Household water in Bali

Andynice

Andynice

Member
Hi all
I have a few questions about the household water in Bali
What water supply do you use ground water or water from PDAM ?
Is the quality of the water good ?
Do you use some kind of water treatment system ?
If yes are you satisfied with the water after treatment ?
Last maybe a silly question when you brush your teethes do you use water from the tap or bottled water ?
I have the feeling the water isn't good in my neighbourhood and i don't want my two daughters to get sick or anybody else.
Thanks in advance for reply
Best regards
Andy
 
We are using PDAM, it is clean and had no problems up to now (1 year)
No treatment
You can brush your teethes. NO drinking
We use bottled water for cooking but many people use also tap water for cooking, we will not.
 
In Bali we use PDAM like Lumumba we use it to brush our teeth and use bottle water for cooking.

In Lombok we have a combination, well water after the rainy season, around October/November the well goes dry and we use PDAM but in Lombok in the dry season they only turn the water on every few days for a few hours so you have to fill up everything while you can. If we run short we have to buy a tanker of water which is collected from nearby rivers and when things are really bad we fill one of the tanks with buckets of water from a nearby stream. Water or lack of it is a big problem in South Lombok. But the same there we brush our teeth in it but drink and cook with bottled water.
 
We use PDAM. The water is clean but sometimes has a strong chlorine taste that is obvious in a cup of tea. So we use bottled water for tea/coffee, but tap water for cooking veges. Yes I have always used tap water for brushing teeth. Mostly you spit it out so the amount you swallow is probably less than 10 ml. If the water had contaminants that may give you gastro after drinking half a litre or so - drinking 10 ml should be OK. The same argument goes for rinsing veges.
 
Thanks for the reply Lumumba, Mimpimanis and Ronb
In our house we only have groundwater, after we take showers and when the water dries it's always a with layer on the bathrooms tiles and sometimes a funny taste when brushing teethes.
Mimpimanis its' have to be very difficult in Lombok during the dry season
Andy
 
Hi Andynice
we have groundwater (luckily). Cause as I can see at other neighbours around the supply of PDAM is very poor (=zero) especially during peak hours, i.e. in the morning and in the evening.

We use our tapewater just for shower and for cleaning teeth etc but never for cooking or prepairing tea or coffee - and no problems up to now. Nobody got sick the last 5 years.

Yeah and I also give a chloride tablet every 4 or 6 weeks into my water tank as a treatment against algas.
 
wepro said:
I can see at other neighbours around the supply of PDAM is very poor (=zero) especially during peak hours, i.e. in the morning and in the evening.
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I have experience with PDAM supply at 2 properties in the north. At one, the pressure is good almost all the time - not need for a pump. At the other the pressure is lower and may fade at times of peak demand, so here we have a 600 litre tank being filled from PDAM and the a booster pump to make sure you get a good shower.
 
Doesn't anyone use UV treatment or even RO? That way you can have totally clean and drinkable water all year round. Apparently.
 
i look after several combination RO/UV water plants where i work in Indonesia. ITs not worth the maintenance and effort you put into them when comparing this with the price of drinking water in Indo. Having said that, ive seen the state of some of the filtered water top up stations around Bali.......its shocking. I personally wouldnt go to any of these little top up stations around the place.I buy bottled water from the larger trusted brands - not back yard top up stations.

I have a bottle set up in the kitchen for drinking water via the chilled aqua dispenser, and another elevated above the sink for washing fruit, rinsing off glasses etc. I use the regular well (tap) water for brushing my teeth.

With the way most household water systems in Bali are built (very little segregation between waste water/sewerage pits and water wells and contaminant leaching)its almost worth having a filtration unit even for your shower water if you use a well. Bali is headed for massive water problems in the next few years.

It really all depends on where you live and how your well is set up in relation to your waste water pits. Im in seminyak where space is scarce,,,and we have a water well and waste water quite close to each other. you can bet your bottom dollar the well is as shallow as economically possible, and that im showering in my own poo. I dont really mind as im not swallowing the stuff when i shower.
 
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The waste and sewage problem in Bali is really alarming. As more and more "high maintenance" house holds are appearing (mainly in the southern parts) it sure is headed for disaster. Is anyone even *trying* to do something about it? If the government is not doing it, somebody else will have to, but I guess the risk of investment vs profitable outcome in such a large undertaking is not attracting the big wallets out there.
 
matto said:
i look after several combination RO/UV water plants where i work in Indonesia. ITs not worth the maintenance and effort you put into them when comparing this with the price of drinking water in Indo. Having said that, ive seen the state of some of the filtered water top up stations around Bali.......its shocking. I personally wouldnt go to any of these little top up stations around the place.I buy bottled water from the larger trusted brands - not back yard top up stations.

