Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Hans Blix]

periwinkle posted on another thread about contracting some intestinal parasite from drinking korean tap water.

dave's and google searching didn't reveal much, so share your opinions: just how safe is tap water here?

periwinkle and others - do you brush your teeth in it? do you hold your breath in the shower? do you avoid salads that may have been rinsed in untreated tap water?

lonely planet and joongang daily said don't drink it, but is that sufficient?

of course i realise this board is really a forum for leading biologists...

[bundangbum]

sorry it\'s just funny this thread coming from your user name.

[Hans Blix]

[Freezer Burn]

Team America F*ck Yeah!

[Free World]

I brush my teeth with it, and I don't hold my breath in the shower. I use it when I cook food and I use it as an ingredient in ramen, coffee, etc. (I assume that boiling kills anything that would make you sick.) I buy drinking water but other than that I use tap water for everything. I have only been here 3 months but I have yet to experience any ill effects caused by parasites.

[Real Reality]

Drinking water in Korea
Most Koreans opt for bottled or spring water
Korean tap water is certainly clean and safe for washing food and cooking, but in most cities, boiling it before drinking it from the tap is recommended by health experts.
JoongAng Daily (March 27, 2005)
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200503/27/200503271816271679900091009112.html

[EDITORIALS] A failed water quality plan
Paldang reservoir recorded 4.1 ppm in chemical oxygen demand, qualifying it as water for industrial use only. In other words, the reservior's water quality is heading towards excessive levels of eutrophication.
JoongAng Daily (February 17, 2005)
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200502/17/200502172301472339900090109011.html

39 people arrested for polluting Seoul's reservoir
The prosecution said yesterday it indicted 39 restaurant owners for contaminating a huge reservoir near Seoul with untreated sewage and erecting buildings on its shore without permission from the government.
The Seoul District Public Prosecutors' Office also said it imposed fines of 3 million won to 10 million won on another 35 restaurant owners on the same charges. The restaurant owners are accused of dumping untreated wastewater into the Paldang Reservoir 24 km east of Seoul and illegally building parking lots adjacent to their establishments.
The man-made reservoir is the main source of tap water for the Seoul metropolitan area.
by Joo Sang-min, The Korea Herald (November 4, 2002)
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2002/11/04/200211040039.asp

Supplying Harmful Service Water for Three Years
On April 1, it said, "We took disciplinary measures on 11 related officers, including the director of the Office of Waterworks, Lee Jin-suk, because it was revealed that they made up the results of the special inspection on service water."
According to Ulsan City, the Office of Waterworks examined Bumseo Filtration Plant in Ulju District and discovered that its civic water contained more boron (B), which could have negative effects on the digestive system, than the standard limit (0.3ppm). It also altered the number to 0.18ppm for June 2002 and March 2002 after inspecting the Bumseo clean water system. In addition, it didn't inform anything when it detected tetraclorodetilen which is classified as a carcinogen and harmful chemical object from underground water, at the Nongso Filtration Plant in the North District during July and December of 2001.
donga.com (April 01, 2004)
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?biid=2004040299698

Air and water: causes for concern
Although the number of water-source contamination accidents has dropped, eutrophication and green tide in the Han River's upstream sections -- Seoul's water source -- are recurring. Last November, prosecutors found that companies were discharging Formalin, a solution of formaldehyde with trace amounts of methanol, in the river's upper reaches.
Severe contamination of the upper river can adversely affect tap water. That's because the process of sterilizing contaminated water may bring about unwanted chemical reactions that produce undesirable residue. Without disinfection, however, the water is undrinkable because of viruses and bacteria.
"Increasing the amount of chlorine in the purification process to kill microorganisms could produce more carcinogenic residue," one researcher said.
by Kang Chan-su, Kwon Keun-young, JoongAng Daily (April 21, 2004)
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200404/21/200404212203389039900091009101.html

[buddy bradley]

I drink the tap water, and look at me! I'm macking, baby, macking!

[ontheway]

"Don't drink the water!"

That's what dozens of Koreans told me when I got here. Nobody said it was OK to drink and everyone claimed to only drink bottled water.

Baths and showers - yes. Teeth - ok, but don't swallow. (now there's a risky post!)

Many years ago, at one of my first jobs, the boss switched to home distilled water and refilled some of the big bottles that had originally come from a supplier. (penny wise/ pound foolish). I drank it. Got very sick. Then I found out about the switch. After that I bought my own water and canned coffee.

Why risk it. Bottled water is cheap.

[keithinkorea]

I can't see how anyone can drink the tap water here. It tastes absolutely foul and makes me want to gag.

I clean my teeth, shower and wash veggies in it but I don't even use the stuff for cooking pasta, rice, or making tea or coffee. Bottled water is cheap as another poster pointed out.

I wouldn't drink the tapwater unless I was dying of thirst and even then I'd make sure it was thoroughly boiled first.

[fidel]

Who says bottled water is safe? Where does this magical source of fresh clean water come from? How often are they tested?

My guess is that there is not a lot of regulation in the bottled water industry due to its rapid rise. That said I only drink bottled water though brush my teeth, wash vegetables, cook with tap water.

[joe_doufu]

[Hollywoodaction]

I got a UV lamp and filter installed. If the tap water wasn't safe to drink, it sure is now.

[periwinkle]

Thanks, R.R.- those were interesting links. No wonder I got sick if the restaurants were dumping raw sewage into the reservoir. GOD, some people have no conscience! F-ers. Were they really saving a lot of money by doing that?

[fidel]

[sheba]

I posted this in another thread, but It'll be good here too!

Among the more common infections that travelers can acquire from contaminated food and drink are Escherichia coli infections, shigellosis or bacillary dysentery, giardiasis, cryptosporidiosis, noroviruses, and hepatitis A. Other less common infectious disease risks for travelers include typhoid fever and other salmonelloses, cholera, rotavirus infections, and a variety of protozoan and helminthic parasites (other than those that cause giardiasis and cryptosporidiosis).

I found it in google, and by contaminated drink it was referring to tap water.