I have a couple strange questions about France..?

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Answer Guru

Hey congrats on your upcoming "sejour" (i cant type accents on this computer...grr) abroad! It will hopefully be a time to remember.
I went to France in 2003 for 3 weeks, then again for six months to study in Perpignan in spring 2005, then I went back for 2 weeks to visit my host family last February (2008).

To answer your questions:
1.) Drinking the tap water is fine, for the most part. Big bottles of water can be expensive depending on where you get them, but if you go to a supermarche, you can get a nice 150cL bottle for like .59 euro. I had tap water all the time at my host family's house and at hostels, and I never got sick. France isn't China. No lead. No mercury.

2.) Flushing TP is fine...just don't go flushing any feminine hygiene products (a no brainer...not a good idea anywhere). But what the heck would you do with TP if you couldnt flush it?? You cant have dookied TP sitting in a trash can stinkin up the place.

If you have any questions about anything, feel free to shoot me an email too!
tyler_nethercott@yahoo.com

I love France and Europe and I have been all over the place so I can give good suggestions on what to do/see!

Rillifane

Yes, you can drink the tap water and no, you don't have to worry about flushing toilet paper.

France is a modern, industrialized nation with a strong central government that enforces health, safety, and sanitation codes very rigorously.

You are probably safer drinking tap water in France than in the United States.where there are tens of thousands of water companies, some public, some private, and regulated by a hodge podge of local, state and Federal regulations which may or may not be enforced.

Anyone telling you that you have to drink bottled water in France is a halfwit.

david464014

1 French mains water entirely safe.

2 Yes you can flush paper down all French toilets. But some are connected to a septic tank and not sewers. Where that is the case then there is a notice stating clearly (in French) that you do not flush tampons, sanitary towels, condoms or cigarettes down them. The reason for including cigarettes is that the tobacco waste/nicotine/tar kills the bacteria that help break down the other waste.

jewels19_x

You can drink the water in pretty much most of france, and you can flush proper toilet paper down the toilets.

Nick S

Unless your going somewhere really rural or to a campsite you'll have no problem. If you venture further east into Europe you may not be able to flush paper or drink from the tap but I've never come across this in France, after living in Paris and the Dordogne.

missy.nikki

right, your in luck I LIVE in france, so I can definitely help you, (btw im not french)
1) I've been drinkin tap water since i got here, and the only difference is ive lost a few pounds
2)that toilet paper thing is a myth, as long as its french paper it shud flush no probs, but, and idk if this is just i have a rubbish toilet, if you flush and it keeps makin noises for more than norm, just take the lid off and pull up the lil stick thing that comes out of the big box (hey, im not a plumber, i dont no the names of all the lil fings in a toilet)
hope i helpd

Cabal

You can drink tap water without any fear. It is checked daily in the system by the water authorities and is in fact safer than many bottled water you drink in the US.
I never heard that flush urban legend and I tend to hear a lot of the (usually nasty) stories running about France from my US colleagues, that's a new one for me. You can flush. As said above, sometimes toilets are linked to a tank so you cannot flush tampons.

Lemige

1) "I've heard that drinking water in other countries can make you sick,"

It's a commercial?? reason to make you believe that the water that you have is the best in the world...

In France, we have good chemists able to analyze/control the water.
We also have natural sources with mountains (Alps)

2) "I've also heard that in other countries you can't flush toilet paper".

It's an other commercial?? reason to make you believe that the toilet that you have is the best in the world...

In France, we have good sewers, our streets are clean (excepted dog ****....)

France is one of the 10 wealthiest countries (GNP speaking), and a leading country in Europe with Germany and Great Britain.

That's why your questions are... obvious and... (insulting is too strong)

marzetwo

1) Yes, you can.
I've been drinking it all my life.
(I would just avoid it in Brittanny in places where the pig-farming industry has polluted the soil, even if the tap water is within the regulation limit).

2) yes, you can.
Our canalisations are big enough. In countries where you can't (Greece for instance) they always put signs everywhere to avoid disaster. Apart from Greece, all western europe has wide enough plumbing.

If you come here for 6 months, you should invest in a guidebook !

jrr_hill

Bonjour! I've been to France a number of times (French/Canadian ancestry) and what I suggest to you is that you do drink bottled water.
It's not that their tap water is not good but that their water purification system is different than what your body system is accustomed to.
About the toilets: the rumor you heard about them is BS. Whoever started that rumor probably stayed at a French equivalent of Motel6; probably left there also with a case of bed bugs.

ocularnervosa

1) The water in France is filtered just like in America so it's safe to drink but if you are worried they sell bottled just like here in America.

2) Everywhere I went they had plumbing like here in America so you shouldn't have to worry about that either, but if you go to a restroom and they have a trash can next to the toilet, well...

Sev

Yes, you can drink tap water in France. Anyway, wine is a real big part of French culture so you'll be given the option if you get a bit suspicious

ill ask the questions here bud!

your right they are pretty obvious

ycfan1987

I've been to France, and I swear I'll never go there again. You can flush toliet paper, and as for water, I am not sure. and I say this becuase I always had a water bottle with me, but I always filled up at water fountains and at resturants, and if they filled it up with tap without me knowing than I didnt get sick. I used tap water to brush my teeth but never swallowed it.

Lisa

1,) keep 2 bottled so u dont risk it it can make u ill sometimes
2.) its fine to flush it in france

Leroy S

No. DO NOT DRINK IT.
You will get diarrhea.

Don't flush your toilet paper.
Keep it with you and dispose of it at your hotel.

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