Drink the water?
 

I know that everybody in Europe drinks bottled water, but say one got in a bind and had nothing but an empty cup and a hotel room sink--what is the drinkability level of the tap water in Europe (Italy and France, particluarly)?

"Everybody in Europe drinks bottled water,"???

Just a cupful will not likely be noticed in the least.

Bottled water is highly recommended if you have a "senstive" "system". Otherwise, the tap water throughout Italy and France is just fine.

Lived in Italy for four months...drank tap water the whole time. Not a problem - just steer clear of the street fountains.

When I drink water, I usually drink bottled but I always use the tap water if I am brushing my teeth or that sort of thing..when we were in the Paris apt, I used tap water for the coffee and tea. I think you will be fine unless your stomach is reeeally touchy.

Rome has the best-tasting tap water in the world, IMO! Drank it the whole time we were there, and it is wonderful.

Tap water is fine in the U.K., in fact good enough for Coca Cola to bottle it and call it Dansai, until they were caught out by the media and the whole lot taken off sale.

kateny17, which "street fountains" are you specifically referring to? My Roman friends have all told me that the water flowing out of those drinking fountains and spouts around the city is the best water around, as it is coming from underground wells and the nearby mountains via aqueduct system. It is the coldest, most delicious water I have ever tasted and I noticed many, many Romans doing the same thing as I (filling up our water bottles daily).

Yes, lizziea06, I would agree that Rome has the best tasting water in the world!

It's not a question of being in Italy or France, it's more a question of the specific city that you are visiting.

Large cities tend to have safer water, simply because the city cannot afford to make large numbers of people sick, and there's a lot of movement in and out of the city. So in a place like Rome or Paris, you're safe. In some big cities the water might have a funny taste or even a smell, but it's still safe (Paris water has no obvious taste or smell because the city employs people specifically for the purpose of checking it for any unpleasant odors and smells, and because it's mostly spring water, anyway).

Small towns are a different matter. Some get very clean water from reliable supplies, others get very questionable water from dubious sources. Small towns can't afford fancy water treatment or testing, either. If the water contains stuff that the locals are used to but you aren't, you might get sick. In small towns, then, you might wish to avoid the tap water unless you can be pretty confident that it is coming from a safe source.

All of these applies anywhere, not just in France or Italy. In the UK, the US, or Japan, you should follow the same guidelines. NYC is probably plenty safe, but Smallville might not be.

What was funny about the Coca Cola water thing was that they took perfectly good tap water and added pollutants.

The best bit was where they tried to make a shopkeeper remove Buxton water from their display.
The shop was in Buxton :-(

>All of these applies anywhere,
In Germany, you can be sure, that tap water is safe to drink no matter how big or small the town is. No problem anywhere! If you musn't drink the water from a public fountain, there will be a sign saying "Kein Trinkwasser". (no drinking water). And btw. Munich tap water is the best on the planet. ;-) Add some gas and you'll have water cleaner and better tasting than any high priced "mineral water". (Ever noticed how many h2co3- cartridges are sold everyday).

I would disagree with your original premise that "everybody in Europe drinks bottled water", implying that tap water isn't safe.

Many Europeans drink bottle water with meals not because tap water is not potable, but rather because of culinary tradition and taste preference. Everywhere I've been in Europe, from N-S, E-W, the tap water has been perfectly drinkable.

Actually, based on sales of bottled water, services like Culligan, etc, I believe Americans actually drink more bottled water than Europeans...

I would go ahead and drink the tap water. I DO drink tap water in Italy and France. If it isn't safe to drink, e.g., in some public bathrooms, there will be a sign saying so (but anyway I'd avoid drinking the tap water in a public toilet). Actually, I try not to drink TOO much bottled water at the beginning of a trip. Since the bottled water in Italy generaly has a much higher mineral content than the bottled spring water I'm used to at home, I'm more likely to have digestive upsets from too much magnesium-rich mineral water than from potable tap water.

I think AnthonyGA is wrong about the UK. Cold tap water is safe to drink in any size town or village. In some places it may have a taste you dislike due to hardness and I suppose this might upset a really delicate stomach, but it will be safe.

In a very few isolated houses you may find that they have a private supply from a spring or well, but these are subject to regular tests required by law. This water is often marvellous.

I would never drink water from a hot tap, unless it was from a special boiler for drinking.

I eagerly drink from street fountains and gulp down tap water, but have recently noticed that my yellow false teeth have started to take on a greenish tint.

I would drink only bottled water in Portugal.

