[MichelleAna (OP)]

I will be travelling in a few days. Do you have any recommendations on ways to avoid drinking contaminated water while I’m out of the country?

[evan_au]

1. Travel to countries that have high quality water purification. Failing that:
2a. Drink well-boiled water (eg in tea or coffee)
or 2b. Drink acidic drinks like cola that will kill bacteria
or 2c. Drink bottled water from a brand that you can trust - and check it hasn't been opened and refilled
3. Don't put ice in your drink (because ice is rarely made from boiled water)
4. Wash your hands with soap before/after eating
5. Peel your fruit yourself (fruit is often washed with the local water)

[Europan Ocean]

You can buy a self refilling container to take with you.

[Bored chemist]

You can buy a self refilling container

Really?
Do they make one that refills with beer?

[alancalverd]

John Snow traced the source of the London cholera oubreak (1854) by mapping and noting that brewery workers were generally unaffected in the worst area. Bottled beer is relatively pathogen-free compared with its source water, but avoid any that tastes sour - I had an awful experience with half a pint of a slightly odd "craft" beer last summer, in civilised Cambridge.

"Oasis" water purification tablets (other brands are available) are cheaper than any treatment for diarrhoea.

Avoid salads. In extremis, stick to canned food: you can live for weeks on cold baked beans, or for ever (though you might not want to) on army rations. "Street food", fried in front of you, is likely to be safer than anything prepared out of sight in a restaurant, and the less "prep" the better - steak and chips is tedious but generally sterile.

[Europan Ocean]

http://fontus.at/

The self refiller uses atmosphere water and light.

[alancalverd]

Neat gadget, but I wonder about the numbers. Have you tried one?

[Alexabartel]

Your hotel will let you know if the water isn’t safe to drink, if water is unsafe, there will usually be a notice posted by the faucet in your room, and the hotel will provide complimentary bottles for you to drink from. Make sure you use these bottles to take your pills and brush your teeth too. If water is unsafe, there will usually be a notice posted by the faucet in your room, and the hotel will provide complimentary bottles for you to drink from. Make sure you use these bottles to take your pills and brush your teeth too. <<<COMMERCIAL LINK REMOVED>>>

[Bored chemist]

http://fontus.at/

The self refiller uses atmosphere water and light.

So, you refill it by doing quite a lot of work.
That's hardly "self" refilling, is it?

Your hotel will let you know if the water isn’t safe to drink,

Yeah; sure.
LOL.

[alancalverd]

There seem to be two versions of the selfrefiller. The bike version uses enhanced airflow through the chiller but both seem to involve a solar-powered Peltier cooler extracting water from desert or mountain air - hence my request for "numbers", as these are not the most humid sources! It occurs to me that a neater trick would be to condense exhaled and evaporated water, like in a space suit, but that kit is only really tolerable in zero gravity.