There are some shower heads available around here that are very artful in saving water by mixing it with air and having many little sprays while still giving the impression of a single big jet of water. (No idea if you had any of those, but often the only way to see how much water something uses is looking at how fast water collects when you close the drain.

2) water
Even if it was not one of those but some old water-waster, there is not much need to feel very guilty. Central europe is one of the most water-rich regions of the world (warm gulf stream near in the west (with winds coming from the west in northern hemisphere)). Any water you waste will only mean wasted energy to pump and filter it (and as there is much water, it does not need to be pumped for more than a few hundred kilometers) but it will not cause ecological desasters in the area where the water is from. (More water needed means everyone get worse water, though, as water if of different quality.) The really expensive part is the post-processing of the used water. The worst thing to do is putting antibiotic
stuff in the drain.

3) drinking water
Getting your water in Germany is indeed a challenge and many people indeed have always a bottle with them to fill with tap water (or dehydrate or buy expensive water).

When you eat something in some restaurant, they are by decision of the courts required to supply you with tap water in case you need to take pills before eating (the law itself only forbids restaurants to force you to buy something to drink when you buy something to eat), so at most places you will get tap water (even without needing pills) if insisting on it. It is quire uncommon, though. Cheap restaurants make most of their incoming via the drinks and in expensive restaurants tap water is just considered inadequate, so that this is sadly unlikely to change. Difference with nearby countries are also intresting. While in France you used to get something to drink with every meal, in Germany drinking while eating was very uncommon in the past. So in France the mecial scientists tell you drinking while eating helps digestion, the same only a few kilometers to the east told over a century that drinking while eating dilutes the stomach accid and thus makes you ill.

4) Water fountains
Water fountains are indeed very uncommon in Germany. I guess the reason is to some extend some water-purity madness. Requirements for the tap water are so high in Germany that once you only looked at it is over most contamination limits by several degrees. Many Germans even buy bottled water for brushing their teeth when leaving the country, because the tap-water is so impure everywhere else.

On the topic of fountains, where I lived in Germany and here in Catalonia there aren’t many either. And even when you find one, depending where (eg. Barcelona) you wouldn’t want to drink from it because of how awful they taste.

* The environmental impact of that isn’t that huge though. In Germany bottles are mostly made of glass and are returned to the shop (in exchange for a refund of their value) to get cleaned and filled again.

Incidentally, I don’t know this for sure, but I don’t believe that I would get free medical services. The US State Dept. alerts that the Czech Republic requires foreigners to have proof of medical insurance on entry, though this was never checked in our case. My American medical insurer also contracts with some German hospitals for coverage for travelers. So this would not be at no cost to me if I needed it.

on the other side, down here you are allowed to obtain free medical services (yes, even if you’re a foreigner), which I was told doesn’t exists in your country.

so, It’s up you: what would you prefer, free water in restaurants or free medical services for everyone?

best wishes.

From now on, if a restaurant does not offer me tap water, politely, unsarcastically, and before they offer mineral water, then they will be penalised.

See http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/eating_out/giles_coren/article1291862.ece

In the parks where I run here in Silicon Valley, they do come in groups of three: one at “regular” height, one lower, and one about 5cm off the ground for dogs.

Nope, there’s no obligation to serve free tap water, although most restaurants I’ve visited will do so. In fact, I can only vaguely remember one instance where this wasn’t the case. Of course, had I known how much the water was going to cost me, I might have ordered something a little more exciting.

Mike (UK)

The advantage of mineral water is that you are (supposed to be) guaranteed that it was bottled straight at the source and is left completely unchanged, safe for some additional fizziness. In contrast, tap water might contain disinfectants like chloride (in particular in the U.S., I’m not fond of the taste of tap water there) and pick up all kinds of contamination from the pipes and the tap.

the water discussion here is really interesting.

Some more remarks from my point of view.

I did not consider bottled water a environmental issue uptonow. (At least if it was somewhat regional water and not some far-away-water in blue glas bottles). There is a bottle deposit (Flaschenpfand) system in germany which blocked this mental path for me. But obviously the “fountain approach” is more energy efficient if there is no active cooling involved.

My children carry daily 0.5liter of water to school which contributes to the 6-8kg weight of their backbacks. Add to these sport shoes + clothing and a music instrument and you get quite a heavy load for small people.

The summers in germany are normally not really hot for a long period of time, so water irrigation for private gardening is rarely needed. The water company billed for my home (2adults+2children+small garden) 175.000liter water last year.

During city trips with my children I carry a small bottles of water with me or buy it on demand in supermarkets.

In my holidays I avoid not-cooked water like it is used in these refill ‘carafes’ and in ice-cubes in restaurants. This is meant as precaution against “Montezumas revenge”.

