water in India

chiwai

people always talk about the contaminated of water in India, I read somewhere people said don't even let the water touch your mouth or lip! so...how come people still wash their hand before meal or after toilet? and when take shower, no way you can avoid water run through your face, might get into your mouth sometimes. the water isn't that danger in India,right?

oldhippie

Where are you getting your information from chiwai? I have travelled on 2nd class train carriages in India and drunk water untreated out of rusty pipes with no problem whatsoever. I even managed to bathe in the toilet of one of those trains with a coffee mug.

You mentioned in another post that you are in China. IMO if you can get by in China India should be a breeze as the water in China is a lot worse than India.

Bill

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India is a huge country, chiwai, and the impression you have might be accurate in some instances but certainly not universal. Much of the groundwater in rural areas no doubt commonly has some pesticide residue and fecal coliform could be a problem in some instances in some well water, but by and large, water that comes from a tap in a city or town has been through some sort of testing and or treatment and should be fine for at least washing, bathing, and probably even brushing your teeth, but do keep a bottle of water in your room for tooth brushing and washing down pills if you are doubtful.

I wouldn't advise being quite so casual as oldhippy, though. I'd say it would be better to boil, filter, or treat water for drinking or just stick to bottled water, or other bottled or hot drinks, as a general practice. Even in some major cities while the water going into the system may be ok, the system itself may be in a state of near collapse and the water unfit for drinking due to contamination from leaking sewer pipes running alongside water mains underground and out of sight. I think you are safe enough filling a canteen at the potable water tap you find at most most railway stations -- it is no doubt thoroughly tested and I suspect that a lot of the bottled water sold on railway platforms comes from this source in refilled and ingeniously re-sealed bottles anyway

chiwai

no..I will not drink the water from the tap, not even in China here, but I do brush my teeth with the tap water. that was why I ask the question about the water in India. I did read that comment in the LP India forum to gether with tons of warnings about the water. and seem like I was just worry to much.
and oldhippie, I didn't know that the water in China is more worse than in India. I always thought the other way around. since I seldom read about travelers complaint about it in the China forum. but still...you maybe right course I hadn't seen India yet, so I couldn't tell.
thank for the advices guys.

bijapuri

I figure tap water tooth brushing is a bit of inoculation- if it can survive the neem paste, that is.

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salima

bijapuri, you mean like a vaccine sort of thing?

all i know about the water so far is it sure is great for my skin!

angelika

???

I never had any problems with tap water in India.
I always used it for toothbrusing and washing my hands, face and showering...

steven_ber

I too, wash/shower, brush my teeth and gargle using the water, I have never had a reaction.

I will be in the same area of Upper Assam for at least 10 days on my next trip, and unless I see something that really puts me off, I will drink the local water, if I survive I will post my experiences.

oldhippie

Chiwai
Yunnan might be better off but the water is most parts of China is pretty nasty. The more you worry about it the more likely you are to catch something.
If you gotta go..well you gotta go. There's no stopping it.

Bill

angelika

... and if you use iodine with some orange/lemon instantflavor, wait for about 30 minutes, I'm sure you can even drink it.
I done this during 4 weeks in Nepal and I'm still alive and I didn't became ill.
And what's good for Nepal is good for India do. mmmh?

wonderwomanusa

I have seen this "instant flavor" mentioned before; what is it and where do you get it?

Someone said it is Vitamin C, but in the US I've not seen water-soluble tablets.

rickshawwallah

Effervescent Vit. C tablets are available in many large drugstores in the U.S., often displayed by the pharmacy counter. I saw Europeans carrying them in India long before I ever saw them in the U.S., so they must be widely available there, too. They are fairly expensive. Keep in mind that ascorbic acid (vitamin C) neutralizes not only the taste of the iodine but also its effectiveness! If you add the vitamin C at the same time as the iodine, the effect is basically the same as not adding anything. Do not add the vitamin C until the iodine has been in the water long enough to purify the water (could be over an hour with severely contaminated or very cold water).

These days, though, I believe there are better, healthier and much better tasting options than using iodine. I dutifully drank iodinized water for months at a time throughout the 1990s, but in recent years the wider availability of chlorine dioxide based water purifiers have sparked a near-revolution in camping and travel water purification. This is not to be confused with chlorine based water purifiers, which are not as effective and make your water taste like it came from a municipal swimming pool.

Chlorine dioxide works better than iodine, tastes better (because it's basically tasteless), and has less ill effects, so I reccommend it wholeheartedly over iodine. In a pinch, though, iodine still has its place. It's cheap, easy to use and extremely widely available, so it might be the best thing you can find in an emergency. Just wait awhile before adding the vitamin C.

If anyone is interested, here's where to get chlorine dioxide:
Pristine - sold in Canada (but available internationally by mail order; see www.pristine.ca)
Aqua Mira - sold in US (actually just Pristine licensed by a US company)

Oh, yeah, and some iodine tablets actually come with a seperate bottle of vit. C tablets as taste neutralizers.

wonderwomanusa

I've seen Aqua Mira on a website but I don't have time now for mail order, so iodine it is, unless I decide to drink bottled water. Will continue to look for the Vitamin C tablets.

I would think a squeeze of lemon or orange juice would also do wonders for iodinized water, once it has stood around long enough.

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oldhippie

>>Effervescent Vit. C tablets are available in many large drugstores in the U.S<<

I think these are also available in India & go by the
name of Radox or Redox.

beachchik4ever

Chiwai, I wouldn't drink the water or brush my teeth with it. Bathing is okay but I wouldn't let it get in your mouth. Bottled water is inexpensive. When I was there I just bought a bunch of that and hoped it was good. I didn't get sick. Why take a chance? If you are there to have fun, why spend any time sick if you can avoid it. Everybody's system and ammunities are different.

-jeannette