Tap water-> Safe?

12POSTS

14 years ago

Hi everyone,

I am new here聽 and this is my new post.

I just heard from a friend today that it is not safe to drink or cook from tap water in Riyadh. Is it true?聽 She told me to buy the big water bottles for cooking. Are these bottles safe, because there is nothing written on them.

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LoopyLou87 Serial expat

526POSTS

14 years ago

Plenty of people use the tap water, if you are wanting it for drinking then bottled water is better in any country i have been to anyway, but, i havent heard of anyone die from drinking it. and if you are cooking you are boiling it anyway so whats the problem with that??

Alliecat ViP

8790POSTS

14 years ago

I use it all the time for cooking, tea, etc.

yazi.malik Active member

58POSTS

14 years ago

I personally use bottle water for drinking and cooking...

Alliecat ViP

8790POSTS

14 years ago

yazi.malik wrote:
I personally use bottle water for drinking and cooking...

So everytime you make pasta you use bottled water?

limk56 New member

7POSTS

14 years ago

i have been using it since 1983 although i did grow horns and a tail otherwise there are no drawbacks

pepora Member

12POSTS

14 years ago

My friend told me that water in Riyadh contains heavy metals.

I am for the moment using tap water, but she advised me to use the big bottles of water (you need a special machine that has a tap to use them, you place the big bottle on the machine)

There are companies here in Riyadh that offers to fill your bottles for 5 Riyals each. I am just worried about which water they use to fill the bottles because nothing is written on these bottles. Anyone here has already used these bottles and knows from where they get the water?

Calm-guy Active member

84POSTS

14 years ago

for drinking and tea.. I use bottles.. otherwise I use tap water!

yazi.malik Active member

58POSTS

14 years ago

pepora wrote:
My friend told me that water in Riyadh contains heavy metals.

I am for the moment using tap water, but she advised me to use the big bottles of water (you need a special machine that has a tap to use them, you place the big bottle on the machine)

There are companies here in Riyadh that offers to fill your bottles for 5 Riyals each. I am just worried about which water they use to fill the bottles because nothing is written on these bottles. Anyone here has already used these bottles and knows from where they get the water?

You can always use Nestle Purified Water, they are international brand that I am sure will give you details about its water...

Ackeles Contributor

182POSTS

14 years ago

#10

i dont think there is a problem with the tap water here in riyadh .. many people use (including me) for tea o cooking, etc .
i use bottle water for drinking ..

Calm-guy Active member

84POSTS

14 years ago

#11

Ackeles wrote:
i dont think there is a problem with the tap water here in riyadh .. many people use (including me) for tea o cooking, etc .
i use bottle water for drinking ..

Tap water changes the taste of the tea.. try making it by bottle water and see the difference!

Alliecat ViP

8790POSTS

14 years ago

#12

Calm-guy wrote:
Tap water changes the taste of the tea.. try making it by bottle water and see the difference!

On my compound, perhaps there is a filtration system because it tastes the same to me.

RedGoblin ViP

1229POSTS

14 years ago

#13

In riyadh, some areas do have good tap water. the municipal lines provide good water. there are other areas where they bring in water in tankers. And the water cannot be trusted then, since the water could be different with different batches.
The easiest way. take a small sip of the water. if it tastes in any way oddish, dont use it for consumption. Else use it to cook, like somebody said, the boiling will kill everything else in it.
For plain drinking, go for Nestle, or there are some other companies that provide you with the 5 gallon bottles. And some deliver them to your place as well. There is no need to invest in any machine to get the water out either. there are pumps that are like 15 riyals that do this just fine!

riyadh11 Active member

86POSTS

14 years ago

#14

50% of the tap water here in Riyadh is desalinated and the rest are treated wastewater and sewerage. More information here:

As we know, raw bottled water still comes from tap water but the fact that it goes through stages of filtration and purification, it's safer, but as everyone would attest, that doesn't make "some" areas of Riyadh's tap water unsafe. But for this, you will have to know which are those areas- so bottomline for me, just use bottled water.

imraan007 Serial expat

428POSTS

14 years ago

#15

the acceptable aesthetic level for drinking water is 100 TDS (total dense solids), well water and desalinated water may go much higher than this, some villages drinking river water can go as high as 1000. boiling water does not affect the TDS level, unless distilled. human maybe be able to tolerate high TDS but may not be necessarily safe, eg. desalinated water causing diarheoa or in the 1800's drinkink water contaminated with sewage in England causing cholera. I am certain that most water treating facilities minimize problems. we did unofficial tests in our hospital and found the TDS to be less than 60, showing good results.

