BootsnAll Travel Community

Anyone ever run into the problem of buying bottled water on the road only to find out that it is just a used bottle filled with tap water.

From my days as a DJ and going to lots of events I noticed that some promoters would do that to sell water to all the party goers so I figure this could go the same way in other countries.

Anyone have any experiences involving reused bottles with tap?

Yes I have had that happen to me. It was in Placencia, Belize. I bought bottled water...don't remember the name but it was obviously local. I didn't think twice about it because I had e.coli and I really needed hydration at the time.
I found out later that it was bottled right outside the store I bought it from and filtered with something akin to cheesecloth. Ummm...that was slightly disturbing but I was allready sick so no harm done I suppose. For the record my friend drank the same water and had no ill symptoms.

I don't really know how you can keep this from happening to you except for to be carefull that the seals are not broken and the water is from a reputable company. Try not to buy local brands I guess.

Maybe you would be interested in a SteriPen (www.steripen.com).

I'm about to head to Guatemala to use mine for the first time, but it should allow you to drink tap water anywhere you go.

a friend of mine is heading to Rwanda and Kenya for a month during the summer... should i advise her to get one of these or is the bottled water ok there?

i've had a couple of dodgy times with nasty water myself - in europe so i'm interested in the steripen - thanks Memphis!

Interesting reading... sounds like its the real deal. Might want to look into a filter to catch some of the dirt and stuff.

Any idea how much they cost memphis?

Heres one of the tests: http://www.steripen.com/PDF/Report_UArizona.pdf

Wow, I went to the steripen link and found a dealer right here in Santa Barbara. I'm going to get one.