Drinking the water abroad--bottled or tap?
My husband is returning from Shanghai, China tomorrow night, he's been there on business. He's been there four days already and I was dismayed to find out that he's been drinking the tap water in his hotel room. I mentioned to him before he left to drink bottled water not tap water, but obviously it did not register. He's had some intestinal discomfort, but nothing too extreme. He also has an iron stomach--rarely catches anything, unlike me who catches every gastro-intestinal bug that comes around.
In Britain, I drank the tap water while there for a semester. In France I did not. Where do you draw the line on tap vs. bottled from a taste or safety standpoint? Do you eat any differently when abroad--garlic, spicy peppers, cinnamon have all been thought to help as far as food safety. Shall I pickle him in garlic when he gets home?
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
Start Talking!
Need a question answered? Have advice to share? Start a Talk topic now!
Sign up to get your questions answered and share advice.
9 Comments:
I spent last spring in Italy, and no one really said anything about not drinking the water. There was one week where apparently they were doing maintenance and we shouldn't have drunk anything not boiled, but no one told us (lovely landlord, really) and my two roommates and I survived. Not to mention, bottled water abroad can get very expensive -- actually, (and I've mentioned this to people many times) often the most inexpensive drink available was wine =). Forza Italia! ♥
kfarrel3 at 12:09AM on 11/10/08
when SO and i went to mexico for a week we took camping water bottles, they run about 50$ each but will purify the water to within an inch of its life. the filters run about 35$ but with the amount of hiking we used to do, and hope to do again someday, they truly are worth the money!
huneybumper at 8:37AM on 11/10/08
Can't imagine not drinking the water in France, but that's just my experience. Didn't drink it in Singapore or Bangkok, and took the usual precautions, did drink it, etc. in Hong Kong. No problems in Santiago and Santa Rosa, Chile, BA and Mendoza, Argentina. I did learn that I enjoyed the fizzy bottled waters while I was in Europe, but that was sort of accidental, since it seemed a little too juvenile to ask for a Coke Light (what they call Diet Coke) at a cafe. We are relatively intrepid eaters, with no more frequent GI problems on the road than at home.
lemons at 10:07AM on 11/10/08
You're all right drinking water everywhere in Western Europe (don't know about the East). Though, in Britain my landlord was shocked when I told him I drank the water from the upstairs faucets. He told me the downstairs water came straight from the water line, but upstairs it went into a cistern in the attic and then was gravity fed to the bathrooms. So we went and had a look at this cistern. It was covered with a styrofoam cap and there was debris in the water -- dirt and dead flies and so on. Disgusting. I drained it and cleaned it. And this was not some ancient Grade II listed placed either; it was a pleasant modern brick home.
I guess I'd draw the line at my awareness of the source of water in some location -- well water in warmer climates would probably put me off; that's about it.
TikiPundit at 10:08AM on 11/10/08
My TA practially yelled at me when I admitted to brushing my teeth with tap water in Moscow, and since it was my first real trip abroad, I listened to her and stopped doing so (she turned out to be wrong about many, many things, but I didn't want to take a chance with it). So we all did bottled water through Moscow and Beijing, but once we settled in Mongolia for the rest of the summer, we just boiled the tap water (we were drinking a lot of tea anyways) and it was fine. I continued to brush my teeth with tap water and nothing ever happened. I drink the water when I'm in Mexico, though I'm usually close to the border so according to (my) logic, the same sorts of things will be in the water since I'm not so far away that the bacteria and whatnot would be vastly different. I've had decently painful food poisoning a handful of times and I can NEVER pin it on anything in particular, so I just play it safe when my instincts (or the locals/a guide) tell me to and try not to worry too much.
joyyy at 10:35AM on 11/10/08
I think that each country has its own bacteria so there will be some adjustment depending on where you go. For most developed countries you are probably fine drinking the water, but there might be an adjustment period when your body has to change to that area's bacteria. If you are only in a place I wouldn't risk it since the bacterial transition could ruin your vacation. If your there for an extended stay you might as well adjust to tap so that it costs less.
I studied abroad in Ireland and drank tap the whole time. I did have to adjust, the first week was a bit uncomfortable, but the money I saved was worth it. Keep on the look out for local notices of water sanitation, I did have some friends who didn't get a notice about water issues during a trip to Galway and got a NASTY bug. They avoided tap from then on.
Linz0 at 2:10PM on 11/10/08
It completely depends on where you are traveling abroad and also your own personal stomach sensitivity... When I studied abroad in Botswana I had no problems drinking tap water at the university but when we went to more isolated, remote areas there was no way I was drinking water that came from wells in the ground. Which turned out to be a wise decision as my professor who claimed that he was "immune" to stomach troubles got a great case of traveler's diarrhea in the middle of the Kalahari desert.. Drank the water in South Africa with no problems... Western Europe is totally fine too. So long story short it really depends on where you're traveling to.
I'd consult a guidebook like Lonely Planet before I left and see what their suggestions are.
vanillapudding99 at 2:37PM on 11/10/08
I traveled a great deal at one point. I never had any problem with the water in much of Europe. However I brushed my teeth from the tap 1ce in Morocco and felt the effects (no details PLEASE) for days.
Every country is different; proceed with caution, but not paronia.
MaureenCDRyan at 4:07PM on 11/10/08
My husband is home. He seems no worse despite drinking the tap water. Cast iron stomach? Or maybe the water in Shanghai was fine. I just know that when we both ate from the same appetizer plate at a Tex-Mex place 15 years ago, I was the one who got salmonella along with 213 others. For some reason he did not. So maybe it's just your personal immune system in conjuction with what's in the water/food. This seemed to set the precident in our relationship as far as health. Every friggin' bug I get--he does not. And I wash my hands way more than he does. I think my immune system sucks. But hey, I'm happy he's home and healthy.
dhorst at 8:59AM on 11/11/08