"There are no whole truths; all truths are half- truths. It is trying to treat them as whole truths that plays the devil." - Alfred North Whitehead

***

On boiling tap water in Singapore:


A: My 2 cents: why boiling when very good filters are available? I do have one installed in my kitchen and change the filter every 2 years (and give it a scrub every 6 months). Simple and no energy consumption.


Me: Why filter?

Actually you need to treat dirty water in 3 days:

- filtering (to remove the particulates)
- boiling/chlorination (to kill the microorganisms)
- chemical treatment (to get rid of poisonous chemicals like mercury)

Naturally, in Singapore all 3 processes are taken care of by the PUB, so any further action on our part is just paranoia


B: Well said, Gabriel.

I think boiling water and filtering are just superstitious acts, or unuseful memes.

The difference being that the latter brings much profit to many people, so it's being pushed onto the populace much more aggressively.

I've done some searching on why people:

a) boil water --- to remove chlorine and floride

b) filter --- to remove the dead carcasses of bacteria (?!)
--- filters become dirty (green scum) after some time, "proving" that tap water is indeed dirty.


Me: Err, bacteria are not that big. You'd need filters with really tiny pores indeed - and I doubt most filters on the market are this good (not only is it expensive, it takes very long to filter with tiny pores)

Boiling can remove chlorine, but not fluoride:

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem00/chem00375.htm

"If your intent is to rid the water of chlorine, boiling the water would accomplish that. Gases are less soluble in hot water and more soluble when the water is cold. That's why I am having difficulty understanding the thrust of your question.

Regarding fluoride: There is nothing you can do the alter the presence of
fluoride in water because, unlike chlorine (a gas), fluoride is an ion that
cannot be driven off by boiling or any ordinary in-home process."


C: i suspect the "green scum" on the filters grows there from the bateria in your kitchen rather than in the water......


B: That was what I thought was the reason for the green scum too. Ironically, the people who install filters would now be drinking algae tea as a result of their filters.


D: Can people really taste chlorine in tapwater? Scum in water filters is due to the ideal environment - warmth +water - for microorganisms, algae to thrive and you dont even need the filters to be attached to taps to see this happen.

Some people are attached to the flat taste of boiled water just as many of my german friends like carbonated water. Personal idiosyncracies, that's all.


E: Even unuseful memes can be technologically upgraded.

I did some camera work for the launch of a filterless water filter some time ago, at the ballroom of Carlton Hotel, I think. It was packed with suckers lining up to buy the contraption that claims to clear up acne, extend lifespan, what have you. This is accomplished by shooting a "laser beam" into the water, enhancing the molecules or
whatever. Over a thousand dollars, if memory serves me.

The testimonies were a particular treat. 2 GPs also attested to the miracle machine.


Me: People seem to think that what doctors say, especially about health matters, is automatically correct. But then some doctors think the world is <10,000 years old.

How they'd resolve disagreements between 2 doctors, I do not know...


Addendum:

"Simply bringing the water to 100 degrees and then cooling it down will INCREASE the number of bad particles, as germs multiply quicker in lukewarm water than the water you get directly from the tap."