Tap Water Vs. Bottled Water

I am traveling to India this coming Summer and was wondering which type of water to drink mainly? My parents advised against Tap Water and I was wondering if I had to drink Bottled Water the entire duration of my stay?

 

The tap water in India can have varying tastes due to the type and amount of salts in the local groundwater. This is very disconcerting for travellers, even for those who travel within India. It is generally preferred that you drink bottled water, but if you have water purifier systems like Aquaguard or Kent then you can drink tap water too.

 

I always drink bottled water when I travel because the ones I buy have minerals in it and boosts the immune system in the body. Also, you never know with tap water - in some places it might be safe to drink and in others not.

 

Sadly, basically, yes, you do have to. It's not very environmentally friendly, so there are ways to get around it. You can boil your water, you can use chlorine tablets (which taste gross, but work), you can use a portable water purifying system, etc. - have a look online to see if you think any of them would suit you. Other than that, though, it's bottled water. It's a bad idea to drink the tap water in India. It's one of the best ways to get sick, particularly if you're only there for a short time. The first time I went, I could drink it at the end of my two month stay, and it was all right, but the next time I was there I cockily had both tap water *and* pani puri after only four weeks there, and I was so sick.

 

I would recommend drinking bottled water. Even if the local water is clean from the taps, a tourist is not used to it. The flavor will be off, and the chemicals in it might disrupt the natural ecology of your intestines, causing sickness. Even people going from New York to L.A. have this problem. Bottled water is a safe bet. But just be careful, since some places will recycle bottles from the tap, and sell them as new.

 

Your parents are absolutely right on this. I wouldn't touch the tap water in India even with a ten foot pole. No matter how strong of an immune system you think you have, I think it's best to avoid it altogether. Prevention here would be much better than cure.

 

I've had friends visit India and ended up with what they referred to as "Delhi Belly" after even having a small amount of tap water accidentally (think like brushing your teeth or something)...so I absolutely would use bottled water at all costs. The last thing you want is to get struck down with a stomach bug when you're meant to be out enjoying the vacation of a lifetime, you know?

 

Bottled water is definitely the way to go when visiting India. It's not the fact that it isn't clean, it's more to do with the fact that if your not used to it then for one it doesn't taste like what I assume you'd be used to, and also because of that then you more than likely will find you'll have an upset stomach.

Even when it comes to brushing your teeth I'd also use bottled water, because even the tiniest amounts you might swallow could make you ill, at least for a few hours anyway as @amelia88 as already said.

 

Oh, my. I was actually mentioning this on another thread just yesterday. I was saying how paranoid I was when I first arrived in India that I had gone to the point of brushing my teeth with bottled water.

With what you've just said, I feel less stupid now

 

I don't want to sound like I am wearing a tin foil hat under my pretty red hat, but I don't think you should drink tap water in most places. Even in the US, they are finding towns with lead in the water as well as other unsafe contaminants. The older the infrastructure of the pipelines, the more likely the water may get contaminated. I avoid local tap water AND ice. I believe that both can contain bacteria and viruses. They may not be that harmful even, but who wants the runs when traveling. The thing about bottled water is that some of it is just tap water. You have to check the manufacture to find out if it is pure or not.

 

I'm not going to get into the whole conspiracy theory type posts, but I drink tap water here in the UK and have done for about the last 38 years and never gotten ill.

With India I think it's a little different and if you've been brought up there then you may not have any issues drinking the water in the main, but it's still not as safe even for you than what the water is for the locals of other countries.

 

I don't think you sound crazy at all -- one of my closest friends believes the same thing, and I get where she's coming from! When I'm at home I filter tap water through a charcoal filtered jug, so I figure that's at least kind of okay...I hope, anyway!

 

Well, as far as the tap water goes, the US uses fluoride in the water, which most other countries recognize as harmful. There is a huge debate, and ignoring all the fringe theories still leaves considerable evidence that US tap water is bad for over all health. Is it as bad as India? No. But that does not mean bottle water is any better. Frequently, it is just tap water, too. Here, where I live, we have spring fed water from the taps, which is sweet. It is the best water I have ever had. And, the same stuff goes into the bottled water.

 

I think the tap vs bottled water debate as run for many years and will carry on doing do, but the main question here was is the tap water ok to drink in India, and to that the unanimous opinion is no.

I think it's important to make that point a little clearer before the thread gets bogged down with the conspiracy theories, haha.