How long to adjust to the water?

KashaKasha

I will be leaving in late July/early August to be a foreign exchange student to Mumbai for a year, and I know that the water is rather disagreeable to western stomachs. Since I am not willing to dance around the issue of "being indian" for a year and most drinks contain water of some form, I was wondering if anyone knew how long it takes to adjust. How long should I expect to be ill?

claurianta

I think that depends on your stomach. I drank Indian water and ate salads the stuff they served from street stands - though I did have a quick look to make sure some basic hygiene was present (like flies weren't flying into the pot etc.), and I never got sick.

Honestly, I found out that the people who got sick were the ones who limited their diets the most to try to stay safe. The ones who ate what the indians ate were the healthier bunch of tourists generally.

brightspark

Hi KashaKasha,

While I do agree with Claurinta, that one should not worry too much, I think there are no simple answers.

While I dont certainly recommend you to be overly cautious, there are some basic precautions that you may observe.

The first few days when you are adjusting to the heat and humidity, it may be a good idea to drink bottled water (usually Rs. 10 per liter), and after a week or so, shift to filter water. You could ask the restaurants if they use a filter (acquagaurd or something like that). Where you stay would usually have such a filter. We all use such filters at home.

Mumbai has a strong street food culture.. and people eat street food, around large office complexes, you will find people eating sandwiches etc.. from vendors on bicycles. Middle class Indians living in cities DO NOT HAVE a much stronger resistance than many foreigners.. so after a while, you will realise that what is good for middle class Indians is good enough for you.. So see if the place you are eating has many Indians eating there.

I would however recommend you to always carry filtered water or buy bottled water, when travelling by bus or trains or to smaller towns.

As regards to eating cooked food.. most food would be cooked, after boiling it is quite safe, so if you are eating in a place which observes basic hygeine, you should be alright. The water gets boiled in the cooking process.

Further since you are likely to be staying put in Mumbai for quite some time, you should be alright.. I guess people get lower resistance due to a combination of factors.. frequent changes in water quality, temperature climate, food styles.. when they travel.. when you are staying in one city, you will adapt to all these things.

So essentially, while one does not need to worry too much about these things, I would not recommend a totally cavalier attitude.. particularly when travelling through small towns.

Also as regards to bottled water..particularly when you are buying it at small town bus stands or even at railway stations, I would recommend you stick to some known brands.. and check the seal of the bottle, to be safe.

It is also recommended that you always crush the bottles after use, to prevent their misuse. You would probably see small children, jumping into railway compartments to collect used bottles.

Brightspark

lotus blossom

i drink purified water at home so surely drink it when i travel anywhere, especially to india.

the first time that i was in india was during diwali. the family that i was with took me to the homes of many of their friends, all serving pani (water), each of them assuring me that it was purified water and the only water that i should drink while visiting india.

after a week of drinking the stuff i fell very ill. the doctor that i was there studying with said "from now on you will only drink purified water". here i thought that i had been, only to find out that by indian standards, the "filtered" water is what is purified for them, but still teaming with stuff that our western guts are not used to.

so, while in the cities i bought Bisleri, which can sometimes be tampered with (the lid is taken off, tap water is put in the container and the lid replaced, with the threads of the lid still intact). i got a liter of the tampered stuff and drank a fair amount of it before noticing white crap floating around in it. i was sick at the time (my second sickness) and wondered why i was not getting well. as soon as i got some clean water, my health improved rapidly.

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seventies'hippy

It takes years for a westerners system to be ok with Indian water (if ever).
Food souldn't be a problem if you follow normal hygeine precautions with street snacks etc being the freshest& tastiest you'll ever eat. but the water NO, stick with bottled, especially coming from a very clean vancouver.

chappal

If the logic is to go native, then I would consider what class you would like to belong to and what health risks and behaviors go along with that class. Most middle class Indian people I know boil and/or purify their water. My relatives have an aquaguard purifier, which is an ultraviolet home water purifier. Relatives who don't have aquaguard service, boil their water. Many drink the water served in restaurants and homes, depending on the cleanliness of the restaurant. But Indians get sick sometimes too! Stomach-sickness and jaundice are not so uncommon among Indians who eat out a lot. There are other waterborn diseases which although not common are very serious. Fact is, despite what you will see on the roadsides, a lot of Indians do not eat that food. Those that do, do get sick once in awhile.

LuAnnandJawahar

Indians who can afford it drink filtered water at home and bottled water when they are traveling. Some people feel municipal water from major cities is OK, but you'll still find a filter jug on top of their fridge for drinking water.

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edwardseco

My relatives always boil their water so what does that say about getting used to hepatitis, etc..

Alan D

I would advise being very careful about the water you drink in India.

If you're going to drink everything and anything then say a few prayers as you swallow it down.

If anyone can tell me how I "adjust" to giardia, amoebic dysentery, hepatitis and cholera, then I would be pleased to hear from them.

Nick-H

'Filtered' water in houses can be no more than passed through a gauze or sand filter, ie the microbes etc will still all be hapilly living in it, even if the colour has improved. The recent water shortages in Chennai have meant more and more people buying bottled water for their homes, as the tanker stuff is good only for washing.

I use the tap water in my house (comes from an bore hole) , passed through a filter that clims to remove microbes, boiled for tea. It's been a week, and no problem so far. I use bottled water for everything else, even cleaning my teeth.

But it is inevitable that some tap water gets in the mouth when showering or washing, even if only a trace so...

Also immunity is not forever: my teacher and his wife returned home after only two years away and were in hospital within two days. Ask an ex-pat Indian how careful they are!

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shere

I used to drink water from the tubewell at home but it used to make me ill. Nothing but bottled water from a seller I know.

Tap water in most offbeat places comes from plastic storage tanks which are rarely cleaned and full of all sorts of stuff that would put you off washing in the stuff let alone drinking it.

Karma Queen

theres nothing shameful in not being completely indian and drinking bottled water. being ill in india is *NOT FUN*, and can be quite gross sometimes! stick to the filtered/bottled. there's no way in hell i'd go anywhere near tap water. spend your time in india having fun, not throwing up.

Oli179844

A lot of foreigners seem to boast about eating in dirty places and drinking tap water. OK, 99% of the time you will probably be safe, but who wants to get sick on holiday? I live in South Mumbai and drink filtered water at home. I used to drink tap water but have stopped because there is a lot of Hep E around now (jaundice). Its not only foreigners who get tummy bugs - nobody can be immune to everything!