Filtered hotel and restaurant water

Hi, just arrived in Chennai, and my hostel has a large water filtration unit (stainless steel apparently, massive, looks like something institutional out of One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest or somesuch).

I'm just wondering if it's safe to drink? It has a funky 'earthy' taste - and I guess it's just tap water put through this 1950's contraption.

Also, restaurants seem to put jugs of water on the table, wondering if this is a similar thing with filtration?

I did do a search on this topic, but found nothing on actual 'hospitality' filtered water .... thanks

I have used the "drinking water" set out in restaurants a few times, and didn't get sick, but I feel that we are still much better off using sealed bottled water.

And be sure to have a parasite test when you return home.

That's what you use to wash your hands with...

..... or perhaps other.

@Suesnews - don't risk it. Only drink bottled water at restaurants, (or anywhere else) with a seal you break yourself.

Well said, Dr Rudi. Better safe than sorry...

I'm guessing if you know the taste and haven't got sick its probably safe. I always brush my teeth and end up consuming a lot hotel water on my trips and haven't got sick. I agree better safe than sorry in this case.

Me too. I always wonder about hotel filtered water; who cleans the filters, how often is this done and how much do they care about it? How do they do it?
My guess is that it wouldn't be that high a priority for the hotel or the cleaner.

HI, thanks for the replies, I have been drinking this now for the last 4 days, and feel good. It's a very clean hostel restaurant, and all the middle-class Indians are drinking it, which I take as a sign of 'OK'. The idea of a parasite test is a sobering thought though.

The Project Manager in me would like to see a calibration/ QA Checklist for those contraptions, like Keith says, to see how often they are cleaned. I agree it's probably a case of 'set and forget' so perhaps it hasn't been cleaned since the 1950's???? Yikes.

i stayed at one place for 2 months and drank their filtered water with no problems... dont know that i'd do it just anywhere tho.

I would say its fine and not even locals are immune form parasites and bacteria if there is something in the water the bug don't care if you are Indian or not. I dont know about where you live but at least here in the states in fast food places and gas stations the ice makers are rarely cleaned and I know of way to many other un pleasant things they do with our food... I suppose its about the same thing, but if you are drinking it and feel fine I would say its not harmful.

not sure if this is best thread for this but... there is a water filter called lifestraw which is very light and only 9 inches long. filters 264 gallons of water, enuf for almost a year, then need to replace/ rewash filter (i;m unsure). save money on bottled water. you can drink right from a puddle, removes 99.99999% of organisms. check out eartheasy.com for more.

Hi, thanks for the link to the Lifestraw - sounds almost too good to be true! But it looks good on the website, it's inexpensive, and it's and certainly an idea for next travel trip

I am amazed at this reasoning. I highly recommend you drink all such water. Natural selection rules..

I haven't looked at this one, but I had a really simple squeeze-bottle carbon filter thing. When I tried it in London, it even took the chlorine flavour out of the water. This, too, was supposed to be ok for so many hundreds of litres of water, but real-life India clogged it up completely in just a few days.