I consider my self quite lucky to live at a place(Norway) there good and cool drinking water come out of the tap. No need to get fancy and high priced bottle water. The picture shows me filling my water bottle at the gym. The sink is put up to work as water post. And many use it to fill up their water bottle. But I know that many places around the world good public drinking water is not an option. A Google search like this http://www.google.com/search?q=drinking+water+worldwide shows that good drinking water is in short supply many places. So how is your drinking water accessibility acre to share?

 

Most of the tap water in Greece is edible (drinkable?). Notable exceptions are the islands and a few major cities where there is occasionally a bit of mud or bad taste in the water. I'd make a ballpark guess that more than 70% of Greeks have access to drinkable tap water.

 

Hi Geo, the word you're looking for is "potable" from Latin "potare".

 

Right. I knew that one, but I forgot about it. Thanks.

 

Welsh tap water is excellent.

 

Here, water tap has taste/odour say, few days in a year. Otherwise it is very good.

Ashore I've been drinking tap water my whole life except in Bahía Blanca where it is salty, and lately, also with odour.

In fact, until I quit vessels some 23 years ago, I've been drinking water on board that we received from shore at any port. Just once, we had a serious problem with water from Antofagasta. In vessels of our flag, drinking water tanks were kept in remarkable good condition.

Some 10 years ago, I had a bad experience in Malabo (Guinea Ecuatorial). The doctor told me that it was no surprise for people going there the first time.

 

In some locations of upstate NY,, the tap water just plain Sucks... We have a Culligan N-8 Estate reverse osmosis salt-burner on line, which helps

One recent summer, Our local " water authority " bought out other area wells, and their ensuing revamp of flow direction in some very old piping, the water went to hades in a handbasket for about 6 months, and darn near choked the Culligan to death...

 

I used to live in Okmulgie Oklahoma, where the water had a lot of sulphur, everyone bought purified water for drinking.\
In San Pedro, Honduras, when the river turns black from washing banannas, the natives get treated water in 5 gal bottles for drinking ( Montezumas revenge when the river turns black.)

 

I have drank water in just about every place I have been (10s of countries), even some of the places people associate with "dirty" water; Mexico, Philippines, Russia, etc. and suffered very little ill from it (if any - hard to attribute just to water). But I am not the germophobe that most Americans are. I have no problem eating food after it is dropped on the ground as long as there is not visible dirt/feces/oil/unknown fluid stuck to it. If there is natural dirt on it, I may brush it off and eat anyway. I don't always wash my hands after using the bathroom; sorry folks, it's true. My take on it is best told by George Carlin. My immune system is bulletproof. If a pandemic apocalypitc plague comes, I will be among those left standing.

I find it amusing that Norwegians drink from the tap, because some of our most expensive "high end" waters (is there such a thing, really?) come from Norway. Are Americans paying out the anus for bottled Norwegian tap water?

 

But I am not the germophobe that most Americans are. I have no problem eating food after it is dropped on the ground as long as there is not visible dirt/feces/oil/unknown fluid stuck to it. If there is natural dirt on it, I may brush it off and eat anyway. I don't always wash my hands after using the bathroom; sorry folks, it's true.

Hmm...so the rewards of eating that soiled brownie outweigh the risks. Interesting.

Not only do I wash my hands after every trip to the toilet, when exiting a public restroom, I open the door without touching the handle. I even carry paper napkins in my pocket for that purpose. I also avoid shaking hands, especially with people I don't know. I haven't had a flu shot or the flu in many years, nor do I get many colds. I prefer to take my risks on top of my dirt bike.

 

I use strantor's method of vaccination, primarily.

 

I find it amusing that Norwegians drink from the tap, because some of our most expensive "high end" waters (is there such a thing, really?) come from Norway. Are Americans paying out the anus for bottled Norwegian tap water?

I am sure you are referring to the VOSS water. That water come from a source with a very low count of humus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humus) particles. Just beside that the rest is a pure market hype. The same source that VOSS use is also used as a public water source. So in one place in Norway, people have the luxury of flushing toilets, showering, and even drinking VOSS bottle water as much as they want and still paying standard water fee.

