Safety – Page 2 – Tunisian Experience

Imagine that you land in Tunisia and make it to your hotel just before bedtime. You wake up in the middle of the night and feel thirsty from the dry airplane cabin air and from a day of traveling. You go to pour a cup of water from the bathroom sink, and then it hits you: is the tap water in Tunisia safe to drink? Should you go down to the front desk and ask for a bottle of water, or should you just go for it and drink from the tap? Because around 97% of Tunisia has access to improved water, it is probably ok to drink the tap water in Tunisia. But, because the safety of drinking water in any place depends on local factors, and because bottled water is so cheap and easy to find, it is best to just drink bottled water on your visit to Tunisia. Having lived in Tunis for a few years now, I have used the tap water to brush my teeth every day and I have drunk tap water as a beverage a handful of times without getting sick from it. After doing a little research, I’ve learned that my personal experience with tap water has been “so far so good” because of the great strides Tunisia has made over the past few decades to provide clean water for its people. In this post I’ll share what I’ve learned about Tunisian water, and how to be safe with your water consumption during your visit to Tunisia. Why It’s Probably OK to Drink Water in Tunisia After researching the tap water situation in Tunisia, my personal take-away is that the tap water in urban areas in Tunisia is most likely safe to drink. I say “most likely” because there could always be some contamination on the local level that makes you sick. For the most part, though, the Tunisian government delivers clean water to every tap in all urban areas and in many rural areas. Back in 1990, only 4 out of 5 Tunisians (82%) had access to improved drinking water. Twenty-some years later, that number rose to 97%. For context, Tunisia has the best improved water access rate in the North Africa and Middle East region. Not bad! There are two government-run agencies that manage most of the tap water in Tunisia. First, there’s SONEDE (pronounced so-ned). SONEDE serves all of the tap water in urban areas and half of the tap water in rural areas. So, if you’re in Tunis, or Sousse, or Hammamet, or Djerba, all of the tap water is governed by the same organization with the same standards. The other governing body that manages water is the Ministry of Agriculture. They oversee most of the remaining rural areas not governed by SONEDE. The Ministry of Agriculture delegates water management responsibilities to smaller, local organizations called GDA’s. The Ministry of Public Health in Tunisia sets and enforces standards for clean drinking water. The water facilities are tested regularly, and the Ministry of Public Health sends inspectors to do a random test at least twice a year in every drinking water facility. Tunisia uses the World Health Organization’s 1972 drinking water standard, which is also the 1980 European standard. So while the standard is now a little outdated, it is still safe. Risks to Drinking Water in Tunisia Local conditions matter. As a general rule, the purity of the water coming out of your tap depends on local factors. Just because most of the country has clean water doesn’t mean your tap is putting out clean water. For example, the United States has some of the cleanest tap water in the world, but the water crisis that happened in Flint, Michigan in 2014 shows that a water-management oversight on the local level can lead to harmful drinking water for 100,000 people. Beware of rural water. The risk of drinking bad water in Tunisia rises when you go outside of the city. While the Ministry of Agriculture oversees much of the drinking water in rural areas, there are still about 250,000 people in Tunisia that rely on unimproved drinking water, such as wells and springs that are not protected from contamination. This could be a concern for tourists because there are a lot of great attractions and destinations in rural areas in Tunisia, such as the Sahara Desert, the Star Wars sites in the south, and lots of cool Berber villages all around the country. If you’re traveling to these rural places, you won’t realistically be able to check on the water source. So if you want to be safe, bring clean water with you. Fluoride. The fluoride levels in tap water also vary significantly across Tunisia. A study that was published in 2015 took tap water samples from seven different places throughout the country and found that the fluoride levels in southern cities like Medenine, Gabes, Gafsa and Tataouine were up to 20 times higher than in northern cities like Beja and Jandouba. The reason for this fluctuation is that the amount of natural fluoride from surface water or groundwater varies by location. Chances are, the fluctuating fluoride levels in Tunisia won’t affect you on your visit to the country, even if you drink nothing but tap water. However, if you will spend a longer time in southern Tunisia, you may want to take notice. Young children are most affected by high fluorine levels, so if you’re taking your kids to the south, you’ll probably want to give them bottled water. Solution 1: Buy Bottled Water If you’re visiting Tunisia for a short time and you want to be safe with your drinking water, the quick and easy fix is to buy bottled water. Bottled water is everywhere in Tunisia. Out of all the countries in the world, Tunisia is in 11’th place in its consumption of bottled water! You can find a little convenience store or “hanoot” on just about every street in Tunisia, and they all have bottled water. If you ask for water at a restaurant, they will serve you an unopened bottle--not tap water. All brands of packaged water in Tunisia have to meet one of two quality standards, and both of these standards were created in 2007. The only downside to bottled water is that all of that plastic adds to Tunisia’s environmental footprint. Anyone who’s walked around Tunisia for more than a few minutes can see that a lot of plastic trash ends up in the street. When I first moved to Tunisia, I used only bottled water, and every month or so I would have to set a big trash bag full of empty bottles outside of my apartment. There are Tunisians who make a living by collecting these plastic bottles and recycling them. Still, it felt wrong to go through so much plastic all by myself. That’s why I made the switch to a water filter! Solution 2: Purify the Tap Water If you’re staying long-term in Tunisia, your best bet is to filter your water. When Abi and I were planning to move back to Tunisia in 2019, we bought a small Berkey Filter, and we love it! It takes away that odd taste, and the extra layer of protection between us and the tap water also gives some peace of mind. Many Tunisian homes also choose to install a filtration system into their sink. It seems that most of our expat friends that rent homes here in the capital have one, and the difference in taste from the tap water is noticeable. If it comes down to it, there are some other do-it-yourself methods of purifying water. The old-fashioned way is to boil it. Your hotel or Airbnb will likely have an electric water heater for making tea and coffee, which will make this easy. A second method is to use iodine. Iodine comes in different forms like tablets, crystals, or a liquid solution. I would not expect to find these in Tunisia, so bring them with you. The downside to using iodine is that it has a bit of a taste, and women who are pregnant are not supposed to use it. A third DIY method is to use chlorine drops. You have to be sure to use the right amount, and to also wait about 30 minutes for it to work. Conclusion To sum up, you will probably be ok drinking the tap water on your visit to Tunisia. I wish that we could say carte blanche that you can drink tap water in Tunisia all you want with total peace of mind, but it’s not that simple. The taste of the urban tap water is admittedly a little off-putting. There are also some rural areas of Tunisia that don’t have improved water. And the quality of the tap water anywhere in the world depends on everything between the water source and the faucet to be in good working order. For these reasons, we proceed with caution and use a filter or bottled water. We hope this info equips you to make the best decision for yourself!