Question:
During May we plan to travel through Germany, Holland, Belgium, France,Switzerland and Austria.

Is it considered safe to drink the tap water from the bathroom faucetin those countries?

Any difference between the larger cities and the very small towns orfarmhouses in the country?

Answer: I have found much the opposite to be true. In the sixties and seventies Ifound few people drinking tap water in all but the least expensiverestaurants, at least in France. Nowadays, I frequently see carafes oftap water on tables in even the most expensive restaurants. It wouldappear that, in many places, the consumption of bottled water is on thedecline. Traditionally Europeans have drunk mineral water for manyreasons. I would not discount the quality of the local drinking water,but most people drank bottled water for the supposed benefits of theminerals in the mineral water. Some mineral water is quite off tastingbecause of the mineral content. Other brands are much like tap water.

One of the reasons for the decrease in consumption of mineral water isthat some Europeans have become consicous of ingesting too much in the wayor salt and other minerals from the mineral water. It is often suggestedthat travelers, not used to drinking mineral water, vary the brand ofwater they drink so as to avoid a reaction to intake of any specificmineral.

It is quite possible to have adverse reactions to mineral waters. Isometimes wonder if people who consume large quatities of one brand ofmineral water blame digestive tract ailments to the tap water in the hotelthey used to brush their teeth, when in fact, it was the mineral waterthat was the source of the problem. OTOH, all tap water has imputities ofboth biological and chemical nature. A problem travelers face, is thattheir systems are used to the variety of impurity in their home waters andnot those of a far away place. This is not to say all water is of thesame quality.