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up vote 14 down vote favorite

In some places, the Swedish Lappland for example, it's perfectly fine and even recommended to drink water directly from streams.

Is it also recommended whilst hiking in the Alps, and if so is it only in certain areas?

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I once was in Tromsø, North of Norway. Got on a mountain close to the city, saw a spring. I thought: if I can't drink safely the water from a spring on a mountain at the North pole, I don't know what else I can. Drank a handful. Tasted like freedom, the real one. – Stefano Borini Jan 25 '12 at 0:13
There have been scientific studies of water samples in the Sierra, which showed that there were no concentrations of Giardia capable of causing disease. I haven't been able to find anything similar for the Alps. However, I did find this: smw.ch/content/smw-2012-13683 . Although the levels of Cryptosporidium are high enough that they could theoretically cause disease, this was in a farming village in Switzerland, not in the wilderness areas of the Alps. That makes it seem extremely unlikely to me that there is anything to worry about in wilderness areas of the Alps. – Ben Crowell Apr 30 at 23:07

4 Answers

up vote 3 down vote

If you're on an extended trip away from civilization, I wouldn't recommend it anywhere except directly from a spring coming out of rock. If there are animals in the area, you can be sure they some have died, or done their business in the water and it could be contaminated. While water in the alps is likely safer that rivers or lakes in most areas, I wouldn't risk it.

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I have never heard of anyone treating water in European high mountains. – mithy Mar 9 '12 at 14:02
up vote 3 down vote

At a water faucet?

I would filter any untreated water in the Alps, and filter or boil melted snow.

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At least in Switzerland and Liechtenstein you can drink water from every source, if a sign does not forbid it. – RoflcoptrException Jan 24 '12 at 21:28
(source = spring) That's good to know! – xpda Jan 24 '12 at 21:31
Ah I see, so I have to rephrase it. You can drink water from every source, well or faucet, if a sign does not prohibit it. – RoflcoptrException Jan 24 '12 at 21:33
Sometimes you can drink it even if a sign forbids it. Sometimes they put "forbidden" signs close to mountain cabins hoping that hikers will buy the overpriced bottled water from the cabin... – gerrit Jul 10 '12 at 15:25
up vote 11 down vote

In the core alps (Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and Austria), you can drink water almost everywhere directly without filtering. There are only two exceptions: If there is a thing or something like this that forbids drinking it, or if you can see an obvious reason not to drink it, like for example a strange smell or abnormal color.

In the other countries in the Alps (France, Italy, etc.) I would only drink water unfiltered if you can drink it directly from the source, i.e. glacial lakes or the source itself.

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Most contamination by bacteria, protozoa, and viruses are both tasteless and odorless, so going on smell or color is a poor way to determine if water is sanitary. Do consider what may have died or pooped in the kilometer upstream and choose to treat water you cannot be sure is from the ground or other sterile source. – bmike Jan 31 '12 at 23:46
Actually, those signs "not drinking water" are often there for legal reasons, and posted even if the water is perfectly safe to drink. Only when you know you are below agriculture I wouldn't drink from the streams. – gerrit Jan 18 at 21:46
@gerrit That's true, but it is sometimes difficult to know if the sign is there only for legal reasons. I think in this case it is better to be safe than sorry. – RoflcoptrException Jan 18 at 22:10
@RoflcoptrException If unexperienced, one might be wise to obey those signs. From personal experience, those signs have quite suddenly and quite recently appeared at places where people've been drinking forever. Sometimes I suspect it's for the benefit of the local mountain hut selling bottled water for 3€ for half a liter... – gerrit Jan 18 at 22:15
up vote 5 down vote

My understanding is that anything above 4000 metres you can drink due to there being a low chance that anything living will affect the water i.e. animal faeces and bacteria etc.

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Dead hikers? :) – Tomáš Fejfar Feb 5 '12 at 16:06

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