Korean Job Discussion Forums

[stellarsky627]

So what does everyone do about drinking water? Do you order it somehow? Or just buy bottled water? Or do you drink the faucet water?

What I find really odd is that I never see people who buy Brita Water Pitchers, is this not a common thing in Korea? I have Brita Water Pitcher and it has a filter that filters my tap water and the clean water stays in the fridge in the pitcher. It saves so much money as I only need to buy filters for it. I feel like bottled water can get expensive.

I'm moving to Korea soon, so I just wonder what my options are. Thanks!

[Senior]

Ahhh, the age old question.

Bottled or tap?

I believe that most tap water is safe to drink. The water in my building doesn't taste good though. I generally drink bottled, but I really need to look into a better option. Disposing of the bottles is a pain, as I drink at least one 2 liter bottle a day.

I understand that brita filters are available, but I don't know what they are or how they work. Might look into it.

EDIT: Just read the wikipedia page on Brita filters. It says they are not suitable for microbiologically unsafe water. I don't think most Korean tap water meets that criteria. I've drunk plenty of it with no ill effects. It just doesn't taste good to me.

[yeti08]

I drink the tap water on occasion, and have been told if you're in the big cities it's certainly safe. The tap water does not taste good, so bottled is the best option. Buy them in the 6 pack cases and save yourself a bit.

Cheers.

[egrog1717]

I've got a Kenwood pitcher I picked up at Costco for 40k... A year's supply worth of filters for it is 25k... Has worked great

[crossmr]

I have a Brita. My tap water has been tested though and it was fine. I'm not sure why it was tested but shortly after I moved in someone showed up from the city and tested it.

[ticktocktocktick]

I order this stuff. 12 Bottles for w5000.


http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=175093067&pos_shop_cd=EN&pos_class_cd=90000003&pos_class_kind=T

[rickpidero]

I live in Incheon, I've been drinking tap water for 9 months. I'm not dead.

[crossmr]

[jonpurdy]

Tap water is generally safe, though I've heard some things about there possibly being bacteria and such in there. The safest and cheapest thing would be to boil your water, then use a Brita to make it taste better. The least effort would be to just buy bottled water.

I currently buy bottled water to drink straight but use tap water for cooking and tea.

[rickpidero]

[Michael_75]

Get your employer to order a cooler for you, like you get in offices. The people who supply that will also deliver the big bottles on a regular basis and collect the old ones. Cheaper than buying bottles from the shop - it cost me 20k upfront for the cooler rental/deposit (not sure if I get that back) plus around 12k a month for the water deliveries.

[warmachinenkorea]

There are water filter rentals. We drink a lot of water and got tired of buying the bottles. We rent a conter top filter that is from Woongjin. It's around 30,000 a month. It hooks to your sink and they come and maintence every 3 months.

[revelation2221]

I, and just about everyone I know, drinks tap water. It might not taste the best, but I don't know anyone who's gotten sick from it, and you get used to the taste anyway.

[Globutron]

I don't like it. Now in the heat, the water is so warm, and it smells weird, and tastes of nothing, so I don't drink it. Like someone else said, I use it for hot chocolate, cooking etc, but straight drinking I use bottles.

Although I only drink about 500ml of anything a day. Can't be healthy but it's so time consuming to have to drink and eat.

[warmachinenkorea]