TheLegendLeads ViP

5763POSTS

14 years ago

#16

I have found Southern part of the city having tap water taste different from other areas. That is the area where all the sewerage + factory waste water flows down to (altitude). (and recycling, purifying plants are all there). But in overall, the tap water can be used safely in Riyadh.

If you really need purified better-taste water, any white bottles with no labels must not be relied upon. As someone said above, trust Nestle for drinking purposes (or Manhal which is processed by the same company and is the most used and demanded).

amegy Active member

81POSTS

14 years ago

#17

I'd wash my clothes in bottled water if I could! Definitetly drink, cook and even rinse your fruits and veggies with bottled water.聽 My problem with the water here is not the desalination or source.聽 It's the fact that it has to go through those house tanks before one uses it.聽 Have you ever tried filling up a bucket with tap water and let it stand for a day? Try it! You'll be disgusted, especially during sand-storms season.

别=尘肠虏 New member

9POSTS

13 years ago

#18

As someone said above that water in Riyadh contains heavy metals, it is true, be warned if you are pregnant.....
It's true that heavy metals cause lot of desasters...... , most are dangerous for kidneys, and many others troubles of healthy. To be sur, i'll go to the lab for checking the composition of tap water.

runnertattoogirl Active member

85POSTS

13 years ago

#19

We use tap water for cooking and tea without any issues.聽 But as the others have said.. we drink bottled water (either Aquafina or Nestle).

Martin Fin Serial expat

337POSTS

13 years ago

#20

In the main if you pardon the pun, there is no mains water in Riyadh as such. The water comes from desalination plants on the coast and it is piped to Riyadh. The water is of very high quality when it arrives. However the water then gets pumped into tankers of dubious quality then pumped into holding tanks through hoses that if it is anything like my compound the hose sits coiled on the side of the compound wall next to the road until the next time, the tanks are filled.

Some places like the DQ do have mains water, I am not sure if that comes directly from the desalination plant I suspect not so even though it is from the water towers it is still of dubious quality.

If the water has any heavy metals in it it will be from the holding tank for that compound / housing not from the source water, so if it is tested and found I would go directly to the tank and get that checked.

So in conclusion Tap water here is OK for cooking with as long as it is boiled. washing veg and fruit should be done with bottled or cool boiled water. Washing cloths can be with tap water.

Cleaning of teeth you should consider using bottled water.

Regards

Martin

azhar_bf Contributor

161POSTS

13 years ago

#21

here you go. get a filter connected to the tap water and then you can use it for cooking. for drinking buy the bottled water. the transparent ones. they are good.

saimans Guest

0POSTS

13 years ago

#22

Martin Fin wrote:
In the main if you pardon the pun, there is no mains water in Riyadh as such. The water comes from desalination plants on the coast and it is piped to Riyadh. The water is of very high quality when it arrives. However the water then gets pumped into tankers of dubious quality then pumped into holding tanks through hoses that if it is anything like my compound the hose sits coiled on the side of the compound wall next to the road until the next time, the tanks are filled.

Freshlikesushi ViP

1455POSTS

13 years ago

#23

amegy wrote:
I'd wash my clothes in bottled water if I could! Definitetly drink, cook and even rinse your fruits and veggies with bottled water.聽 My problem with the water here is not the desalination or source.聽 It's the fact that it has to go through those house tanks before one uses it.聽 Have you ever tried filling up a bucket with tap water and let it stand for a day? Try it! You'll be disgusted, especially during sand-storms season.

LOL @ you

meem0 Active member

85POSTS

13 years ago

#24

It wouldn't kill you to drink from tap water, but it is better to use the bottled stuff for drinking purposes.

Like Alliecat said, maybe theres a filtration system happening on some compounds but when I fill a glass of tap water here it always comes out somewhat cloudy

Aminstar2 Serial expat

252POSTS

13 years ago

#25

Through the expereince of people I know who are living in different spots in Riyadh, If your building is in downtown and you receive the water from the National Water Company through cubic meter counting meters, this water is not drinkable and it contains a lot of dust and salt and when you use for dish washing you can notice a white film covering the transparent dishes and cups, and it is not healthy for hair shower. While, if your building uses water tanks vehicles to fill the underground tank of your building every few days then that water is drinkable.
Some of my friends who moved from tank water to metered water building noticed how worse the metered water is.

