Moving to China: Water filters required?
I will be living and working in Beijing as a young professional come next year at the local office of a US firm where I previously worked, and in preperation for my move, I’ve been reading up on life in China, and clean water seems to be an issue.
So I had a couple questions for other expats living there:
1. Would you recommend bringing with you faucet filters and filter pitchers, or should I wait until I get to China and buy something from there?
2. Do the faucet filters brought from the US generally fit Chinese plumbing?
3. Are there specific brands you would recommend?
Tagged with: china • clean water • couple questions • faucet filters • google • local office • pitchers • plumbing • script type • text javascript • working in beijing
Filed under: Water Filter System
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I lived in Beijing for two years and I’m in my third year in the Northwest and I’ve never used a water filter. I’ve always had water delivered to my home (large bottles — five liters?) and drink bottled water when I’m out. I brush my teeth with tap water and even cook with tap water (the cooking process removes impurities.)
I am here with my husband and two young children (under age 10) and we haven’t had any stomach problems. Just the occasional 24-hour bug.
I’m not sure US fixtures are the same as Chinese ones. I know my kitchen faucet is extremely different from the one I had in the US! However, many of the homes in Beijing have similar fixtures. I just don’t think you will need anything, though.
Good luck!
china sucks…japan is the place to be!!!!!!!!!! but to answer some of ur question…i should prollyl try buying something there cuz they know their problems and they prolly have something special to counter that problem whereas in america since we dont have that kind of problems we prolly make our filter normal…so what i mean is that they will prolly have a super better filter special for those kind of problems do u get what im sayin =)
I live in Shanghai (I’m British) and we have a water bottle delivered for our water cooler. 10 yuan ($1.50) enough for a week (including delivery). You can still drink the tap water if you boil it first, but it doesn’t taste too good.
A good way is to boil the tap water and then put it in the fridge. It tastes alot better!
5 liter Bottled water is the most common for large consumption. And if you have a Water Filter pitcher bring it and that would work fine.
you can get a stand alone system here that you fill up with tap water and it runs through a filter and supplies both hot and cold water. it only costs around 600rmb. otherwise get water delivered.
Bottled processed water is the standard in China. An 18 liter barrel is delivered to your doorstep for 12 yuan (US$1.70). No one uses filters.
A filter alone is completely inadequate because it is merely activated charcoal. It will capture some chemical contamination, but do nothing about biological hazards. Filters have zero effectiveness against biological contamination, only boiling water can kill bacteria.
Leave your filters at home, get the water delivered, and you will be fine.
BSherman is incorrect in saying that filters can’t help you.
Their are several filters units that are sold in Chinese shops that can get rid of biological material in water. However they all say that after 1 month -6 months the filter head needs to be replaces. Most of them require you to fill the unit with water and then wait.
If you wish to go own this route I would require about it in China.
The most easiest way is to buy bottle water.