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All the more reason to push for our governments to properly regulate a safe supply of drinking water (infrastructure level).

TomMarius 8y ago
Governments that do this in Europe fail horribly and just increase prices by huge multiples, nothing else. Last year a whole division of a capital city (Prague) got pretty seriously sick because of government failure. Today in the morning the water did not run at all. Thanks, government. I know HN is very leftist, so I expect downvotes. It'd be nice to have a discussion though.
- ash_gti 8y ago
  Citations? I don't know much about European handling of drinking water.
  - TomMarius 8y ago
    http://www.radio.cz/en/section/news/two-charged-over-contamination-of-tap-water-in-prague http://www.radio.cz/en/section/news/two-charged-over-contami... (this is a government-sponsored public radio)
- sametmax 8y ago
  Last time I checked, we had very decent municipal water in France. In many cities it actually tastes better than bottled water. Water sources are quite well protected as well. It's not perfect, but honestly much better than the swimming pool water I drank in the US. So "Europe" is maybe a broad term here.
  - TomMarius 8y ago
    There are places where it's better or even very good in the Czech Rep. as well. The point is that sometimes, government fails horribly and there is no way out because well, it's the government, its whole job is to enforce its rule. BTW the USA as a whole is comparable to the EU as a whole in terms of corruption and competency.
    - Retric 8y ago
      Governments are very malleable over time. Change is not necessarily cheap, but it's also inherent.
  - dalore 8y ago
    UK water is safe and decent. Although here in London it's very hard and so tastes like crap.
  - tedunangst 8y ago
    I think it's weird that whenever the subject of safe drinking water comes up, people immediately talk about how it tastes. As if that matters. I mean, lead is pretty tasty, too.
    - photojosh 8y ago
      Nice TIL: lead acetate for me there.
    - sametmax 8y ago
      Once you sampled enough public water in your month around the world, you tend to associate bad taste with bad quality. Water that doesn't make you sick has a very subtle one, or taste like a swimming pool. But you won't drink the second one so...
  - wuliwong 8y ago
    Agreed about "Europe" being too broad a term. Another commenter mentioned a similar sentiment about making claims about the entire USA.
- Numberwang 8y ago
  Well most of western Europe has cheap perfectly drinkable water. I don't think you can blame social democracy. Blame incompetent and corrupt locals.
  - TomMarius 8y ago
    The EU as a whole is very comparable to the USA as a whole in terms of competence and corruption. This was my point - somewhere it'd be OK or even very good, but somewhere it's going to be horrible and there is going to be no way out.
    - def_true_false 8y ago
      I'd be very surprised if the water in Prague was consistently bad. One failure doesn't mean much in the big picture. Edit: And it certainly isn't comparable to having water that's not safe to drink at all (bad water being the rule, rather than the exception).
- englishrookie 8y ago
  Maybe this is different in Eastern Europe (you know, the old Warsaw pact countries), but in Western Europe tap water is of very reliable quality, and consistently delivered.
  - TomMarius 8y ago
    I'm comparing the EU as a whole to the USA as a whole because it's pretty much the same in terms of competence and corruption. BTW Czech Republic is the most successful out one of Warsaw Pact countries and is on basically the same level as some of the western ones.
    - detaro 8y ago
      If that's what you want to say, then say that instead of making blanket claims that governments regulating drinking water fail horribly.
- jupp0r 8y ago
  Maybe it's your implementation of government, not the concept itself that's at fault. Having lived in Germany for 30 years, I never experienced anything like that nor met anyone who has.
  - TomMarius 8y ago
    You can't really make expectations based on literally one of the best cases.
- andrei_says_ 8y ago
  One occurrence l of failure in one city in one European country is not an indication of ongoing issues in all European countries. Would love to hear about systematic issues in Sweden, Germany, Norway, France, Belgium, Switzerland etc. All have strong government role in regulation and municipal water supplies. Your comment implying political bias for everyone who disagrees with you is cheap rhetoric. And, the US is so far right on the political spectrum that anyone “leftist” there is likely to the right of the center in the EU.
  - fpoling 8y ago
    In Bergen, Norway a few years ago there was a problem with water contamination. Basically city negleted to upgrade the filtering system and after few atipically mild winters and/or population growth near watter sources some microorganisms managed to grow in sufficient quantities to pass through the old very basic filters. People in affected districts were advised to drink bottled water as even boiling watter was not enough to kill all microorganisms.
- ako 8y ago
  That is not a proof that governments cannot regulate water quality. The water quality in the Netherlands is really good, tap water is better than most bottled waters. All you have shown is that Czech government needs to improve.
- MatthiasP 8y ago
  Austria here and I am very satisfied with my "socialist water" experience. Exposing basic requirements for survival to free market forces seems like a recipe for failure.
  - wuliwong 8y ago
    What about food?
- sampleinajar 8y ago
  >"Governments that do this in Europe fail horribly and just increase prices by huge multiples, nothing else." That's a very strong statement to make based on one example. That would like saying that the US has no quality control, look at Flint. As an argument for less government, this just isn't very strong. It would help to show a systematic failure instead of a singular event. But, I could imagine if that were to happen where I live, I would be pretty angry at whoever caused it as well.