The UK is no different from anywhere else. Every country has small towns where the water supply is questionable. You're always more likely to catch something in a small town than in a big city. Small towns don't have the means to treat and test water as well as might be ideal. Large cities have the means, as well as the motivation—ten million people with cholera isn't a pretty thought.

However, big-city water won't necessarily be appetizing. The goal is to keep it safe, not to keep it tasty or sweet-smelling.

There are many causes of common diarrhea besides contaminated water. Just changing time zones can upset a person's tummy. A change in diet can do the same thing. So can stress. So can clean water, if it contains a very different blend of minerals. Indeed, suddenly starting to drink mineral water while abroad can cause diarrhea if one has not regularly been a drinker of such water previously.

>Every country has small towns where the water supply is questionable.
I would doubt that such a town exists in Germany ;-). So please rephrase "Every country, except Germany, has small towns where the water supply is questionable."
I don't know about water saftey in other european countries.

Sometimes it's not the "safety" of water that is the question, but the difference in the water and how sensitive your stomach is. Drinking bottled water can help standardized the water you are drinking if you have a sensitive stomach.

I can't drink the water in Florida and parts of Texas, but drank tap water all throughout France. I even give my pups bottled water when we travel along the coast.

Huitres - the street fountains in Rome may have water that comes directly from acqueducts, but they are used by just about any person and canine walking Rome's streets. Countless times during my time there did I see dogs licking the spouts. I love dogs, but I don't want to share my drinking fountains with them.

AnthonyGA,

You are just plain wrong. There is no reason whatsoever to doubt the safety of the public water supply in small towns and villages in UK. Apart from anything else many areas are now linked by a grid so the actual source of water in large and small towns may be the same.

As with any supply there are occasions when there is a problem and precautions are advised. But these could be anywhere and really are very rare indeed.

If a tap is marked as 'not drinking water' (eg in toilets in forest areas) it means it is untreated. Otherwise the cold tap is OK.

Collywobbles are, as you say, often the result of factors other than pollution.

I second the assertion that drinking tap water in Europe is fine. I can't think of anyplace where I did not drink it. I also second the claim that the water in Rome is best. And absolutely DO fill your water bottle from the street fountains (the ones meant for that purpose, of course) in Rome. The water is fresh, cold, and a treat on a hot day. A lot of it comes via ancient or Renaissance aqueducts, which just adds to the romance of it all. :-)

The only place I do not drink tap water is actually here at my own home in Florida, where it is absolutely vile and upsets my tummy more than European water ever would!

I always drink the tap water in Paris. And I found that the fountain water in Rome to be really good.

Nonesense, most Europeans can't or won't afford bottled water! Emergency..Boil the water! Shops carry small electric devices that can be used to purify water by boiling it. When in doubt, wine or beer. Check with a local. The cold or unheated water is usually 'potable'. Look about you, what are the locals drinking. The hot water tap supplies water that may not be potable. Try your local outdoor supply store. They carry many kinds and sizes of water purification systems. Be really aware of open water sources, water that was once drinkable is now polluted with giardia.

"Shops carry small electric devices that can be used to purify water by
boiling it."

Well, no, those are not for that purpose. It is a water boiler that boils water for tea or instant coffee. Saves energy.

People don´t buy water in bottles because it would be stupid to pay for something that comes free and perfectly fine from a tap.

We used tap water everywhere in europe except St Pete (since the water there is infested with giardia) and never had any problems. That said - we used it for brushing teeth, taking pills etc. Otherwise we always bought bottled water - just because it tastes better.

But I don;t think it would bothe you unless 1) you have a very sensitive system or 2) you're immunocompromised.

"Every country has small towns where the water supply is questionable."

Sorry, but I have to agree that if by "questionable" the writer means less than safe, this is plain wrong. There's no town in my country (Australia), no matter4 how small or remote, where I'd hesitate to drink tap water. Of course if the source is unfamiliar (eg artesian bores in arid areas) you might find it mildly unpalatable at first, but health regulations are policed on a statewide basis.

If indeed "everybody in Europe drinks bottled water" (another statement that strains credulity), more fool them. Bottled water as consumed in advanced countries is one of the great scams of the last couple of decades, and in all likelihood a pointer to the decline and fall of western civilisation.

>"Europe drinks bottled water"
Bottled water is the exception, not the rule.

"everybody in Europe drinks bottled water".

Utter nonsense. On stilts.

We DO, however, drink bottled water when we're in the USA because we can't stand the chlorinated junk you poison yourselves with.

