country areas the water can't even ,make it 20 feet above ground, often less. In these systems it is common for ground or standing water to leak INTO the water pipes.

I have always drunk TP HCM water ever since I have been in VietNam - it was the Americans gift to the city, clean water!

Some people, often Chinese, boil the water, then store it in the fridge.

Ha Noi water contains high levels of natural arsenic - it is the only city I buy bottled water in, even boiling is no good.

saigonmonkey

Tapwater here may be clean with regard to microbes and parasites, but it TASTES terrible at my place. I rinse my toothbrush with it, but rinse my mouth with bottled water. Also, we cook with tapwater, but I make my coffee with bottled water. I guess the flavor of the food masks the water flavor, but I can taste it when my coffee is made from it. We live on the 5th floor of a 5 year-old building. Maybe we have one of those underground tanks with newt poop in it.

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