Drinking water from taps at cemeteries

[KGBurk]

I’ve heard that if you’re in need of drinking water on a Camino, you can always find a water tap at a cemetary. Is this true and do you think the water is usually potable from cemetery taps?

 

[dougfitz]

Taps will be labelled if the water is not potable. I have seen signs with a variety of words along the lines of not treated, not tested, or non-potable. I always carry water purification tablets and a 500ml bottle. The tablets don't weigh much, don't take up a lot of room, and if I use water from these sources, it gets treated before I use it.

 

[J Willhaus]

I thought this, too, but sometimes cemeteries dont have a water source. Happened to me on the Aragones.

 

[trecile]

Sometimes cemeteries are locked up. I wouldn't rely on them for a water source.

 

[Vacajoe]

So I’ve been given this advice when walking less frequented routes and I can tell you that it may be the worst advice I’ve received. First, many cemeteries have been paved over for ease of maintenance and no longer have water taps. Second, those that do seem to either have locked gates or remove the handle so folks like us can’t use the water at will. And finally, if you do find an unlocked cemetery with an accessible water tap, there is zero chance that they are regularly testing it for potability. Doesn’t mean it will kill you, but there remains the chance that the lines are old and not used for drinking water.

Now in America, we don’t routinely test all of our taps nor balk at water from untested yet obviously “normal” sources. However, our guts are used to our water while Spanish guts are used to Spanish water, so even though the water may be perfectly potable, it doesn’t mean that the native biome won’t upset your tummy for a bit.

 

[roving_rufus]

This is great advice for example walking compostelle/camino routes in France -where I made plenty of use of taps in cemeteries as the graveyards are maintained by the local municipality - only once was I concerned about the water source.
But I never really heard the same suggestion in Spain - but then there are far more water fountains in the centre of villages than in France, plus Spanish graveyards seemed more difficult to access and were of a very different design - and I don't remember seeing too many taps in them

 

[Flog]

remains

Be sure that any tap in a cemetery, especially a remote one, is from a municipal supply and not from a well for obvious or not so obvious reasons.

Seriously, this was something that was pointed out to us years ago at an information meeting about rural water schemes, well construction and siting, and contamination from agricultural run off and other things..

On a slide, they showed us a picture of a small pump house and tap, with someone taking a drink from it. Surrounding it were many headstones and granite crosses, old and some not so old.

The caption under it read "What is wrong in this picture?"

 

[OZAJ]

This is great advice for example walking compostelle/camino routes in France -where I made plenty of use of taps in cemeteries as the graveyards are maintained by the local municipality - only once was I concerned about the water source.
But I never really heard the same suggestion in Spain - but then there are far more water fountains in the centre of villages than in France, plus Spanish graveyards seemed more difficult to access and were of a very different design - and I don't remember seeing too many taps in them

I was given this advice for FRANCE and found it to be mostly true. However, I did once encounter water contaminated with what smelled like kerosine.

 

[Hiawatha]

All along the GR70 I used the water taps at cemetery gates as a mainstay . I'm still here and certainly didn't suffer any poor effects at the time . Much the same along the GR145 , however in Spain I would stick to the fonts in the centre of most villages .

 

[Peterexpatkiwi]

I honestly don’t know. France definitely ok, however in Spain I suspect it’s a little hit and miss, much like here in Germany. In the more remote cemeteries it will be well water, and the few I saw were not labelled. (Why would they bother ? Testing is not free, and they’re there to water the plants)
If you really want to be able to use them and be sure of being ok, invest in a simple filter - a Life Straw, Sawyer mini, Katyden Befree or similar.

Or, as @dougfitz suggested, a few water treatment tablets. Smaller, lighter, relatively cheap.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Even if the water supplied to the cemetery was pure there could be a cross connection and your turning on the tap could draw contaminated water from another source. This could happen with irrigation of large lawns also. Soccer fields in our town have installed some big fixtures to prevent the draw from getting water from nearby ponds.

Making up an example, a farmer may be filling a cattle trough with a slow trickle of water from a hose immersed in the trough. If he were to turn on water at another tap to collect drinking water into a bucket the water pressure differences could cause trough water to be sucked into the piping and discharged into the bucket.

 

[Flog]

In the more remote cemeteries it will be well water, and the few I saw were not labelled.

It's not that I'm fussy, but no amount of purification tablets or filters could convince me to drink water from a well in a cemetery.

 

[KGBurk]

Thanks for all the input. Drinking water from a cemetery tap in Spain or Portugal is now off my plans.

 

[backpack45]

It's not that I'm fussy, but no amount of purification tablets or filters could convince me to drink water from a well in a cemetery.

Probably not on a Camino route, but if your choice in the Mohave Desert (in CA) was to drink from a water supply shared by animals or die, I imagine you would treat the water with tablets or use filters as appropriate and risk a bit of stomach upset.

 

[WalkingInGers]

This is great advice for example walking compostelle/camino routes in France -where I made plenty of use of taps in cemeteries as the graveyards are maintained by the local municipality - only once was I concerned about the water source.
But I never really heard the same suggestion in Spain - but then there are far more water fountains in the centre of villages than in France, plus Spanish graveyards seemed more difficult to access and were of a very different design - and I don't remember seeing too many taps in them

Exactly.

 

[dougfitz]

Even if the water supplied to the cemetery was pure there could be a cross connection and your turning on the tap could draw contaminated water from another source. This could happen with irrigation of large lawns also. Soccer fields in our town have installed some big fixtures to prevent the draw from getting water from nearby ponds.

Making up an example, a farmer may be filling a cattle trough with a slow trickle of water from a hose immersed in the trough. If he were to turn on water at another tap to collect drinking water into a bucket the water pressure differences could cause trough water to be sucked into the piping and discharged into the bucket.

How interesting. I am used to water being delivered at sufficient pressure to ensure there isn't a siphoning effect like this. Even on various family farms I visited as a child, there were high tank stands to provide a reasonable delivery pressure to the house and farm. On my grandfather's farm, there were valves to stop water flow when a secondary tank or trough was full. There were also arrangements on windmills that would do the same to stop them pumping when a tank or trough was full.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

How interesting. I am used to water being delivered at sufficient pressure to ensure there isn't a siphoning effect like this.

It was a made up example of a cross connection to show how you can get contaminated water from an otherwise clean water source. I needed a constantly connected source of contaminated water so I invented one.

BTW, I really picked that up from a homeowner's tip on how to pump out a flooded basement in an emergency if you didn't have use of a sump pump. You attach a hose in the basement to a garden hose with a tee connector and then turn on the garden hose. You may get a high water bill but it ain't cheap replacing a furnace, etc.

 

[dick bird]

I’ve heard that if you’re in need of drinking water on a Camino, you can always find a water tap at a cemetary. Is this true and do you think the water is usually potable from cemetery taps?

Depends where the tap is. If it is inside the cemetery you will have to climb over the wall to get at it. The water in the pipe will have been there quite a while too. But there are enough water sources in Spain for you not to need to rely on taps in cemeteries.

 

[bks]

I’ve heard that if you’re in need of drinking water on a Camino, you can always find a water tap at a cemetary. Is this true and do you think the water is usually potable from cemetery taps?

In France that is certainly the case!!
It's potable because it comes from the same source that tap water in your house comes from.
The water is available at the cemetery for individuals to use for watering plants and flowers that are placed at graves.

 

[domigee]

I’ve heard that if you’re in need of drinking water on a Camino, you can always find a water tap at a cemetary. Is this true and do you think the water is usually potable from cemetery taps?

In France it is.