Med tap water verses bottled water.

[BurnitBlue]

Three of my close neighbors in the ionion Boatyard will not use Greek tap water even for cooking. In the supermarkets a large amount of floor space is occupied by bottled water for sale and not only in supermarkets. It is sold everywhere. It is obvious that tourists mainly use bottled water in Greece. The mounds of empty plastic bottles on the beaches are proof of this.

My question for UK people who are residents in Greece. Do you use tap water for drinking or do you buy bottled water for the home. Also what is the situation in other Med countries. Like Italy, France, Spain, Turkey etc. Do yachts load up with local tap water for drinking? I have only recent Greek experience.

Bottled water is almost unknown in northern Europe except in restaurants. Is this bottled water a scam or is the tap water in southern Europe really unsafe to drink? If so why? I will be interested in your comments because I hope to spread my sails a bit more this year. Thanks for any advice.

 

[Davy_S]

When we lived on the Greek islands we used tap water all the time, cooking, tea, coffee etc, no problems at all, the water is very hard though, wifey used to squeeze a Lemon into the kettle to get rid of limescale every so often, the same with the shower head, it probably varies from place to place, but the water from Sami is filtered through the limestone rocks and said to be very pure, she would carry a bottle from the shop as well, i only tend to drink frozen water placed in a top shelf drink!

 

[Beneteau381]

Three of my close neighbors in the ionion Boatyard will not use Greek tap water even for cooking. In the supermarkets a large amount of floor space is occupied by bottled water for sale and not only in supermarkets. It is sold everywhere. It is obvious that tourists mainly use bottled water in Greece. The mounds of empty plastic bottles on the beaches are proof of this.

My question for UK people who are residents in Greece. Do you use tap water for drinking or do you buy bottled water for the home. Also what is the situation in other Med countries. Like Italy, France, Spain, Turkey etc. Do yachts load up with local tap water for drinking? I have only recent Greek experience.

Bottled water is almost unknown in northern Europe except in restaurants. Is this bottled water a scam or is the tap water in southern Europe really unsafe to drink? If so why? I will be interested in your comments because I hope to spread my sails a bit more this year. Thanks for any advice.

We use bottled water to drink in Portugal, our tank water, although I have a filter and regularly dose it with chlorine, I dont trust it. I use the filtered water out of the tank in the kettle. I also have drunk the water out of the pontoon tap.

 

[Mudisox]

Tap water always from Europe, I tend to boil it if I am going to make a drink but wash up and clean, tap water OK.

 

[capnsensible]

I wouldn't drink water straight from the tap anywhere if there is a choice.

 

[Yngmar]

We measure ppm with a TDS meter before filling and if it's reasonable, we fill and add a treatment dose of sodium hypochlorite (no taste if you don't overdose). Almost everywhere (in Europe) we've had absolutely fine water. Two places had slightly salty water (1000ppm and 600 ppm) that was still perfectly safe to drink but not very tasty, so we didn't fill from there.

Once we had algae problems, which turned out to be from our own filler hose. Either don't leave the hose in the sun for long, or get hose that has a light blocking (black) layer inside to avoid this issue. The strainer caught it though before any went into the tank.

Once per year we also clean the tanks and flush through a high dose of bleach to disinfect tanks, pipes, taps, etc.

So yes, bottled water is a scam - and a grave environmental problem. Not just the trash but also the immense ridiculousness of transporting the bottles.

 

[rib]

Tap water. For three years Falmouth to Turkey. No problem. But use common sense

 

[FirstAway]

We used to drink bottled water when we fist went to Greece, but then fitted a filter on the galley tap and have have been drinking tap water for the last four years. Just one place we were warned off filling the tanks by the locals but otherwise no problems. If we don’t know the place we always ask.

 

[BurnitBlue]

Thank you. I had forgot all about on board filters. I will study this angle and buy the best filter i can afford. I now remember a skipper on a Bavaria who told me he had a centrifugal filter. If he filtered diesel from his tank, his rotating filter seperated the water from the diesel so efficiently it was good enough to drink. I think he was pulling my leg. I will however have a good look at water fiters. Carbon maybe.

 

[FirstAway]

Thank you. I had forgot all about on board filters. I will study this angle and buy the best filter i can afford. I now remember a skipper on a Bavaria who told me he had a centrifugal filter. If he filtered diesel from his tank, his rotating filter seperated the water from the diesel so efficiently it was good enough to drink. I think he was pulling my leg. I will however have a good look at water fiters. Carbon maybe.

We used the Jabsco Aqua Filta

 

[lindsay]

22 years fulltime liveabosrd in the Med, always filling up at marinas, slver based additive, Aqua Source filter under tap......NEVER A PROBLEM!.

 

[BurnitBlue]

We used the Jabsco Aqua Filta

Thanks. How often must they be changed and do they slow down delivery from the galley pump to a trickle. Do you have to buy all sort of fittings. If so I can maybe source the materials from here before flying out.

 

[25931]

I wouldn't drink water straight from the tap anywhere if there is a choice.

I wuldn't drink water anywhere if there were a choice

 

[Davy_S]

One thing to be aware of, if filling from a harbour tap, i seem to remember that the tap at Lakka, Paxos, when you get towards September, the water becomes salty, i was told the water came from a well, the lack of rain allows the water level to drop and become saline, i don't know if this is still the case now, but maybe better to let your Mrs taste it first before filling the containers up.

 

[Clancy Moped]

In Greece we would cook/brush teeth with pontoon water, hear in Palma its a no, the filter below has metal deposits and rust, I change these every 3 months despite the 6 month recommendations.

 

[Graham376]

We use bottled water to drink in Portugal, our tank water, although I have a filter and regularly dose it with chlorine, I dont trust it. I use the filtered water out of the tank in the kettle. I also have drunk the water out of the pontoon tap.

We never buy water in Portugal, always drink from the tanks which have never needed dosing. Public water supply is excellent quality.

 

[BurnitBlue]

In Greece we would cook/brush teeth with pontoon water, hear in Palma its a no, the filter below has metal deposits and rust, I change these every 3 months despite the 6 month recommendations.

Another good reason to instal a filter system. Looks like every yacht already has one.

 

[Clancy Moped]

Another good reason to instal a filter system. Looks like every yacht already has one.

That's at my house!

 

[BurnitBlue]

We never buy water in Portugal, always drink from the tanks which have never needed dosing. Public water supply is excellent quality.

I am very surprised because I believe you sail a Moody 376 with those grp tanks prone to osmosis and styrene contamination. According to the MOA they should be removed and replaced with bladders or a repair with epoxy after grinding down. OK a different topic but thanks for your take on public water supply. I understand that the ionion boat yards switched to public water supply from Preveza a few years ago. God knows where it came from before that.

 

[BurnitBlue]

That's at my house!

Wow, metal deposits from old rusting pipes. My thoughts have previously centered on bacteria. Never thought of other contaminants. Definitely a filter system is heading for my boat ASAP. Thanks for the heads-up.