Ukkram

My wife has a bottle of tap water that she sips all day long and by evening she is feeling nauseous and shaky. This has been going on for some weeks.

I, on the other hand have been sipping on juice and felt fine until I switched to tap water. I then had the same symptoms as her.

Today we abstained from drinking tap water and we feel fine. My wife is back to her normal self once again as am I.

This test is too short to say that it is the tap water but I will continue with the test.

EMR

We drink the tap water in small quantities no side effects but it can smell chemically atvtimes.
Remember our systems become accustomed over years to a particular mix of chemicals, minerals etc..
Probably safer to stick to bottled water, its cheap, cheap cheap anyway.
Plenty of brands out there, Luso is one of the market leaders.

Red Eric

For something to lift one's mood, I can highly recommend the juice of the fruit of the grapevine, in its fermented form. Portugal has a long and proud history in this product and it can be found, bottled, even cheaper than bottled water in some instances.

However, in answer to the question "is tap water drinkable", the answer is an unequivocal "Yes". And yes, it's monitored. Ask any expat in Portugal about bureaucracy if you want to know to what degree that monitoring is taken

However, if it disagrees with you, stick to the big bottles of water and be grateful for the excellent excercise carrying them will afford you.

algarveandroid

Probably a water testing company near you , 100 euros for advanced testing. Then go ebay look for a guy called waterman , sells german made whole house filter systems including putting minerals back in , including the new tap for the sink purely for drinking.

barlaventoexpert

Well I've been drinking water from Portuguese taps for nearly 50 years and the only thing that has ever happened to me is that I've become "mais doido"!

Ukkram

Perhaps our system has not acclimatized to tap water yet as we drank pure orange juice every day for 2 years but stopped due to the sugar content.
We will try Eric's fermented grape juice for awhile.

barlaventoexpert

"Eric's fermented grape juice"

Can I trademark that! See bishness there, my boy!

macliam

Is your water delivered directly from the mains, or via a tank? How new are the pipes? What quantity of water flushes through your main tap each day? Standing water can harbour many bugs - especially at Portuguese temperatures, so regardles of the quality of the water initially delivered, it can become tainted. A glass of water will only use that which has been standing in the pipe since the last usage......

All that being the case, we drink bottled water due to the taste (and it makes a better cuppa) ..... but then, my water is from a borehole and full of iron

Ukkram

We live in a flat and the water is from the mains.
By the way, too much iron is not good for men and may cause haemochromatosis especially in northern European men. Your liver cannot dispose of it and the iron will build up and may turn into cancer.
Only regular blood donations will get rid of the iron. Women do not have this problem as they menstruate. Just saying.

liveaboard

Our water is from the mains, and is over-chlorinated.
It's variable [this was confirmed to me by a municipal employee who works on the water system].
We buy bottled water for drinking and tea brewing.

Water in different areas can be very different, the chlorination plants are tricky to maintain and often aren't working as they should.
Get your water tested I say.

ouriquejan

When we lived in Fuzeta, no problems at all - I'd drink about 2-3 litres a day.

here, I have to have bottled water, as we have a bore hole, although I'll happily cook with it.

And as I have a dodgy tum, I'm very careful.

It just varies, I guess.

ouriquejan

When we lived in Fuzeta, no problems at all, with it being directly from the mains - I'd drink about 2-3 litres a day.

Here, I have to have bottled water, as we have a bore hole, although I'll happily cook with it.

And as I have a dodgy tum, I'm very careful.

It just varies, I guess.

fergus

I drink the tap water all the time and have no problems. I think you get used to it. I remember years ago we stayed at a house with its own borehole and one of the kids got poorly. The doctor said it was most probably the water, but that we should not think that there was anything wrong with the water. It was just different to what we were used.

Ingles

Mines from a "Bore Hole" never ever drank it & never will !

The area I live in has lots off public font's & they have nearly all been blocked off by the Camará due to heavy contamination from the chemicals used to treat the fruit trees.

Ukkram

Its been 3 days since we stopped drinking tap water and have not felt ill once. I am not too keen on testing the water again.
Viva vinho branco.