Do you drink the water from your cabin tap?

[Cruising-along]

After living in Florida for some time and was visiting Toronto one winter. I turned on the cold water tap in a restaurant ladies room and yelled "Whoo that's cold!" The other lady looked at me like I was from another planet. lol

 

Lol! So true, we get used to what we have at home. I can't stand tepid drinking water!

[navybankerteacher]

Do not drink the tap water in your cabin. No question.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Yes question:

 

Why not?

[SetAnOpenCourse]

 

...

 

... Shipboard water systems, unlike municipal ones, continuously recirculate the water from the tank to your cabin and back to the tank. This allows for continuous monitoring of the residual chlorine level, at the furthest point in the system from the tank, and this monitoring drives continuous chlorine injection into the water to maintain a 0.5ppm chlorine content at all times. So shipboard water is guaranteed to be sanitized at all times, while there is no way to guarantee this in municipal "one way" water systems.

 

...

 

(Bolding mine)

 

Do you mean water from our drains (toilets?) eventually comes out of faucets/shower heads?

[chengkp75]

(Bolding mine)

 

Do you mean water from our drains (toilets?) eventually comes out of faucets/shower heads?

 

Really?

 

No, what I mean is that on land, the water is pushed from the municipal source by pumps into the water mains, and then to the main to your house, and then around your house and then to each faucet, shower, and toilet. No water moves until you open a valve or flush a toilet.

 

On the ship, the pumps take water from the tank, pump it up "risers" on each side of the ship to each deck, and then the water main runs in a circle around each deck, with branches to each cabin, or to the galleys and laundries and bars. The difference is that at the end of the water main on each deck, it connects to another "riser" pipe that connects all the decks back together, and that water returns down to the water tank where it came from. The only "static" portions of the piping are the short branches from each deck's water ring main to the cabin bathroom, unlike the miles of static piping between you sink and the municipal water supply. There are two reasons for this kind of system. One, your house relies on the reserve pressure in miles of pipe to keep a constant pressure at your sink, or if you have a well, you know about the small pressure tanks that store a volume of water to keep the pump from cycling on and off as you use water. The pressure tank needed for a cruise ship would be enormous, so they recirculate instead. Two, your municipal water supply sanitizes the water at the plant, and then hopes that there is enough sanitizing agent to last until the water gets to your house, in time before the chlorine (most common sanitizing agent) breaks down naturally because the water was static in the pipe while everyone was at work during the day, or asleep at night. The ship is required to maintain a residual chlorine level of 0.5ppm at the furthest point from the chlorine injection point, so that it is certain that all water everywhere onboard has at least that much. Since the chlorine is injected in the engine room, the usual recording location is the bridge bathroom as this is just about as far from the engine room as water goes. The monitor here controls the injection pumps increasing or decreasing the chlorine dosage continually as needed.

 

Now, to answer your question. Given that shipboard sanitation requirements segregate potable water from everything else onboard, including sanitary drains, even more effectively than shoreside plumbing, the fact is that cruise ships have "Advanced Waste Water Treatment Plants" that take every drop of waste water on the ship (sinks, showers, toilets, galleys, laundry) and treats it to near drinking water quality before discharging it to the ocean. This water quality is tested twice monthly by third party testing labs. So, in theory, you could reuse the waste water, but it isn't.

[pstoker]

I'm on the Volendam atm, I always drink bottled water onboard, our friends next door have been drinking the water from their cabin tap, it's not marked as non drinkable but my water is brownish from the tap and in the shower, is it meant to be drinkable?

Water out of the taps is drinkable. Sometime if the faucet has not been opened or run for some times it will be a little browning from rust deposits. Just let it run until it is clear.

[boards]

Yes we have. We purchased one bottle of water and then just refill it when we need it.

[chengkp75]

Water out of the taps is drinkable. Sometime if the faucet has not been opened or run for some times it will be a little browning from rust deposits. Just let it run until it is clear.

 

Typically, those are not rust, since there is very little to no iron in any of the potable water systems on the ship. What that discoloration tends to be is that the calcium carbonate (think of the antacid ingredient in Tums) added to the water to control the pH tends to build a scale on the inside of the pipes. As long as the pipe is full of water, this scale stays in place. If the pipe is drained for repairs, the scale dries out, and falls off the pipe walls. This scale is then taken around the water system by the recirculation method I described, but the short static legs going to each cabin tend to accumulate this scale, and will discolor the water for a minute or two.