TomMarius 8y ago

Governments that do this in Europe fail horribly and just increase prices by huge multiples, nothing else. Last year a whole division of a capital city (Prague) got pretty seriously sick because of government failure. Today in the morning the water did not run at all. Thanks, government. I know HN is very leftist, so I expect downvotes. It'd be nice to have a discussion though.

ash_gti 8y ago
Citations? I don't know much about European handling of drinking water.
- TomMarius 8y ago
  http://www.radio.cz/en/section/news/two-charged-over-contamination-of-tap-water-in-prague http://www.radio.cz/en/section/news/two-charged-over-contami... (this is a government-sponsored public radio)
sametmax 8y ago
Last time I checked, we had very decent municipal water in France. In many cities it actually tastes better than bottled water. Water sources are quite well protected as well. It's not perfect, but honestly much better than the swimming pool water I drank in the US. So "Europe" is maybe a broad term here.
- TomMarius 8y ago
  There are places where it's better or even very good in the Czech Rep. as well. The point is that sometimes, government fails horribly and there is no way out because well, it's the government, its whole job is to enforce its rule. BTW the USA as a whole is comparable to the EU as a whole in terms of corruption and competency.
  - Retric 8y ago
    Governments are very malleable over time. Change is not necessarily cheap, but it's also inherent.
- dalore 8y ago
  UK water is safe and decent. Although here in London it's very hard and so tastes like crap.
- tedunangst 8y ago
  I think it's weird that whenever the subject of safe drinking water comes up, people immediately talk about how it tastes. As if that matters. I mean, lead is pretty tasty, too.
  - photojosh 8y ago
    Nice TIL: lead acetate for me there.
  - sametmax 8y ago
    Once you sampled enough public water in your month around the world, you tend to associate bad taste with bad quality. Water that doesn't make you sick has a very subtle one, or taste like a swimming pool. But you won't drink the second one so...
- wuliwong 8y ago
  Agreed about "Europe" being too broad a term. Another commenter mentioned a similar sentiment about making claims about the entire USA.
Numberwang 8y ago
Well most of western Europe has cheap perfectly drinkable water. I don't think you can blame social democracy. Blame incompetent and corrupt locals.
- TomMarius 8y ago
  The EU as a whole is very comparable to the USA as a whole in terms of competence and corruption. This was my point - somewhere it'd be OK or even very good, but somewhere it's going to be horrible and there is going to be no way out.
  - def_true_false 8y ago
    I'd be very surprised if the water in Prague was consistently bad. One failure doesn't mean much in the big picture. Edit: And it certainly isn't comparable to having water that's not safe to drink at all (bad water being the rule, rather than the exception).
englishrookie 8y ago
Maybe this is different in Eastern Europe (you know, the old Warsaw pact countries), but in Western Europe tap water is of very reliable quality, and consistently delivered.
- TomMarius 8y ago
  I'm comparing the EU as a whole to the USA as a whole because it's pretty much the same in terms of competence and corruption. BTW Czech Republic is the most successful out one of Warsaw Pact countries and is on basically the same level as some of the western ones.
  - detaro 8y ago
    If that's what you want to say, then say that instead of making blanket claims that governments regulating drinking water fail horribly.
jupp0r 8y ago
Maybe it's your implementation of government, not the concept itself that's at fault. Having lived in Germany for 30 years, I never experienced anything like that nor met anyone who has.
- TomMarius 8y ago
  You can't really make expectations based on literally one of the best cases.
andrei_says_ 8y ago
One occurrence l of failure in one city in one European country is not an indication of ongoing issues in all European countries. Would love to hear about systematic issues in Sweden, Germany, Norway, France, Belgium, Switzerland etc. All have strong government role in regulation and municipal water supplies. Your comment implying political bias for everyone who disagrees with you is cheap rhetoric. And, the US is so far right on the political spectrum that anyone “leftist” there is likely to the right of the center in the EU.
- fpoling 8y ago
  In Bergen, Norway a few years ago there was a problem with water contamination. Basically city negleted to upgrade the filtering system and after few atipically mild winters and/or population growth near watter sources some microorganisms managed to grow in sufficient quantities to pass through the old very basic filters. People in affected districts were advised to drink bottled water as even boiling watter was not enough to kill all microorganisms.
ako 8y ago
That is not a proof that governments cannot regulate water quality. The water quality in the Netherlands is really good, tap water is better than most bottled waters. All you have shown is that Czech government needs to improve.
MatthiasP 8y ago
Austria here and I am very satisfied with my "socialist water" experience. Exposing basic requirements for survival to free market forces seems like a recipe for failure.
- wuliwong 8y ago
  What about food?
sampleinajar 8y ago
>"Governments that do this in Europe fail horribly and just increase prices by huge multiples, nothing else." That's a very strong statement to make based on one example. That would like saying that the US has no quality control, look at Flint. As an argument for less government, this just isn't very strong. It would help to show a systematic failure instead of a singular event. But, I could imagine if that were to happen where I live, I would be pretty angry at whoever caused it as well.