I just recently filled up an empty PET bottle with tapwater from Santiago Airport. About 1 hour after I drank it, I’ve started to feel weak. Diarrhea, fever, cramps and shivering followed shortly after. It may have nothing to do with the water, but I highly suspect a link. I’m still feeling the effects about 48 hours later, with only slight signs of improvement.

Other than that, I had no problem with the tapwater elsewhere in Santiago.

Sorry to hear that, have you contacted the airport ?

#plasticfree @NuevoPudahuel

People are supposed to be able to drink tap water in Santiago de Chile. However, at the airport, it is not clear to me (and could not get a straight, well informed answer) whether the tap water comes straight from the city supply or it is first stored in a tank -and if so, in which conditions: what type of material are the tanks made of? are further chemicals added to the water? soaps? disinfectants?) The tap water does smell and taste strongly chlorinated, though it has a somewhat “soft” flavor.

One word of caution regarding bottle water in Santiago: private companies bottling water in Chile (and, more importantly, foreign companies bottling and /or selling bottle water in Santiago, including very famous ones from around the world (I’m looking at you Coca Cola, Danone and Nestle) DO NOT FOLLOW NATIONAL STANDARDS REGARDING DRINKING WATER SAFETY and most times, they do not even reach minimum standards for water safety. 40% of bottled water contain a high content of arsenic (see, for instance, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969719327366 and https://www.biobiochile.cl/noticias/nacional/chile/2018/11/23/el-agua-envasada-es-agua-potable-un-estudio-constato-la-presencia-de-arsenico-en-marcas-chilenas.shtml) and most bottled water is NOT ACTUAL SPRING WATER (though it’s advertised as such) captured at the source, but FILTERED water. Furthermore, absolutely NONE of the plastic bottles used for bottled water in Chile is BPA free (all of them contain BPA) and hardly 13% of them contain up till 25% of recycled plastic, though most claim to be 100% recyclable. (In fact, despite being “recyclable” no much plastic is being recycled in the country at all)

The cheapest bottle of 1/2 ltr costs Chilean $ 1800 (almost 3 dollars, as of November 23rd 2019)
Unfortunately Santiago’s Ariport has, in my opinion, one of the worse value for money ratios in the world, in terms of both, drinks and food. There are virtually no alternative for vegetarians and EVERYTHING comes in excessive plastic and cardboard packaging, and the few places that serve coffee or drink in real non-disposable mugs (glass, ceramic or even plastic) will charge over 2000 Chilean pesos for it. There are more options once one has crossed security, but still very little variety and prices are even higher.

#plasticfree @NuevoPudahuel