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Sue, Volunteer Mentor avatar

Traveling with Bronchiectasis/NTM

MAC & Bronchiectasis | Last Active: Jan 1 12:40pm | Replies (66)
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Profile picture for jnmy @jnmy

@wandafanda
If you’re boiling water in a kettle, it might be beneficial to use bottled spring water to boil. I’m sure I read that tap water, especially when travelling, would need to be boiled for at least 15 min to kill NTMs / bacteria.

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Replies to "@wandafanda If you’re boiling water in a kettle, it might be beneficial to use bottled spring..."
Sue, Volunteer Mentor | @sueinmn | Nov 9, 2025

@jnmy & @wandafanda According to Dr Joe Falkinham, a noted NTM in water expert, his lab has tested bottled spring water, it contains little to no NTM and does NOT need to be boiled before use. Boiling tap for 10 minutes, plus one minute for every 1000 feet above sea level, is sufficient to kill NTM. There is no need to add the expense of purchasing bottled spring water to boil.
One exception, if you are using water to boil your nebulizer, Aerobika, etc, use then distilled water. Distilling removes dissolved salts and minerals in water that can deposit on your equipment. This is especially important with mesh nebulizers like the Pari eFlow Rapid.

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