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Water in France

by Melissa Atienza-Petri on April 4th, 2007

water If you are in a restaurant and want tap water (FREE), ask for carafe d’eau. If you do not specify, you may be given mineral water (with or without gas) — Evian or Perrier, most likely. And, of course, those kinds of water wouldn’t be for free.

Tap Water is generally safe to drink. If they are not safe, they are usually referred to as eau non potable.

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Jyle
Apr 4, 2007 at 11:16 pm

Tap water in France is NOT generally safe. I promise. I lived in France for two years and I never met a French person (and I’ve met many) who drank unpurified tap water. I was so thirsty in Nantes so I drank the water from a hose that was watering the grass outside the castle. I got several stares and one person even told me never to do that. I regretted it about thirty minutes later when my stomach turned. I repeat DO NOT DRINK TAP WATER IN FRANCE!
Melissa Atienza-Petri
Apr 9, 2007 at 3:54 pm

Thanks, Jyle.

However, I beg to differ. Water in France (in general; except for areas where fertilizers are heavily used) is hard (minerals galore) and safe to drink. And in restaurants, they will tell you if it’s potable or not.

Info from an American expat who has lived in Paris for the past 12 years.
Karen Bryan
Apr 11, 2007 at 7:38 am

I always thought it was great in France that there would be a carafe of water sitting on the table in restaurants. I always drank tap water in France and it had no adverse effects on me. I prefer to drink still water and don’t see why I should pay for bottled water which does not taste any better to me.
Matt
Apr 19, 2007 at 8:54 am

Jyle: I’ve lived in France for 32 years, since I’m french, and I’ve never met a french person (and I’ve met a few…) who got sick from tap water at home or restaurants. But maybe that’s because I’ve never met anyone who would go and drink fertilized water from hoses in castles backyards…
Jeanne
Apr 26, 2007 at 9:39 pm

Hmmm… interesting. I did have a similar experience in France but I am not the sort to drink from hoses, I must say. The carafes in restaurants are perfectly fine and I think the major cities are as well. I have been to France and been warned not to drink the tap water when I was in more rural communities at certain times. My family has travelled extensively in France for many decades and I think, perhaps, it might depend on the area and time of visit? I think the same is true for any country. If you had visited Montreal earlier this year, you would have encountered a warning not to drink tap water in certain areas. It can be a regional and temporary issue.

Also, people who have spent their whole lives or a long time in an area develop antibodies to local bacteria. Mexicans can eat the fruit grown in Mexico but it might give a foreigner like me Montezuma’s Revenge. Know what I mean?

I was surprised by the heated reaction to such a simple issue (even if Jyle was a little over-the-top). There are people who have died in Canada from drinking tap water. I don’t know any of them personally, but water is one of those things that I hesitate to label “safe” anywhere.

I do like this site a lot, though. Good info!!! France is awesome.
The BEST in Budget Traveling
Jul 1, 2007 at 4:50 pm

[…] DRINKS. Cruise along the disco row of Port Olimpic in Barcelona. Ask for carafe d’eau (plain ole tap Water, my dear) in […]
A Traveler
Dec 10, 2007 at 7:11 pm

Wow,
I have read threw many of these e-mails and some of them say bad stuff and some of them say good stuff. But when I go to Gorgia the water their gives me the willies never drink it unless you get it from a water bottle or towards the middle of the state. Bye