1) Is the fountain water safe to drink?
2) Should I carry a bottle or a bladder?
3) Should I buy water along the route?
Fountain Water.
In answer to whether or not fountain water is safe, the answer is "almost always." Most of the fountain water comes from springs that are deep in the ground, fresh, and pure. The water in the fountains is tested often by the government since not only pilgrims drink it, but people in the villages drink it.
There are three occasions when you may want to buy bottled water or get water from a municipal tap.
a. When it is raining so hard that the streams are running muddy, I would buy water. This is because you are walking in agricultural land, and there is a lot of cow and horse and pig manure on the land. If the rain is so hard that it's causing a lot of runoff, then the springs could be temporarily contaminated for a few days until fresh water flushes them out.
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| If the water looks muddy like this, I would not use local fountains. |
b. During a heat wave. A heat wave may cause bacteria to grow in what normally would be good water.
c. If you have had problems with water before and/or are sensitive to changes in water.
Otherwise, I have never had a problem drinking directly from the fountains.
IF a fountain is not good for drinking, it will be marked "NON POTABLE!" One time, by mistake, Joe drank from a fountain clearly marked "Non-Potable" which means the water was NOT safe. We immediately hit a bar where he ordered a couple shots of whiskey to kill any bacteria and he never had a problem!
Bottle or Bladder?
This is really just a matter of preference.
I prefer a bottle.
I carry ONE 8 ounce bottle when I walk the Camino Frances. I fill it up in any village as I need.
Why do I prefer a bottle over a bladder? First of all, it is lightweight and fits in my Macabi skirt pocket, so it's easily accessible.
Second, there are running fountains all along the Camino Frances, and so I drink my fill at the fountain, fill my bottle, and I'm off. It means less weight for me to carry. The one exception is if I'm walking from Orisson to Roncesvalles in the SUMMER months. Then I'd carry two bottles if I asked at the Pilgrim Office and learned Roland's Fountain on the border is not running.
Third, a bottle is more easily washed out each night so bacteria doesn't grow.
Joe carries a bladder.
He just prefers it.
He does have to wash it out each night (a pain in the kazoo to me).
I've heard people say, "You don't have to fill it."
Well, true. However, the thing about a bladder is it would be too inconvenient to take off and fill at each fountain, so you're carrying the weight of all that water, when it is not necessary. And water is heavy! Pick up a couple of 2 liter Pepsi bottles and you'll see how heavy they can be!
Purchased Water.
Purchased water is cheap and available all along the Camino Frances. That is ok if that's what you want to do. However, it just seems wasteful to me. All those empty bottles that need to be recycled, and sadly, I see a LOT of discarded bottles all along the path.
The water in Spain is as safe or safer than the water in the United States.
Let me say that again...
The water in SPAIN is AS SAFE or SAFER than the water in the United States of America.
Spain is NOT a third world country like Mexico.
Their infrastructure puts much of ours to shame, and that includes their water systems.
Other Camino Routes Besides the Frances
Other Camino Routes may require you carrying more water. On the Via de la Plata, for instance, the stages are longer and in the summer months, many of the fountains are dry. On the Aragones, the Madrid, the Norte, the Portuguese, and walking from Lourdes, I never carried more than one bottle of water.
However, every pilgrim is different. So, as with shoes or boots, how you carry your water is a choice you need to make for yourself.
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