Thailand is a country with a lot of water. It has many rivers and dams, a 3200 km coastline and an annual rainfall average of around 200cm (up to 380cm in the south and as low as 
140cm in the drier northeast). Water is very important to Thai life, religion and culture. Two of the Thai's most famous religious festivals involve water - Loy Krathong in November, where ornamental floats are released on rivers and dams in reverence of the river gods and Songkraan in April, where sacred statues are ritually washed and the country enjoys the mother of all water fights for 3 days solid (as seen in the pic above).
In days gone by, before tarmac roads and the mass production of motorcars, rivers and canals were the only mode of transport. They were the main arteries along which commerce and hence, development, took place. Not for nothing, Bangkok was known as the "Venice of the East". A remnant of this is to be seen in the famous "floating market" outside Bangkok, a favourite stop for tourists to Thailand. Sadly, many of the canals in Bangkok have been filled in to make room for wider roads and pavements.
Water is also essential to the production of rice, of which Thailand is the world's largest producer.
With all this water, one would think that there is plenty to drink too. Not true. Drinking water in Thailand has to be bought in bottles. In large cities, such as Bangkok, municipal water is piped to homes. In most of the rest of the country, however, there is no municipal water and most folk use borehole water. The water-table is generally very high, so borehole water does not come from deep wells. The result, brown, brackish water that is not fit for consumption.
We use borehole water in our home. We have a large tank in the garden, into which the water is pumped (a float system keeps the tank at a certain level). When we turn on a tap in the house, the water gets pumped from the tank, through a large sand and charcoal filter and into the house. This water is used for all our household purposes, other than drinking.
(This photo shows the stainless steel tank on the left, the long, blue filter on the right and the borehole and house pumps in the foreground on the right - Emily in the middle)
For our drinking water we rely on "Uncle Taa".
He is our local water-man, who delivers water to our door in large plastic 20 liter bottles. A bottle like this costs 15 Baht (R 3.47 or US$ 0.50). This is municipal water that has been filtered (well, we trust that it has been filtered:-)
140cm in the drier northeast). Water is very important to Thai life, religion and culture. Two of the Thai's most famous religious festivals involve water - Loy Krathong in November, where ornamental floats are released on rivers and dams in reverence of the river gods and Songkraan in April, where sacred statues are ritually washed and the country enjoys the mother of all water fights for 3 days solid (as seen in the pic above).In days gone by, before tarmac roads and the mass production of motorcars, rivers and canals were the only mode of transport. They were the main arteries along which commerce and hence, development, took place. Not for nothing, Bangkok was known as the "Venice of the East". A remnant of this is to be seen in the famous "floating market" outside Bangkok, a favourite stop for tourists to Thailand. Sadly, many of the canals in Bangkok have been filled in to make room for wider roads and pavements.
Water is also essential to the production of rice, of which Thailand is the world's largest producer.
With all this water, one would think that there is plenty to drink too. Not true. Drinking water in Thailand has to be bought in bottles. In large cities, such as Bangkok, municipal water is piped to homes. In most of the rest of the country, however, there is no municipal water and most folk use borehole water. The water-table is generally very high, so borehole water does not come from deep wells. The result, brown, brackish water that is not fit for consumption.
We use borehole water in our home. We have a large tank in the garden, into which the water is pumped (a float system keeps the tank at a certain level). When we turn on a tap in the house, the water gets pumped from the tank, through a large sand and charcoal filter and into the house. This water is used for all our household purposes, other than drinking.
(This photo shows the stainless steel tank on the left, the long, blue filter on the right and the borehole and house pumps in the foreground on the right - Emily in the middle)For our drinking water we rely on "Uncle Taa".
He is our local water-man, who delivers water to our door in large plastic 20 liter bottles. A bottle like this costs 15 Baht (R 3.47 or US$ 0.50). This is municipal water that has been filtered (well, we trust that it has been filtered:-)
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