 

Welsh tap water is excellent.

I agree, I'm drinking it here in Birmingham (it comes 70 miles by aqueduct).
All British tap water is safe, although some tastes better than others. London water tastes nasty.

 

Here on this island called "Long," just east of New York City, we tend to have excellent water as it takes about 1,000 years to get down to the aquifer we tap. Of course, this is meaningless if you live anywhere south of the former Bethpage Grumman Aerospace plant (where they built the LEM) as they used leach fields to dispose of carbon tet and such.

So far the EPA is imposing carbon filters to get out that nasty stuff. No plans to actually clean up the mess.

 

The public water in USA is almost perfectly without nasty diseases, but the first time I saw particles in the water (1978), I installed a carbon filter for any water I use for drinking or cooking.

 

Same here. There is a time of year in spring when the lakes "turn over" and it can smell off. So I put a filter on my tap, but usually I don't worry about it.

 

Hmm...so the rewards of eating that soiled brownie outweigh the risks. Interesting.

Not only do I wash my hands after every trip to the toilet, when exiting a public restroom, I open the door without touching the handle. I even carry paper napkins in my pocket for that purpose. I also avoid shaking hands, especially with people I don't know. I haven't had a flu shot or the flu in many years, nor do I get many colds. I prefer to take my risks on top of my dirt bike.

Well I already fessed up to generating the motorcycle thread out of my own crabbiness, so any further jabs are moot, but if you find them gratifying then keep em coming; they have a neutral effect on me. Better for one at least one of us to get something positive out of it.

But if you wish to discuss risk vs. Reward, I'll be happy to oblige. I don't recognize much of a risk/reward aspect on the topic of germs. According to my layman's (or, < layman's probably) understanding of germs, disease, and hygiene, you basically have 2 options: #1. you can obsess over germs and keep the germ battle at the forefront of your every activity, sterilizing this and santizing that, and significantly reduce your exposure to germs, thereby significantly reducing the likelihood that germs will invade tour body and make you sick. This tends to work just fine as long as you stay on top of your game and as long as nobody sneezes directly in your face. You get sick less often than most people. But as soon as you falter in your religious persecution of germs or eat an improperly packaged or improperly dated piece of food, the resulting illness is greatly exaggerated because your immune system hasn't had any germs to practice on, and takes a royal ass whipping. Or, #2 you don't waste your time cleaning things that aren't visibly dirty, you don't waste your money on lysol and smelly alcohol gel, and you let your body get plenty of exercise at fighting germs and infection. You might (but probably won't) get sick more often than the germ terminator, but when you you get sick, you pull through like champ, with down time measured in hours instead of days.

So in my mind it comes down to a matter of preference. Do you want to spend a week in bed every couple years taking a beating from some superbug, or would you prefer to use those "sick days" your employer provides for dirt bike trips in exotic locations? Would you like to spend non-negligible amount of money on overhyped sanitization products or would you rather spend that on upgrade parts for your bike? It's your choice.

 

My input probably doesn't mean much here, as I am primarily a reader, but here goes...
I'm siding with Strantor, especially with regard to the post above.
I'll use myself & sibling and my Mother's sister's offspring as an example.
Myself and sibling were allowed to crawl all around the house, which was clean, but not clinically sterile. We even played outside in the dirt, when we were able to toddle/walk, and were used to the few-seconds-rule if some food got dropped, as long as it wasn't heavily contaminated.
By contrast, a few years later when our cousins came along, everything had to be wiped down where the infants were, anything which touched the floor got wiped down by our aunt/uncle, food which came close to the floor or any other surface got thrown away, etc. etc.
Guess which children were always absent from school due to illnesses and continued to be ailed by various things through adolescence/adulthood?
I'm proud to say that I haven't had a sick day in years and what appears to be 'flu' to others and lasts for many days, passes in a couple of days for me.

 

We (as in Portland) have some of the best water in the USA and it's not adulterated with anything to effect our 'precious bodily fluids'.

http://www.wweek.com/portland/blog-30229-portland_voters_soundly_reject_fluoride.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr2bSL5VQgM

 

The water in the mountains of Northern Alabama is excellent! No need for fancy bottled water here.