True story. I had to have four semesters of foreign language in high school. I chose French, my father’s HS language, and the first language of his mother.
In one lesson, we were taught the French word for mineral water. There was a reason why American tourists to France should know that word, our teacher told us.
In France, Americans can’t drink the water. French people have built up a tolerance to its contaminants. But not Americans.
This got me to thinking. In exactly what foreign countries CAN Americans in fact drink the water? I think it’s an interesting question.
There was a TV commercial a while back that mentioned one place (in Asia IIRC) where you can drink the water, if you’re American. But I forget the details.
So where exactly can Americans drink the water? Leave out no detail .
I’ve traveled a fair amount of the world. I only drank bottled water (that I opened) or water run through a home purifier. It’s just not worth the risk, so a blanket policy is best, IMO.
Generally the reason not to drink the water in a foreign country is to avoid traveler’s diarrhea, a usually mild water-borne illness that local inhabitants have probably already been exposed to enough that they don’t get actively sick from it.
But usually it’s developing or middle income countries with lower standards of public health or water cleanliness, not western European countries.
I have drunk tap water in many European countries (France included) with no ill effect. I also drank from a fountain in Munich that someone later pointed out to me had a sign I hadn’t noticed saying “Don’t drink the water”. I was fine.
In Africa and South America I only drank bottled water that I opened the bottle or water that had been filtered or boiled. But in France? They have safe drinking water.
I got some traveler’s intestinal upset in France. It’s not that they have more parts per million of bacteria, it’s just that we’re immune to a different species of bacteria than they have over there. A few other folks in my tour group got it, too, but not everyone. It was mild and only lasted a day or two.
Another cause of traveler’s diarrhea is that when you’re traveling you tend to eat a lot more food prepared by others and touch a lot more surfaces touched by others than you do when you’re at home, so you have lots more chances to pick up mild food-borne or other illnesses.
I agree that there’s no reason to think that French tap water wasn’t safe to drink in the 1980s.
First, tap water in most of France is quite drinkable. I can’t vouch for all of it.
Second, mineral water might not be what you want to ask for. If you are constipated, ask for mineral water. If you aren’t, you might want to be wary of it and the potential results.
24 years ago we had a trip to 3 Southeast Asian countries planned. Then I found out I was pregnant. Many people including natives of those countries told me not to take the trip because of the risk of amebiasis, dysentery, malaria, dengue fever etc. It was the people from those countries who urged me most strongly to rethink the trip.
So my husband and I took a trip to England Scotland and Wales. We drank tap water with no ill effects at all.
I’ve lived in South Korea from 1977 to 1979, Germany from 1979 to 1982, Japan from 1990 to 1996, South Korea again from 2005 to 2012, and China from 2012 to present. I’ve had no issues from drinking tap water in any of those countries.
Yeah, there is nothing wrong with the tap water anywhere in western Europe, and I doubt there was in the 1980s. There are unlucky people who seem to get sick easily from any change of food or water, though, so maybe your teacher was one of these, or knew someone who was.
Yeah, I’ve had this experience several times and know other travelers/long-term residents who’ve had it too upon starting a stay in a distant country. Just temporary low-level GI effects such as mild diarrhea or constipation, stomach aches, etc. (And no, it doesn’t particularly correlate to having a delicate digestion when one’s at home.)
Even in a developed nation with safe food and water and good hygiene practices, some encounters with unfamiliar local microorganisms, combined with whatever levels of dietary disruption or physical and/or psychological stress one’s experiencing from the journey and acclimation, can lead to a mild degree of intestinal upset.
I don’t fear the prospect sufficiently to take special food precautions or avoid drinking tap water when I’m visiting other developed countries, though.
Many restaurants in the Caribbean serve only bottled water. When the server brings the bottle to your table they’ll pause until everyone is quiet, then crack the seal on the bottle , showing that it is indeed a new, previously unopened bottle.
.