Last year I was in france in the summer and the water in these carafes failed basic optical tests, by having particles swimming around. The beer called “pression” there was extremly refreshing. And drinking the local rose wine cooled a bit down was close to perfection :)

While I am thinking of it, Christian, we have got dibs on those gorgeous kids…we had one of the best vacations of our life caring for them while John and Terah were on their own vacation. Seriously, we did.

I am reminded here of the “necessity is the mother of invention” quip. While I view my self as a conservationist/environmentalist, in many regards, water usage on our little place out in the country is an afterthought. We have an unlimited supply that only costs us pennies to pump. Any extra we pump out simply re-enters the ecological system in a manner of its own choosing.

I’ve heard a lot about Germany’s Christmas Markets, the trade fair in Leipzig, etc.

Rereading it after knowing the comments and the conversation I no longer find it offensive. The Europe “generalisation” seems the trigger to assume a certain point of view and thus implying unwritten stuff.

We do have laws about water consumption of toilets and showerheads. The anecdotal evidence I saw suggests that American laws about toilets are weaker than German laws (or standard practice), and that the inverse is true about shower heads — though again I have no solid knowledge to base this on.

You are probably right that US water usage is far higher than in Germany, though I wonder if the gap is still as wide as it once was — and I also wonder if it would be narrower were the large American agriculture sector excluded.

I think that in the end, some US practices will have to change regarding irrigation of fields and lawns — at least in some parts of the country. And in some parts of the country, they already have.

Though I do still think it was a bit ironic to see one of the most water-saving toilets I’ve ever seen right next to one of the most water-wasting shower heads I’ve ever seen in Prague ;-) Even if the irony is less than us in the USA saving water with our toilets and not caring much about our irrigation systems.

I’m sure there is diversity on that point in both countries, though; some US cities have strongly-enforced mandatory recycling programs, while recycling is barely an option in others, for instance.

So this discussion has shown that Lonely Planet Germany probably gave me some bad advice here. I never attempted to ask for tap water in a German restaurant due to that advice. I can only plead that this quote was not mine and I didn’t intend to give it any special significance there, other than to suggest that I knew going into the trip that the approach was different.

My intent was never to say the USA is an example for recycling. We have a huge problem with overuse of bottled water, and plenty of other huge problems in that area, too. The fact that the bottled water problem might be slightly bigger in Germany than here doesn’t mean that Germany ought to use the USA as an example; that would probably be pointless, since we’ve got the same problem.

It clarifies somewhat — though I am surprised that you made the leap from my post to the assertion that the US is an example in recycling, which I certainly didn’t intend and don’t believe.

That leads to the question: did I have some subconscious American bias in my tone? Or did some readers have a subconscious expectation of bias from an American? Or is it simply a case of two different people reading the same thing differently?

forgot to say so.

Also I have never seen so many plastic waste bottles as here in Pennsylvania. Especially the waste of an usual college student lunch meal is big. It seems also that every small house generates lots of waste noticing that every week here. So speaking of US as an example in recylcling seems offensive too.

Also their is a distinction between “Mineralwasser” and “Leitungswasser”. The first one comes from a special source or may have added minerals. If one does not clarify which water you want it is often assumed in German speaking countries that you want Mineralwasser (can be still or sparkling). One has to really ask for the first “Leitungswasser”. It be much more useful if lonely planet would tell so. Only some very posh restaurants in German speaking countries may bill for that.

hope that clarifies? :)

Statistics suggest that both Germany and the USA have a problem with overuse of bottled water, and that it’s worse in Germany. We have a lot of drinking fountains in the USA, but many have unnecessary electricity-consuming chillers.

A clear “country X is better than country Y”? Nope, I don’t think so, and I certainly didn’t see enough of even Germany to generalize about the whole country. My point is that different places are, well, different and can learn from each other for mutual benefit — though, of course, not everything that makes sense in one place makes sense in another.

That wasn’t my intent. Can you be more precise about what conveyed that attitude, so I can fix it?

* Chemical addons: American water adds ton of Cl. I have seen this in Washington, Pennsylvania and Portland / Oregon. Thus if you drink the water not as chilly as one does here it may taste very strangely allmost like a swimming pool water.

* Water quality – The quality of tap water varies a lot in Europe. Around the alpes you get extremely good tap water.

* Order – In German speaking countires you have to order “Leitungswasser” for tap water and this is not priced.

* Refill – Students usually have sports bottles were they refill their water. It is quite usual to do so in Europe.

Otherwise the generalisations and tone of your blog post seems to convey American superiority, but I may be mistaken on that – still irrating.

your post got me thinking. I was last november for a week in the US in Austin, Texas. I think I saw two of these water fountain things in the whole time: The one in the office was never used. The other on one of the airports, where I spent some hours was used once, while I sat there.

The office people drank all the time extremly sweet stuff with caffeine and other wake-up ingrediants like dr pepper, cola, some tea limonade. The only other stuff avalable was coffee.

