Cloth tap filter

I have been using a cloth tap filter on my taps for ages. It is not to say that tap water in Singapore is undrinkable and dirty. This is just to make sure that I have peace of mind that my water gets filtered. You can buy these water filters for a very cheap price in places like neighbourhood hardware shops and the like. Just remember to change them every month or so.

Changing an outdoor wall tap

There was an outdoor tap at my mother’s place that was leaking. Cannot blame it really. The house is over thirty years old and that tap has been there since the beginning. It was only a matter of time before it failed. And fail it did. I could not turn it off. Every time I turned it clock-wise to turn it off, it would open in full again. So I thought that it was not even worth getting a new washer for it. It was gone.

So what I did was go to a nearby hardware shop and buy a new tap. It only cost me $5. I bought some PTFE tape that was required for the new tap to put on the threads so that it would not leak. So I set aside yesterday to do it. The old tap was a bit hard to unscrew. I had to take a plumbers wrench to it before it unscrewed. I finally unscrewed it (turning the mains off first of course) and cleaned the old PTFE tape residue in the pipe. I then screwed the new tap on and here it is, in its full glory. Not difficult to do and it only took less than half-an-hour!

Restaurants still charge for drinking water

Remember I did a post about a week back about this restaurant in Sengkang Compass One? Well, I will hide it no more. The restaurant is named Canton Restaurant and I was charged $2.40 for four glasses of plain, hot water. That is about 60 cents per glass of water. Then in TodayOnline I see this article in which I find out that I am not alone in thinking this way.

Some time back, there was this lady named Veron who runs this blog named Sparklette who went on a crusade (with the support of many of her readers) against restaurants who charged for plain drinking water. Looks like that she may have to update her list to include Canton Restaurant as well

Honestly…some of the excuses given by these F&B outlets is simply ridiculous. And some very conveniently chose to charge for water after the water tariff had been raised but still can vehemently deny they did so because of that factor. Let us hope that people see this post of mine and make that decision themselves

Water prices to rise by 30% over two years

Looks like that price of water in Singapore is going to be higher, and by July 2018, we can expect to pay 30% more for our water. As it is at home, I try to take shorter showers. I do not mean to save water till it impacts you hygienically but at the very least, have slower trickles of water in your shower. Another way to save water is to save the water of the final wash of your washing machine and use that water to clean your bathroom. Try not to waste water and do not leave the tap running all the time. I have been very conscious of water wastage since I was a young lad. My parents drilled it into me. Water is a precious commodity and we have to use it well.

Bottled water in a client’s office

I saw this racks of bottled water at a client’s office one day when I happened to fix their systems. It got me thinking. Singapore’s tap water is safe to drink. But if you have doubts, put a filter on the tap to filter out any impurities or n the worst case scenario, just boil it. I do not see the reason for such water coolers in the office. Most of the time, these big bottles of water are put on water dispensers that will refrigerate or heat the water. maybe the convenience factor is there or maybe its just me. But I will ask again…what is wrong with drinking our tap water?