Originally Posted by
sophiesophie
I have not had much luck finding previous discussions on this site.
I probably didn't say it right but it was how he put it (he couldnt find the right word.) The water has always been here, I am sure, but I recall a discussion here about the water quality. Maybe the water pipes themselves have been upgraded? Maybe what was here before was really old?
I just don't know how all of these rumors about Italy get started, from pickpockets, crime, and every thing else. Flint, Michigan, where I worked for a few months, exposed the problem with water in the USA. It was blockbuster news and led to hearings in Congress when it was shown to be heavily contaminated with lead, that causes brain defects in children, and health problems in everyone else,
The prestigious journal Scientific American then did research, and found that 3,000 cities in the USA have water with over double the amount of lead in the water than Flint, and 1,1000 cities in the USA had more than four times the lead contamination than Flint. This was research done not by just checking the water, but by checking the amount of lead in children, which is sky high. In Baltimore, Philadelphia and Cleveland, over 40% of children tested exceed the safe limit of lead in their system. Children living in these areas have an accelerated rate of developmental problems.
In Milwaukee about 12% of children are found to be overloaded with lead, due to old pipes, lead painted houses, etc. Kids have on average, ten times the amount of lead in their body that the CDC considers safe. South Bend, IN is even worse. Baltimore, Philadelphia, Cleveland, it's impossible to even consider, because over 50% of children have some degree of lead poisoning. I poste3d the link upstream.
I'm always stunned that people think of Italy as a place of pick pocketing and other things, when you are more likely to lose your wallet in a city in the USA, usually at gunpoint, than in Naples, and the sanitation of the water and food supply, plus lifestyle, makes Italy 8th in the world in life expectancy, versus 34th for the USA: 80.5 years for an Italian male versus 76 for a male in the USA, 86 years for an Italian female, versus 81 for a female in the USA. And Italy has the lowest rate of exercise Europe, and almost twice as many smokers (the leading cause of preventable deaths in the world) than the USA.
So, the take home message is, if you don't want your wallet or purse stolen, go to Italy, not the USA. If you want to drink safe water, go to Italy, not to the USA. If you want good health care, go to Italy, ranked #2 by the World Health Organization, not to the USA, which is ranked 38th. If you want to be a victim of a crime, go to Italy. it has 15 less crime than the USA.
SoplhieSophie, drink the water, just not in a restaurant. Ask them if they can serve half a liter; many do.
Italy has 2 times as many police officers than the United States. The USA has a rape rate 4 times higher than Italy.
The total crime rate in Italy is ranked 9th in the world. The USA is ranked first: it has 5 times more crime than Italy.
Violent crime Italy is ranked 54th in the world. The USA is ranked #1 , 7 times higher than Italy.
The murder rate in the USA is 25 times higher than in Italy.
Italy is ranked 9th in violent crime; the USA is ranked #1 , 19 times higher than Italy.
I can go on and on. The time to worry is when you come back to living in the USA, not when you are in Italy. Worry about when you have to come back to the USA.
And don't worry about the water in Venice. It doesn't come from the canals. They dig deep, deep, deep into the underground to get it from pure aquifers. Venetian water is sold in the USA as bottled water under the name, San Benedetto (Aqua Minerale San Benedetto), which is where the water comes from. Deep, deep, deep, not from the canals.