The water out of the fountain tasted not good, I think there was some desinfection stuff, ‘chlorine’ applied.

In the end I bought bottled water, “polands best” which did not sparkle (or is it frizzle?) and tasted like chlorine was applied too.

I am living in germany and must say, that I am quite surprised with respect of the ‘shower head’ laws in the US. The prejustice here is that farmers in the US will produce rice in deserts as water and electricity are awfully cheap. I think I remember learning in school (198x), that the water usage per person in the US was three or four times higher than in germany. So things like “shower head” laws were not in my mental picture of the US.

PS: I noticed some sort of strong reaction to your post in the comments and cannot understand these.

I hope my words do not offend you or readers of your blog.

kind regards
Frank

But what never changes is that if you do not ask specifically for water from the tap, you’ll pay for the bottle.

And here in England I don’t recall ever seeing one of those underground sprinklers, nor a water fountain that wasn’t in a primary school (I’m sure there must be some of those around though; maybe they’re just invisible to me).

I was under the impression that they were legally required to do that if you make it clear that you’re asking for tap water. Is that incorrect?

Then again I can’t imagine many things more stressful than going to a restaurant, so my sample size is not large.

As Branden said, refills are less likely to be free in fast food restaurants. I don’t frequently eat at them either, so I’m not well-equipped to comment. Some of them do, however, have a “serve yourself” fountain arrangement, and at those refills are almost always free even for sodas.

And about water, in most countries that I have been to, the best option for a tourist was to go into the regular food supermarket and get 1.5l-2.0l water bottle for 0.5-1€ and carry that with you. Locals are out and about less than tourists – locals go from home (drink there), to work (drink there) or friends (drink there). There is no need to drink water after each block and it is also perfectly fine to go out of your house, go to a dinner and a movie and come back home a few hours later without drinking extra water.

Oh, and hotel showers really are pot luck. I think the most wasteful I’ve encountered was one in your Silicon Valley, where more water leaked out of the wrong place than came out of the shower head!

Actually you’ve got it the other way around.

At the cheaper restaurants, soda refills are not free. I don’t know what the big fast food chains’ policy is because I’m never inside one.

At the mid-line to finer U.S. restaurants, soda (and black tea) refills are practically always free. In fact I can’t remember the last time I ate someplace where there weren’t. Apart from the real budget places where the margins are very thin, as mentioned.

Water, iced or otherwise, is always free at every dining establishment here.

Now, someone needs to tell me where I can free refills on Macallan 18.

Anyway, thanks John, for this highly interesting set of blog posts. It just makes me really keen to have you guys at home if you ever happen to think about visiting Paris area with Terah (and hoefully your gorgeous kids).
And, then, you’ll have plenty of tap water if you want, including in restaurants (as Ben pointed, one just has to ask for “une carafe d’eau”….but it’s true that ordering only tap water is quite uncommon in some other European countries, including Germany. For once, this is something we’re better at in FR, as it seems..:)

Also, don’t expect to get free refills in various sodas in the various fast food restaurants in EU. *that* seems to be a USA-only habit…but I expect you’re not that fond of MacDonalds anyway..:-)

(Except that I haven’t seen drinking fountains since I left school. At school, they were commonplace.)

Fortunately bottled water is now, slowly, becoming less trendy as it’s obviously a huge waste of resources. The water companies here in England are always pointing this out and point to the stricter standards that they have to adhere to.

Just give me a large jug of tap water with some ice cubes and a slice of lemon.

Public fountains are indeed scarce. In Spain (home country) you see one at least in every square. In The Netherlands where I live now I miss them a lot, but I just go ask for a glass of water at a café if I am thirsty. I usually drink coffee first, so maybe that helps to get a free glass of water, but I doubt it.

I remember in Aix-en-Provence (in the south of France, close to Marseilles) when I studied in the nineties there was this really posh street: Cours MIrabeau. In it, on the sunny side there are lots of bars with terraces all year long. It is a place to sit and watch and be watched. There were people that would sit for one hour at one table with a free glass of water and go to the next one where they would order another glass of water and so one. Apparently by law a bar owner can refuse noone a glass of water. Maybe a French person could confirm this, but I have seen this many times during my year there.

London tap water is (IMHO) nasty – when I lived there I only drank bottled water (even for brushing my teeth). It’s like Colorado water was in ~2000 (not sure if Colorado water still sucks).

If a waiter claims that tap water isn’t good enough to drink then ask them what they use for cooking… ;)

my interpretation of the bottled water in restaurants story is, that it’s part of the overall calculation: The restaurants earn more money with the drinks then with the food, but people still tend to look only for the food price.

The German water preservation habit actually is a big problem: The current canalization in Germany is usually much over capacity due to wrong demand forecast some decades ago. Which leads to such silly things that in summer they have to pump extra water in the pipes to keep everything floating. :-)