water in Spain and Portughal

Well....... I started drinking it when I was a kid. And still do. I'm not real tall. I reckon it stunted my growth.

Sorry about that shorty, but there were at least one post on graffiti wall that said please please don't drink the water in Spain or you will be sorry.

What did they do---drink out of a river? How old is that report? What town or city in Spain?

I haven't had any problem drinking the water there. I agree, the info you were reading must be old. And Ed, you just blew the mental image I have had of you all these years.

I walked the Camino de Santiago 3 years ago and drank the water from the fuentes (fountains) in every village, town or city I passed through, and from the tap in the alburgues where I stayed, no problems what so ever. There were only a couple of place where we couldn't to use a particular fountain, there was a sign (No beba agua) hung on it, that occured twice in the 800 km of the Camino, at those locations potable water was supplied nearby. Can't say it stunted my growth since I completed that aspect of life before going to Spain.

You can drink the water in both countries, although the taste may vary from what you are used to drinking at home. Good advice is to always see what the locals are drinking.

There is Europe wide legislation on the provision of tap water by utilities. If there is a problem, it is with the taste and mineral content you are not used to. A generalisation using Spain or Portugal will not help you locally.

Thank you all for your input on the tap water. We never had a problem in Italy but the input on the Graffiti wall made me leery. And for the life of me I can't find thread where I read. Thanks again.

I was in Spain in February and all the cold drinks including sangria had lots of huge ice cubes in them. I'm sure they are made with water straight from the tap.

We never had a problem in either country. To minimize the impact the of different/changing microbes in the "new" water, we always make sure that we have yogurt each morning. The "active cultures" seem to help us assimilate the water. And we love the EU yogurts; all the wonderful flavors are just wonderful. If my stomach becomes a little upset, it likes ginger, which does a great job of calming it down.

We traveled in both Spain & Portugal in 2002 and are returning this fall. Throughout the USA and Europe, we've always drunk local tap water without problems EXCEPT for the week we stayed along the Costa del Sol between Malaga and Marbella. The first night, we requested agua del grifo at the resturant, and the waiter insisted the local water wasn't safe to drink and we needed bottled water if we wanted water to drink. Reluctantly, and figuring this was just a scam to sell expensive bottled water to tourists, we relented and got bottled agua con gaz with our meal. That night, and the next day, several different locals confirmed that the water there was unsafe, and it was a purity issue and not just flavor - aparently the water table was excessively shallow that close to the ocean and affected its safety. That first week, we used bottled water for brushing our teeth, and boiled tap water when cooking in our kitchen, but enjoyed tap water the 2nd and 3rd weeks in Granada, Sevilla, and Portugal. Perhaps Spain and/or the E.U. has improved the water treatment facility east of Malaga in the past decade, or maybe not. If there's any doubt where you're visiting, check for certain with a few locals who aren't in the mineral-water selling business. Buen viaje!

We haven't been to Portugal yet, but never experienced any problems with water in Spain. I can't recall exactly how much tap water we drank, but we never avoided it.

40 years ago this was an issue; not an issue now.

We were in Spain last summer, in Barcelona, and in a very small town ( Tossa De MAr) in both places we used the ice and drank tap water, it didn't occur to us not to,,these aren't third world countries after all. We never got sick.

We spent a month touring both Spain and Portugal in 2011 and didn't have any problem with drinking the water in either country.