Hello Echo Asia friends,
Our volunteers in Northern Thailand report “hard” water and kidney stone issues (although we don’t know if the two are related). I’m looking for:
- Confirmed, tested methods for measuring water hardness that can be done rurally in Thailand (both low-cost / DIY approaches and information on reliable local labs that can test for hardness)
- We are currently using biosand filtration. Our volunteers were trained at ECHO. But they are uncertain whether the filtration addresses water hardness, and I’d like to learn about how to discuss this hard water issue further with our volunteers.
If you’ve had direct experience testing or treating hard water in Thailand (or Southeast Asia in general) please reach out.
Thank you!
1 Like
Hi @Daniel_Schwartz
We’ve been recently following up with biosand water filter users, and testing the water quality before and after biosand water filtration. The good news: community members using the biosand filtered water report reduced sickness, and continue using these systems. Many metrics of water quality improve from pre to post filtration. We are still collecting more data, but aim to share a full report on this in an ECHO Development Note soon.
There are a number of labs in Chiang Mai that will measure ‘hardness’ and also other parameters such as minerals in the water. ECHO has been using a lab from the Department of Health, with contact details below:
51 ถนนประชาสัมพันธ์ ตำบลช้างคลาน อำเภอเมือง จังหวัดเชียงใหม่ 50100
โทรศัพท์ 053 276856 ต่อ 205
The tests are not cheap, around 3,500 THB for a full set of 21 parameters. Fewer parameters will have a reduced price. If other network members have other recommendations that would be welcome.
We have also heard reports from Upland Thailand communities linking water quality to kidney stones. I’ve briefly looked into this. Surprisingly, intake of minerals in drinking water is not commonly cited in the medical literature to be one of the key contributing factors to development of kidney stones. Insufficient intake of water is the largest risk factor for development of kidney stones. Potentially poor-quality water is leading to insufficient intake of water, which strongly affects kidney stone risk.
I’d love to hear more from anyone who has evidence on the perceived link between water hardness and kidney stones.