My first day in Jordan I went to the rooftop restaurant at the hotel for lunch. As per usual in a developed country with good infrastructure, I asked for a glass of water- specifying tap, as opposed to bottled. After several attempts to jump the language barrier, I was finally somehow able to make the leap and the light of understanding came into my waiter's eyes. He came back with a glass of nice cold water.
It was small though, so it wasn't long before I raised my glass in the universal sign for "More please." Obligingly, he came back with another. My third time though got me not another glass of water but the maitre d' who told me it was actually against their policy to serve non-bottled water.
What the hell! I tried to explain, without letting indignation seep into my tone, the environmental crime that bottled water represents - of course there is the fact that these stupid plastic bottles are filling up our landfills, and we are sucking up energy to manufacture and transport them, not to mention that plastic + heat or + sun or + a little damage releases harmful chemicals into the water.
I quickly learned that again language was a jump too far. He responded to my rant by telling me, with pride, that Jordan now carries a whole range of brands and sizes of bottled waters for me to select from. To show me he leaves and comes back with 3 different types.
I complimented him on the selection, but tried again to explain my objection and why I would prefer water from the cooler. He tells me that the cooler water is for staff, not customers. They can't be assured that the cooler water is 100% hygienic. After my non-success with my environmental rant I didn't touch the injustice of that reasoning. I decided to keep to the environmental moral high ground and did not have any more water with my meal.
In my room in the evenings I filled my glass with tap water and smugly drank it up, doing my part to save the environment.
THEN - over the next days, I started talking to my Jordanian colleagues. Turns out NO ONE trusts or drinks the tap water, everyone drinks only bottled water! They get big old 5 gallon water cooler-type bottles for their homes and work. At workshops, they serve little plastic cups of sealed water. I immediately started feeling sick, wondering what bacteria I had been ingesting over the past days as I road my moral high horse.
That night at dinner when the maitre d' came to greet me, I meekly dismounted from my horse named Hubris, and ordered their largest bottle of water.
(Now back at home, I decided to do a little research on the safety of Jordanian tap water. Not surprisingly, it is not straightforward. The Jordanian water authority insists the water is perfectly drinkable and meets all international standards. 80% of the central region's population believes otherwise and will not drink it.
Jordan is the 4th poorest country when it comes to water availability (remind me to never ever decide to live there - being a huge water drinker, the prospect of water scarcity puts a primal fear like no other into me)! Thus, they have had trouble keeping a constant flow of water which can lead to intermittent contamination from sewer lines. That combined with pipes in need of repair, and chemical processes which take place between purification and reaching the tap leading to carcinogenic compounds lead me to think that if I ever go back to Jordan, I will be investing in the biggest bottle of water I can find.)
It was small though, so it wasn't long before I raised my glass in the universal sign for "More please." Obligingly, he came back with another. My third time though got me not another glass of water but the maitre d' who told me it was actually against their policy to serve non-bottled water.
What the hell! I tried to explain, without letting indignation seep into my tone, the environmental crime that bottled water represents - of course there is the fact that these stupid plastic bottles are filling up our landfills, and we are sucking up energy to manufacture and transport them, not to mention that plastic + heat or + sun or + a little damage releases harmful chemicals into the water.
I quickly learned that again language was a jump too far. He responded to my rant by telling me, with pride, that Jordan now carries a whole range of brands and sizes of bottled waters for me to select from. To show me he leaves and comes back with 3 different types.
I complimented him on the selection, but tried again to explain my objection and why I would prefer water from the cooler. He tells me that the cooler water is for staff, not customers. They can't be assured that the cooler water is 100% hygienic. After my non-success with my environmental rant I didn't touch the injustice of that reasoning. I decided to keep to the environmental moral high ground and did not have any more water with my meal.
In my room in the evenings I filled my glass with tap water and smugly drank it up, doing my part to save the environment.
That night at dinner when the maitre d' came to greet me, I meekly dismounted from my horse named Hubris, and ordered their largest bottle of water.
(Now back at home, I decided to do a little research on the safety of Jordanian tap water. Not surprisingly, it is not straightforward. The Jordanian water authority insists the water is perfectly drinkable and meets all international standards. 80% of the central region's population believes otherwise and will not drink it.
Jordan is the 4th poorest country when it comes to water availability (remind me to never ever decide to live there - being a huge water drinker, the prospect of water scarcity puts a primal fear like no other into me)! Thus, they have had trouble keeping a constant flow of water which can lead to intermittent contamination from sewer lines. That combined with pipes in need of repair, and chemical processes which take place between purification and reaching the tap leading to carcinogenic compounds lead me to think that if I ever go back to Jordan, I will be investing in the biggest bottle of water I can find.)
Hmmmmmm! But did you actually get sick?
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