Compare boiled tap-water costs with packaged water; stop using water with abnormal smell, colour or cloudiness

Cost: Buy a kettle and allow time and a little gas or electricity for boiling.

In plain language: The source's Beijing example uses tap water at 0.005 yuan per litre and a hypothetical 20-yuan, 18.9-litre dispenser bottle at around one yuan per litre. One bottle weekly costs just over 1,000 yuan yearly, compared with under five yuan for the same tap-water volume, before heating costs. It describes mandatory national drinking-water standards and ordinary boiling, while emphasizing that boiling does not make abnormal-smelling or cloudy water safe.

Calculation and standard reported by the source: Beijing's first residential tariff tier is five yuan per cubic metre, or 0.005 yuan per litre. At an assumed 20 yuan per 18.9-litre bottle, packaged water costs around 1.06 yuan per litre, about 210 times the tap-water tariff. Fifty-two bottles equal around 983 litres: 1,040 yuan packaged versus around 4.9 yuan for tap water. An assumed one-yuan 500-ml bottle costs two yuan per litre, around 400 times the tariff. The source cites mandatory standard GB 5749-2022, published March 15, 2022 and effective April 1, 2023, with the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration as the responsible authority. Scope: China; these are a historical Beijing tariff and illustrative purchase-price assumptions.

Source author's evidence grade: C, disputed; not site verification or professional approval.

Notes and dispute: Compliance monitoring of treatment-plant output and network endpoints does not eliminate temporary failures in the source or network. The source describes abnormal raw-water odour at Hangzhou's Renhe plant on July 16, 2025 and affected supplies in parts of Renhe and Liangzhu. It recounts the official explanation of algae decomposition under low-oxygen conditions producing sulfur compounds, compliant output tests after changing sources, accountability for seven officials, July bill waivers and free filter replacement. It also reports raw-source faecal-coliform values at Tiaoxi Yongsheng of 10/L in April, 7,300/L in May and 16,000/L in June, compared with a 10,000/L Class III surface-water limit; June values at Siling and Mantoushan reservoirs were 28,000/L and 24,000/L. These are raw-water figures, not finished drinking-water measurements.

Boiling can kill microorganisms but does not remove dissolved chemicals or odour compounds. The source advises stopping use of foul-smelling, yellow or cloudy water, reporting it to the supplier and China's 12345 service, and temporarily using packaged water rather than boiling longer. It treats the incident as localized rather than justification for permanent packaged-water purchases. It identifies the online story about incorrectly connected sewage pipes as a fabricated police notice whose publisher was criminally detained. The packaged-water prices above are calculation assumptions; use actual local prices. Packaged dispenser water also has contamination risks after opening: the cited Chongqing regulator describes increasing microbial risk with longer storage and recommends cleaning dispensers at least every two to three months. Where old-building secondary-supply facilities are noncompliant, the source discusses suitable filtration or buying water in that situation. Local tariffs differ; Beijing is only an order-of-magnitude illustration.

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