Martin Fin Serial expat

337POSTS

13 years ago

#26

Aminstar2 wrote:
Through the expereince of people I know who are living in different spots in Riyadh, If your building is in downtown and you receive the water from the National Water Company through cubic meter counting meters, this water is not drinkable and it contains a lot of dust and salt and when you use for dish washing you can notice a white film covering the transparent dishes and cups, and it is not healthy for hair shower. While, if your building uses water tanks vehicles to fill the underground tank of your building every few days then that water is drinkable.
Some of my friends who moved from tank water to metered water building noticed how worse the metered water is.

I wouldn't drink any of it my friend!

Water storage in tanks, can have anything in it from insects to more unpalatable matter. Also you have no idea what the tank is made from, what state of repair or when it was last cleaned!

Bottled water for me! But even then you need to check the plastic and make sure that it has a low number on it they number from 1-6 six being the poorest quality plastic and chemicals from that leach into the water.

The number is embossed on the bottom of the bottle either in the middle of the re-cycling triangle or in a circle.

Regards

M

Martin Fin Serial expat

337POSTS

13 years ago

#27

azhar_bf wrote:
here you go. get a filter connected to the tap water and then you can use it for cooking. for drinking buy the bottled water. the transparent ones. they are good.

You need to replace the filter based on litres of water flow through or every few months (check the instructions) otherwise they become more dangerous than drinking from an open sewer!

M

Aminstar2 Serial expat

252POSTS

13 years ago

#28

Martin Fin wrote:
[
I wouldn't drink any of it my friend!

Water storage in tanks, can have anything in it from insects to more unpalatable matter. Also you have no idea what the tank is made from, what state of repair or when it was last cleaned!

Bottled water for me! But even then you need to check the plastic and make sure that it has a low number on it they number from 1-6 six being the poorest quality plastic and chemicals from that leach into the water.

The number is embossed on the bottom of the bottle either in the middle of the re-cycling triangle or in a circle.

Regards

M

Thannks for the info Martin.

I, myself, don't drink tap water neither cook or make tea with it for the reasons you mentioned. I use the 5 gallon bottled water.

Thanks

abdulmuheed Member

1POSTS

9 years ago

#29

Thanks for d info...senior...

N.H.HAJI New member

6POSTS

9 years ago

#30

avoid using tap water for drinking purposes... however for cooking i sometime use it.... you can buy a filter from saco which filters running tap water

skhurram007 Serial expat

410POSTS

9 years ago

#31

I personally know a family who use to drink line water; not tap water. They use to have bottles (water dispenser bottles) and use to fill them with line water when the water is flowing in. Technically they were using the same water that comes from the tap but before it goes to underground and then over head tanks. Health wise and growth wise his kids are above average with no serious problems.

So I can say in that case they were drinking without any issues by just avoiding drinking the water coming through the underground and over head storage tanks.

Omreel Member

1POSTS

9 years ago

#32

riazcdki Serial expat

900POSTS

9 years ago

#33

Hello friends,

Hydrology, Reverse Osmosis and mineral water is my specialty.

i would not want to bore people with general lecture and will restrict my self to 'if tap water is suitable for drinking in Riyadh'.

a) One needs to 'get used' or ' get immuned' to certain quality of water of tap water. Expats spending lot of time in a third world country will have no problems.

b) Boiling any water will kill all living organisms and bacteria. Secondly boiling converts 'temporary hard ' water to normal water hence making it potable and drinkable. therefore there is no need to use bottled water for cooking and tea/ coffee.

c) Lots of 'Domestic Reverse Osmosis units' are available throughout the world costing USD 160 to USD 350 which fit under your kitchen sink and have 6 to seven stage filtration, RO , Ultra Violet light and Ionization. These come in 25 to 100 gpd (gallon per day) capacities.

This unit will reduce water TDS (total desolved solids) or salinity level from 300 to under 10 (which is theoretically zero tds) or distilled water. if you buy one of these, you could use the water for cooking and drinking and even putting in car batteries.