I have a bottle set up in the kitchen for drinking water via the chilled aqua dispenser, and another elevated above the sink for washing fruit, rinsing off glasses etc. I use the regular well (tap) water for brushing my teeth.

With the way most household water systems in Bali are built (very little segregation between waste water/sewerage pits and water wells and contaminant leaching)its almost worth having a filtration unit even for your shower water if you use a well. Bali is headed for massive water problems in the next few years.

It really all depends on where you live and how your well is set up in relation to your waste water pits. Im in seminyak where space is scarce,,,and we have a water well and waste water quite close to each other. you can bet your bottom dollar the well is as shallow as economically possible, and that im showering in my own poo. I dont really mind as im not swallowing the stuff when i shower.
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So do you think you could you use either RO or UV/carbon filter as a safe alternative for crystal clear drinking water via a well IF the well was dug far enough away from the septics? ( forgetting price of maintenance for a moment
and comparison with big brand bottled water).
 
Sure you can, thats what we do here at work, but were in the jungle so pollution not a problem

You should have your water tested pre and post filtration to be sure.

Dont forget that if your neighbour has his sceptic leaching into his water supply, youll probably be affected too. You dont get out of it that easy!

Thats why testing is important.

I personally wouldnt think about it unless i was on my own land and had quite a bit of it away from everyone else....but even then its not economically viable. And some basic mechanical/electrical aptitude to look after one of these systems correctly is a big help too.
 
Cheers Hinakos.

Isn't RO pretty safe even if the neighbours sewerage is close to my well? Especially if I was to ZAP it with UV after RO or the UV unecessary after RO?
 
Kura Kura said:
Isn't RO pretty safe even if the neighbours sewerage is close to my well? Especially if I was to ZAP it with UV after RO or the UV unecessary after RO?
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No I think not. Any purification system will only be getting rid of some %age of bacteria (maybe 99% or similar), so if the initial contamination is extreme, then the 1% getting though can be dangerous. There is a long article on Reverse Osmosis (RO) in wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_osmosis
This quote from that article is interesting:

In practice, a fraction of the living bacteria can and do pass through RO membranes through minor imperfections, or bypass the membrane entirely through tiny leaks in surrounding seals. Thus, complete RO systems may include additional water treatment stages that use ultraviolet light or ozone to prevent microbiological contamination.
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ronb said:
No I think not. Any purification system will only be getting rid of some %age of bacteria (maybe 99% or similar), so if the initial contamination is extreme, then the 1% getting though can be dangerous. There is a long article on Reverse Osmosis (RO) in wikipedia at Reverse osmosis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This quote from that article is interesting:
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That makse sense. So the only real alternative is to make sure the well is dug a lot deeper than the neighbours sewerage and far enough away and then use UV. Not really contemplating doing any of this, just find it all interesting and sort of wondering why some of the more "exclusive" villas don't provide that feature for their guests. Maybe they already do.
 
We use RO plants at the gold mine that i work at. Feed water is from ground bores, with TDS nearly 1000 times more salty than sea water. These units treat the salty water and its used to provide potable water to 500 people and the plant use as well.
 
Why would exclusive villas spend a fortune on water filtration rather than do it the cheap easy way?

The water isnt any better through these machines in general. Its dead water, no minerals, no nothing in it.

I take mineral supplements here to supplement all the magnesium and other goodies that filtration removes.
 
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South of perth there are 3 large desalination plants, using the sea water as its source of feed water. It is just lots of RO {reverse osmosis} plants producing drinking water for population. As the summers slowly get hotter and the winters dryer, I predict more of these desal plants will emerge.
Bali is surrounded by the sea. These plants could be used to water most of the island via pipeline. Maybe could be a project for you Markit, after you finish that great looking house!
 
Desal uses a stack of energy/fuel in the conversion process (a lot of high pressure pumps squeezing water through membranes). Bali's already short on electricity. Also, Indonesia is getting harder and harder on allowing foreign run projects to emerge here (despite what the media says). Makes it tough when the projects involve the latest technology, as de-sal does. Indonesia certainly doesnt posess this technology domestically. A lot of this laws they (indonesian lawmakers) enact are to their own detriment.....just look at the health system here, same deal. No foreign practitioners allowed.
 
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