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Show HN: An interactive map of countries by tap water quality

iswatersafetodrink.in

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Re: Show HN: An interactive map of countries by tap water quality

#11

Post by mncharity »

Nice. One thought... the greatest "oh that's neat" payoff for me was seeing a note that in some county, bottled water was widely available. And in another, not. Which prompted me to wonder which countries that was/wasn't true for, and how it relates to tap quality. But the UI didn't seem to make that easy to explore.

So perhaps pull more information up to the top level? At least on desktop?

One pattern of use is "exploring the world". On desktop, this might involve clicking once to get the little popup, with a side-effect of unpredictably zooming and panning the map; then clicking again to get an info page; and then back page to return to the map. For every country of interest.

I wonder if this could be made lighter weight? The country outline is nicely highlighted upon mouseover. One might imagine adding much of the info page core content, somewhat abbreviated, to a slightly larger popup. And even showing that popup upon mouseover (with perhaps a delay, or mouse velocity tracking for intent). So then one might simply mouse move around the world, seeing water quality, bottle availability, etc, and able to more easily spot "oh that's neat".

Re: Show HN: An interactive map of countries by tap water quality

#12

Post by plumeria »

smayr wrote: post #2

Hi HN! I made this while I was lockdown-bored. The data sources are linked on the website. I plan to add scientific reports on water-levels soon on a city-level. I want to raise awareness on how saving money and the environment often comes hand in hand when it comes to drinking water. For most people around the globe drinking straight tap water or using a water filter is a better solution than giving money to bottlin…

I think it would better to provide "No data" for French Guiana?

Re: Show HN: An interactive map of countries by tap water quality

#13

Post by hondadriver »

morsch wrote: post #6

It'd be interesting to know how much chlorine, if any, is added to make the tap water potable. There are many places in the world where it's perfectly safe to drink the tap water, but not pleasant.

In general, the taste of tap water in The Netherlands is better than in for example Belgium. Both have the same rating (and both are safe, not just as tasteful). Mind there are be locational differences in taste, water in Gent (BE) tastes better than in Kortrijk (BE) and water in Arnhem (NL) better than in Amsterdam (NL).

Re: Show HN: An interactive map of countries by tap water quality

#14

Post by vanilla-almond »

It would be interesting to add statistics for consumption of bottled water for individual countries where this data is available. Bottled water is consumed in many countries even when the quality of tap water is perfectly safe.

For example, here is per capita consumption of bottled water in Europe in 2017, by country:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/455422/bottled-water-con...

Re: Show HN: An interactive map of countries by tap water quality

#16

Post by keith__talent »

The primary/top database (Numbeo) you source is of dubious quality - i.e. Opinion based. Other sources vary wildly in reputation and don't offer information down to the city level you offer in search. The link to the CDC is to the homepage and offers no further depth on the subject you are reporting on.

Don't understand why you have a marketing type message that offers a calculation cost of savings from not drinking bottled water. It is not based on if the place searched has drinkable tap water or not. Also where do you get these prices?

As a tech demo it is fine - as a reputable source of information its on par with John Daly recommending Grey Goose to prevent Coronavirus.

This site is contributing to confusing or mis-information about tap water quality. For those who don't take the time to consider your sources, it is doing them a dis-service. You should label this at the top as a non-scientific tool of evaluating of tap water. It almost seems like you are working for a bottled water company.

Re: Show HN: An interactive map of countries by tap water quality

#17

Post by irrational »

solids wrote: post #15

This is nice! However I don’t think it’s very accurate to put a number to a whole country, when even the health of the pipes in your own house or even in your neighborhood can affect the quality a lot.

I agree. Our tap water in Portland, Oregon is superb. But when I travel to other states, like California, I'm not sure how they can drink their tap water. At least in Southern California it tastes bad and has the distinct smell of chlorine. Though I suppose if you live with it 24/7 you might get used to it and not notice the taste.

Re: Show HN: An interactive map of countries by tap water quality

#18

Post by buckminster »

goodcanadian wrote: post #9
toshk wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was travelling in Canada I was checking if the water was safe to drink. And the government website argued it was safe to drink tapwater precisely because it was purified with the help of chlorine. In Netherlands many of us have the opposite view that it's not safe to drink tapwater if there is chlorine in it (let alone the taste). Interesting contrasts in cultures :)

I think you may have misunderstood. It is pretty standard to use chlorine in the purification process, but that chlorine is not left in the water. There should be negligible chlorine in any water coming out of the tap. I've certainly never been able to smell it let alone taste it anywhere in Canada.

Maybe Canada is an exception, but in most places the chlorine is left in the water because the distribution network isn't entirely sterile.

Re: Show HN: An interactive map of countries by tap water quality

#19

Post by jfoster »

It's interesting how many places have contradictory advice depending on who you're listening to.

Eg. Hong Kong: WHO says it's safe. CDC says it isn't.

One suggestion: If the top-level advice is that water from a country (eg. Japan) is that it's safe, it would be useful to call out particular places in that country where it isn't. (eg. Fukushima in the case of Japan)

Re: Show HN: An interactive map of countries by tap water quality

#20

Post by Gibbon1 »

goodcanadian wrote: post #9
toshk wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was travelling in Canada I was checking if the water was safe to drink. And the government website argued it was safe to drink tapwater precisely because it was purified with the help of chlorine. In Netherlands many of us have the opposite view that it's not safe to drink tapwater if there is chlorine in it (let alone the taste). Interesting contrasts in cultures :)

I think you may have misunderstood. It is pretty standard to use chlorine in the purification process, but that chlorine is not left in the water. There should be negligible chlorine in any water coming out of the tap. I've certainly never been able to smell it let alone taste it anywhere in Canada.

There is residual chlorine or today more likely chloroamine in tap water. Part of the reason for that is to keep pathogens from growing in the pipes. Though depending on season and basic water quality there may be none.

If you care, ascorbic acid or one of it's salts line sodium ascorbate reduces[1] chlorine and chloroamine. Takes just a tiny amount, works instantly.

[1] Chlorine -> chloride. chloroamine-> chloride + NH3.

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