Uzbekistan is among countries where tap water is not safe

Holiday company Globehunters, based on official guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, have compiled a list of countries where tap water is not safe, Daily Mail reports about it.

According to the company, there are 187 countries in the world where tap water is deemed unsafe or unpalatable for tourists. The list includes Uzbekistan, Russia and almost all the former Soviet Union republics (with the exception of Estonia).

That said, just because a country is included on the 'unsafe' list doesn't necessarily mean their tap water is dirty - rather, it could just be unsuitable for visitors. 

This means that travelers could get ill because the pathogens in the water are foreign to their immune systems, not because what they drink is infected with feces.

According to the World Health Organization, some 842,000 people are estimated to die each year from diarrhea as a result of unsafe drinking-water, sanitation and hand hygiene. 

They add that contaminated water and poor sanitation are linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid, and polio.

Health costs associated with waterborne diseases and worm infections represent more than one third of the income of poor households in sub-Saharan Africa.

UN Water add that a person without access to improved drinking water is forced to rely on sources such as surface water, unprotected and possibly contaminated wells, or vendors selling water “of unverifiable provenance and quality.”