Bali water gets all clear

balinews

balinews

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West Australians travelling to Bali are being discouraged from drinking the water despite new tests suggesting the quality is comparable with Perth water.

An investigation by Channel 7's Today Tonight tested Balinese showers, taps, swimming pools, Kuta beach, ice and a popular water park and found the water was essentially as good as what holidaymakers would find at home.

Australian water standards use a bacteria test known as most probable number, with a level of less than 150MPN per 100ml considered safe for swimming pools and a level less than 2MPN safe for drinking water.

Samples taken from a Balinese tap, shower, hotel pool and ice water returned less than 2MPN. Only a sample from the ocean returned a result above 2MPN. Testing of taps and a swimming pool in Perth produced comparable results.

But Pro Micro consultant microbiologist Ed Reed said the results did not mean tourists should drink the water in Bali because MPN levels could vary depending on where they were staying.
"Theoretically, it's good enough to drink but . . . not everyone would have had the results that you've got," he told Today Tonight last night. "Stick to bottled water."

Bali water gets OK with a warning - The West Australian
 
I cooked with tap water the other day and didn't bring it to a full boil and got the shits the next day, and I have a pretty iron stomach. I still wouldn't be drinking tap water in Bali no matter what a report says.
 
I make my IndoCafe latte every morning with boiled tap water, have done so for the past 6 months. Any needle in the house would need to have an eye the size of the Arc de Triumph before I started getting worried! :icon_wink:
 
thanks for the description CanonMan! :icon_twisted:

I seem to be okay with the tap water - I just don't drink it without boiling it. I use it for cooking, teeth etc etc.
 
yes, I wash my salads and fruits with it. Ours is well water : but just in the last couple of days 3 people have died in Cuba from cholera due to contaminated well water. And the Cubans are very careful with their water ....... so I am having second thoughts!
 
The difference between Perth water and Bali water is that in Perth, the water authority is obliged to do regular testing and if it should go over the limits, they are obliged to raise alerts. In Bali, while the small number of tests done for the article shows the water to be OK, there are no regular tests or alerts. So the advise to drink bottled water is prudent. Boiled water (boil for 1 minute) will be just as good.
 
ronb said:
The difference between Perth water and Bali water is that in Perth, the water authority is obliged to do regular testing and if it should go over the limits, they are obliged to raise alerts. In Bali, while the small number of tests done for the article shows the water to be OK, there are no regular tests or alerts. So the advise to drink bottled water is prudent. Boiled water (boil for 1 minute) will be just as good.
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And is it not true that town water in Bali comes from many different sources and that testing the water locally doesn't give a picture of the water quality "in Bali"? And, of course, every well is different from every other well. All bets are off when it comes to well water, especially in densely populated areas. There isn't a sewerage system in Bali. It is all seeping into the ground and hitting the water table.
 
About 17 years ago they started a treatment system using the mangrove swamp on the right hand side on the way to Sanur, this was to be combined with a landfill also. It progressed for a few years but it built around so back in April I could not see if it was still being used. This was supposed to create a simple sewage treatment system as used in parts of India (they breed fish in them for eating)Part of the issue in Bali is the poor quality of the underground infrastructure, if the mains water supply pipe has any breaches and there is leaching present from septic tank systems it is easy for cross contamination to occur. A large scale Waste Water Treatment Plant needs to be developed to move the island away from it's dependence on septic tanks and then the upgrade of the mains water supply will be sucessful.
 
The mangrove swamp on the right hand side on the way to Sanur?

Isnt this where the biggest rubbish tip / rubbish land fill site in Bali also is?

You mean adjacent Serangan?

I didnt know they did water treatment there alongside the tip (if true).

I dont think there is anyway the water suplly / sewerage system can be fixed. For one, there is no service corridor on Bali streets (in Oz this is the footpath beside the road....under which all the pipes / services are buried). Here everything is under the roads on which we drive, meaning any work that needs to be done means cutting up the roads.
 
That the one, there was going to be a waterway system so the leachate from the rubbish would be treated.
All I saw a number of years back were fires burning away rubbish.
 
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