Is the water safe to drink?
Answers
America
Water, water everywhere. Fountains in shopping malls, on every level or every other level of hotels. I suppose that's why Americans are always so alert. They also don't drink at lunch time. Certainly not at the conventions I have been to.
Cambodia
In Siem Reap (the second city and most visited tourist city because of the probity to Ankor Wat) you are told not to drink the water.
In our hotel we were given small bottles of water for tooth cleaning. I thought, if I'm not supposed to use this for tooth cleaning, do I really want to wash my hands in it? I would clean my teeth, rinse my mouth with bottled water, tip a capful over my hands. What about my face? What about washing underclothes? What about my hands in clothes washing water? What about washing a hat, a blouse, a dress, a slip, a pair of socks?
Presumably washing grapes and apples means using bottled water. And lettuce and tomatoes.
A business man going to Cambodia to the capital next week asks me if it's easy to find bottled water. Yes. Hotels have it on the restaurant tables and in bathrooms attached to bedrooms (although not in the wash rooms / rest rooms. Carry your own. Easy to get water? Yes. You can buy it in a supermarket. Your talk-tuk driver will collect half a dozen bottles of water in a pack and give you a fresh one every morning. You will have saved your own bottle from breakfast.
Remember to save your bottled water from dinner. Don't leave it on the table.
At the airport they will take away your water, but usually let you drink it, or they will offer to throw away the water and give you back the bottle to refill later.
England
Drinkable water from London fresh water kitchen taps. In Physics lessons at school we were told don't drink from bathroom taps because that water is not from the main but stored overhead in a tank which could have all sorts in it.
You hear lots of stories about creatures which fall into tanks. I've heard plumbers say nonsense, tanks have covers so no insects not pigeons nor squirrels can drop in. But we had a plumber who investigated a tank in a loft where we were living and produced and piece of rusting metal which he said he'd found in the tank.
Hard water in London. Soft water in Derbyshire at Writers' Summer School.
Singapore
Yes, you can drink from the tap. We do all the time. I also use the tap water in a coffee machine which I hope boils the water. Then the water is too hot to drink, so I add milk and cold tap water.
I don't like the taste of tap water to drink so I add slices of lemon. Lemon is supposed to rot your teeth, being acid. You are told not to clean your teeth within an hour of drinking water containing lemon.
Wales
Lovely soft water in Fishguard, West Wales.
Tips
Concerned about drinking water safety?
1 Drink water which has been brought to the boil.
2 Buy a filtration kit from a camping shop.
3 Buy bottled water. In restaurants drink only from water which has been poured from a bottle which was opened in front of you.
4 Wash the cup before pouring in water to drink.
5 Avoid ice, iced cold drinks, iced tea, iced alcoholic drink, milkshakes with crushed ice, ice lollies.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share my posts.
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