The quote is from “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Even though about 70 percent of the world’s surface is water, as the Ancient Mariner discovered on the open ocean, the water is all salty and not suitable for consumption -- thus his lament.When preparing for a trip, a number of questions race through your mind:
What is the time difference?
What is the voltage and do I need an adaptor?
Will I be able to use my telephone?
What is the local currency?
Can I use my credit cards and traveler checks?
Are there insects, or worse?
Oh! And is it safe to drink tap water?
Water is essential for life. A significant fraction of the human body is water. Lean muscle tissue is constituted of about 75 percent water, blood of about 83 percent water, body fat of about 25 percent water and bone of 22 percent water.
We can go a few days without eating, but try to go more than a few hours without water, particularly in a hot climate, and the effects are disastrous. I recall more than a few times when a visitor to Turkey has fainted because they did not drink enough water when they were by the pool or out sightseeing in the sun.
In most parts of Turkey the water is clean, in the sense that it is not riddled with bacteria, but it is often the cleansing agents that have been put into the water to kill the bugs that at best taste horrible and at worst could do you harm!
For those of you who are new to Turkey or planning a visit here, here are a few tips:
Don’t drink tap water or water or lemonade sold from a pitcher on the street. You don’t know how hygienic the process for washing out the glass has been since the last person drank from it.
Bottled water is always best and is available everywhere. The cheapest deal will be to buy a large bottle in your local supermarket. Bottles of up to five liters are available.
Avoid uncooked foods such as salads unless you are in a home or a good quality hotel or restaurant.
Don't use tap water when you brush your teeth if you have a sensitive tummy.
Drinking bottled water in Turkey is not as costly as in Europe and America. Don’t be afraid to glug, glug, glug!
What about those of us who live here? Do we have to lug a five-liter bottle of water home from the supermarket each night? No! In every neighborhood there are water delivery companies that provide a home-service for large “bidons” -- 19 liters of pure water in a blue plastic container. If I ask the young delivery boy nicely, the service even includes him taking off the blue plastic cap, a task I rarely seem to manage to be able to do without nearly cutting myself with the knife I end up having to use because the plastic tab designed to pull back rips in two!
Turkey has an abundance of natural springs. In Ottoman times it was seen as an act of philanthropy for the rich to build a fountain tap-head -- a çeşme -- over an ancient water source so that passers-by could obtain “ab-ı hayat” -- the water of life. Often these fountains are ornately carved in marble and bear an inscription related to the nobleman who endowed the fountain. When I walk my dogs in the park I often see people wheeling large water containers, quickly on the three-block journey to the fountain, as the container is empty, and then slowly and carefully on the way back.
In Kocaeli province tap water is drinkable. In İstanbul, due to the water utility company’s efforts in recent years, the water is drinkable when it leaves their reservoir, but all of the pipes need to be renewed before we will be able to drink from the tap here too. It is a work in progress!
This brings us to the $64,000 question:
Sparkling or still, madam?
It was only really in the 1980s that a glass of Perrier water (with ice and a twist of lemon) became an alternative to a pitcher of tap water at all the best restaurants in the US and the UK. And what a fashion it became! Prices rose!
In Turkey mineral water, maden suyu, is plentiful and cheap. Many years ago I visited a bottling plant near Erzincan where mineral water just comes out of the ground!
A final tip: Don’t use tap water to make tea if your guest is a Turkish or British tea connoisseur. I know you are boiling the water, but they will surely taste the difference!