[blizzardboy]

From what I understand, in addition to chlorination, the ships also pass their water through a UV microbe-killing unit. Every night I fill my 24 oz insulated Tervis Tumbler with tap water and ice from the steward-filled bucket. With their snap-on lid and special straw, you can knock them off the nightstand and not spill a drop.

[chengkp75]

From what I understand, in addition to chlorination, the ships also pass their water through a UV microbe-killing unit. Every night I fill my 24 oz insulated Tervis Tumbler with tap water and ice from the steward-filled bucket. With their snap-on lid and special straw, you can knock them off the nightstand and not spill a drop.

 

I haven't seen a UV sterilizer on a cruise ship, since with chlorination and a measurable reserve chlorine level, there is no need for UV. Ships that don't chlorinate, like cargo ships, will use UV sterilizers instead.

[OCruisers]

Never had any problem drinking the tap water! :D

[blizzardboy]

I haven't seen a UV sterilizer on a cruise ship, since with chlorination and a measurable reserve chlorine level, there is no need for UV. Ships that don't chlorinate, like cargo ships, will use UV sterilizers instead.

Thanks for clearing up my foggy memory. I knew I'd read about ship-board use somewhere.

[chengkp75]

Thanks for clearing up my foggy memory. I knew I'd read about ship-board use somewhere.

 

They are also used in splash areas for kids in swim diapers, and as the final stage of the waste water treatment plant to kill the bacteria used to treat the waste water, since discharging chlorinated water is frowned on in most places.

[SetAnOpenCourse]

Really?

 

No, what I mean is that on land, the water is pushed from the municipal source by pumps into the water mains, and then to the main to your house, and then around your house and then to each faucet, shower, and toilet. No water moves until you open a valve or flush a toilet.

 

On the ship, the pumps take water from the tank, pump it up "risers" on each side of the ship to each deck, and then the water main runs in a circle around each deck, with branches to each cabin, or to the galleys and laundries and bars. The difference is that at the end of the water main on each deck, it connects to another "riser" pipe that connects all the decks back together, and that water returns down to the water tank where it came from. The only "static" portions of the piping are the short branches from each deck's water ring main to the cabin bathroom, unlike the miles of static piping between you sink and the municipal water supply. There are two reasons for this kind of system. One, your house relies on the reserve pressure in miles of pipe to keep a constant pressure at your sink, or if you have a well, you know about the small pressure tanks that store a volume of water to keep the pump from cycling on and off as you use water. The pressure tank needed for a cruise ship would be enormous, so they recirculate instead. Two, your municipal water supply sanitizes the water at the plant, and then hopes that there is enough sanitizing agent to last until the water gets to your house, in time before the chlorine (most common sanitizing agent) breaks down naturally because the water was static in the pipe while everyone was at work during the day, or asleep at night. The ship is required to maintain a residual chlorine level of 0.5ppm at the furthest point from the chlorine injection point, so that it is certain that all water everywhere onboard has at least that much. Since the chlorine is injected in the engine room, the usual recording location is the bridge bathroom as this is just about as far from the engine room as water goes. The monitor here controls the injection pumps increasing or decreasing the chlorine dosage continually as needed.

 

Now, to answer your question. Given that shipboard sanitation requirements segregate potable water from everything else onboard, including sanitary drains, even more effectively than shoreside plumbing, the fact is that cruise ships have "Advanced Waste Water Treatment Plants" that take every drop of waste water on the ship (sinks, showers, toilets, galleys, laundry) and treats it to near drinking water quality before discharging it to the ocean. This water quality is tested twice monthly by third party testing labs. So, in theory, you could reuse the waste water, but it isn't.

 

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that somewhere in that tome, you clarified or corrected your statement, "continuously recirculate the water from the tank to your cabin and back to the tank."

[JRG]

No, I have a herniated disc in my L5/L6 and it hurts to bend over that far. Bottled for me.

[*Miss G*]

The tap water has never harmed me. Never harmed me. Never harmed me.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We don't drink from the cabin water.

[RJ2002]

We always drink the water from the tap.

[Irish Eyes Are Sailing]

We never drink from the tap while traveling...only drink bottled water....I do at home sometimes, my DH will not...only filtered/bottled for him at home.

[Lizzie68]

I'm on the Volendam atm, I always drink bottled water onboard, our friends next door have been drinking the water from their cabin tap, it's not marked as non drinkable but my water is brownish from the tap and in the shower, is it meant to be drinkable?

 

No. I find the water has an odd taste and is often an odd colour.