Ikke drikk vannet i Oslo...

... don't drink tab water in Oslo was todays warning in the newspapers and at every public place (I guess also on TV but I don't have one). These suckers (Giardia lamblia) were found in the Oslo drinking water. The only effective way to get rid of these complete needless organisms is to cook the water for at least three minutes. Even all the coffee machines cannot be used anymore because most of these machines don't boil the water but just heat it up to 70-80°C which is not enough. Of course there is also the possibility to buy water but the Norwegians in general do not really buy a lot of water - they usually drink the water out of the tab. So naturally there are no bigger water bottles avaiable in the shops and all the supplies od smaller bottles seemed to be enough for only a day - almost everything sold out. The only way to get those parasites out of the water is by radiation (as far as I am informed) and there is a special water treatment facility in construction here in Oslo but it will not be finished until next year (but the year is long). So I wonder for how long we have to boil water. For those who ask why Norway has this problem: most of the drinking water is stored in lakes as surface water where these protozoans can grow fast. Unfortunatley there is not much deep ground water available in Norway.