Water delivery in Bangkok works for most offices, but it comes with a weekly routine: ordering 18.9-litre bottles, waiting for the truck, carrying them up through the building and storing the empties. The alternative is to make drinking water in the office itself, from the existing water line, so there is nothing left to deliver. At an estimated 1.5 litres per person per working day, a team of 50 gets through about 87 large bottles a month.
This guide looks at how office water delivery works in Bangkok, what it really costs in time and plastic, and how an office replaces it.
How does drinking water delivery work for a Bangkok office?
Most offices in Bangkok order 18.9-litre bottles from a delivery service, on a fixed day or by phone when stock runs low. The driver brings full bottles, takes back the empties and charges per bottle, often with a deposit on each container.
Some offices order small bottles by the case instead, for meeting rooms and visitors. A few choose glass bottles to cut single-use plastic. In every case the model is the same: water is filled somewhere else, driven across the city and carried into the office.
Why does water delivery get harder in Bangkok?
Bangkok adds its own obstacles to a simple delivery.
- Traffic. A delivery window of a few hours can slip to the next day, and the office runs dry in the meantime.
- High-rise buildings. Many towers limit deliveries to the service lift and the loading bay, at set hours, and each bottle weighs about 19 kilograms.
- Storage. Full and empty bottles take floor space that costs rent every month.
- Staff time. Someone has to order, receive, lift bottles onto the dispenser and keep track of deposits.
- Hygiene. A top-loading dispenser that is rarely cleaned is a weak point, however good the water in the bottle.
How much water does a Bangkok office actually use?
Count about 1.5 litres per person per working day for water, coffee and tea. A team of 50 then drinks around 75 litres a day, roughly four large bottles.
| Team size | Litres per working day | 18.9 L bottles per month (22 working days) |
|---|---|---|
| 10 people | 15 L | about 17 |
| 25 people | 38 L | about 44 |
| 50 people | 75 L | about 87 |
| 100 people | 150 L | about 175 |
These figures are estimates. Your own delivery invoices for the last three months give the real number. Multiply it by the delivered price per bottle, then add the time, space and missed deliveries that the invoice does not show.
If the team drinks from small bottles instead, the plastic adds up fast. One person drinking two litres a day from half-litre bottles uses 1,460 bottles a year. A team of fifty, 73,000.
Can you drink tap water in a Bangkok office?
Not straight from the tap. The water leaving the treatment plants is treated, but it then travels through old pipes and building tanks before it reaches a pantry. Our article on drinking tap water in Bangkok explains why.
That same line is still the easiest source of drinking water in the building. Treated at the point of use, it becomes water you can serve to the team and to visitors.
What is the alternative to water delivery in Bangkok?
The alternative is a drinking water system in the pantry. A Pure system connects to the existing water line, purifies the water by reverse osmosis, adds back minerals and serves hot and cold mineral-enriched drinking water. It installs in under an hour, and from then on nothing is delivered.
For the office, the change is simple. No bottles to order or lift, no storage corner, no deposits to track, and no plastic leaving the building. A Minairal technician changes the filters on schedule, and the team just pours a glass.
Minairal has more than 700 systems in service across Thailand, and our technicians work in Bangkok. Each office starts with a site assessment, then chooses to buy with a one-year warranty, to rent any system, Air or Pure, for 6 months or 1 year, or to take a Pure system on lease-to-own over 3, 5 or 7 years, with the machine covered for the whole term. Average response time for service is 4 hours. More on our Bangkok service and on drinking water for offices.
Frequently asked questions.
Is drinking water delivery in Bangkok cheaper than a filter system?
Per bottle, delivery looks cheap. Once staff time, storage and the full contract are counted, an on-site system is often the simpler choice for a team, and a rental spreads the cost.
Do we need building approval to install a system?
A Pure system connects to the pantry line in under an hour and needs no structural work. Some buildings ask to be informed of any work, so check the house rules before installation.
How many systems does a Bangkok office need?
Usually one per pantry or per floor. The site assessment estimates how much the team really drinks before anything is decided.
To replace water delivery in your Bangkok office, request a site assessment.