>can't stand the chlorinated junk you poison yourselves with.
agreed 100%. :-)

It's amusing to see how many people think that the water in their own countries is universally safe, without any possible exception, no matter how many small towns are obtaining inadequately treated water from questionable sources.

Go ahead and drink the water in those tiny towns, if you want. Most of the time you'll be lucky. Someday you might not be, and then you can spend a day or two on the toilet thinking about it.

Generally speaking, I don't think it is a matter of anything being wrong with the water. It is more a reaction of each individual person's body to the particular bacteria present in any area. That said, I am quite careful now because several years ago I was traveling with a friend in Florence and upon returning home she became very ill. It turned out she contracted giardia while there and it took a very long time for the doctors to discover her problem. She had lost over 30 pounds. Obviously, this could have happened at home too, but I am now much more careful everywhere.
Char

It's amusing to see how many people think that Europe is a backward continent, and therefore think that many small towns are obtaining inadequately treated water from questionable sources.

They are fearful of drinking the water in those tiny towns, and consider it lucky if they don't spend a day or two on the toilet thinking about it.

Europeans, when they do drink water from a bottle, don't so much drink regular water from bottles (like Americans do) but rather they drink mineral water (with or without gas) in bottles - it tastes different and is not drunk because the tap water is no good but because they prefer the mineral water, simply as a matter of taste.

It's very common to order tap water, and there's nothing wrong with it, but waiters would rather sell you a bottle of mineral water, of course...

WK

Bloody hell, you don't give up easily, do you, AnthonyGA? Even when you're grandly generalising about countries of which you have no knowledge, in the face of citizens of those same countries who actually know what they're talking about. Some of us actually live in the First World, mate. On balance I think it would be a good idea to throw away the shovel while you can still clamber out of the hole.

LOL Neil, you are so right.

Anthony, municipal water supplies are tested etc. by government agencies. Bottled water does not have that kind of inspection.

And no ecorunner, "everybody in Europe does not drink bottled water" or at least in Italy they don't. I will say at a restaurant it is bottled water.. but for the reason that Wally stated.
And it is more of a status sort of thing. Kind of like everyone puts their cell phone on the table.

You are in a hotel room with nothing but a faucet and a cup..drink the water..you will be fine. Or buy bottled water at the grocery store and bring it back to your hotel room. But how do you know that water is any better than the tap water?

Not all municipal water supplies are tested. Tiny towns that pump their water supply from a well may not test anything for long periods. The water may or may not be safe to drink. If they do things properly, it may be largely free of germs, but it may still have a blend of inorganic compounds that can upset the tummy.

It's naïve to think that only the Third World has these problems. No country anywhere is capable of policing water supplies for every one of its residents. And small towns everywhere are usually strapped for cash and cannot afford fancy water installations and constant testing. They do what they can to get a pretty clean water supply, and that's it. It's true in the backwoods of the Third World, and it's also true in small towns in the First World … and woe to anyone who assumes otherwise (sometimes).

In summary, then: it's okay to drink tap water in large cities of the developed world, as a general rule. Exercise more caution in less developed countries, and when staying in small towns just about anywhere.

Actually, AnthonyGA may have a point.

Water should leave the purification plants virtually bacteria free, because of the combination of filtration and chlorine.

The problem is likely to arise between the treatment and the water arriving at a home/hotel. Older cities often have old water pipes. It is estimated that London loses up to 30% of it's water supply through leakage. If the water can leak out of the pipe, then contamination can leak in.

I am not suggesting UK water is unsafe, I would be extremely suprised if "100 people developed cholera" anywhere in a UK or any Western city.

As stated in previous posts, humans are very sensitive to changes in gut bacteria. There are people who make very good livings out of lecturing and advising travel companies on "Travellers diarrhoea".

Anthony, you just won't give it up, will you? I don't know how things happen where you're from, but we have tight regulations in this country. Believe me, if anyone got ill from the tap water here, even in a remote town, it's headline news

Kate
London

Anthony, if you are from the USA, do a Google on Arsenic drinking water.

Mind you, small amounts of arsenic are supposed to be good for the complexion.

For anyone who cares: Eleanor Clark's "Rome and a Villa", a glorious work of journalism published in the early 50s, provides details of the Roman water supply -- and fascinating reading it makes!

Romans of the 50s knew which springs and which aquaducts supplied which public fountains -- and consciously sought out the water they preferred for purity, taste and mineral content.

BTW: "Acqua non potabile" and "Eau non potable" indicate, as you would expect, water not fit for drinking.