During and right after your cancer treatment, your body cannot protect itself against infections. Tiny germs can be in water, even when the water looks clean. You will need to be careful where you get your water from. This includes water for drinking, cooking, and brushing your teeth. Ask your doctor or nurse about special care you should take.
Tap water is water from your faucet. It should be safe when it comes from:
If you live in a small city or town, check with your local water department. Ask if they test the water every day for the kind of germs that can give you an infection (these germs are called coliforms).
Boil water from a private well or a small community well before you drink it or use it for cooking or brushing your teeth.
Running well water through a filter or adding chlorine to it does not make it safe to use. Test your well water at least once a year for coliform, the germs that may cause an infection. Test your water more often if coliforms are found in it or if there is any question about the safety of your water.
How to boil water and store it:
The label on any bottled water you drink should say how it was cleaned. Look for these words:
Tap water should be safe when it comes from a city water supply or a city well that supplies many people with water. It does not need to be filtered.
You should boil water that comes from a private well or a small local well, even if you have a filter.
Many sink filters, filters in refrigerators, pitchers that use filters, and filters you may take on camping trips do not make water safe to drink.
If you have a home water-filtering system, ask the company you got it from how to keep the filter clean. Tell them that your body cannot protect itself against infections.
Most water-filtering systems can make the water safe only by adding chlorine to the water supply.
National Cancer Institute. Nutrition and cancer care (PDQ). November 13, 2011. Accessed May 19, 2012.
Updated by: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; and Yi-Bin Chen, MD, Leukemia/Bone Marrow Transplant Program, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
MedlinePlus Topics
Read More
Patient Instructions
A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org). URAC's accreditation program is an independent audit to verify that A.D.A.M. follows rigorous standards of quality and accountability. A.D.A.M. is among the first to achieve this important distinction for online health information and services. Learn more about A.D.A.M.'s editorial policy, editorial process and privacy policy. A.D.A.M. is also a founding member of Hi-Ethics and subscribes to the principles of the Health on the Net Foundation (www.hon.ch).
The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed physician should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Call 911 for all medical emergencies. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites. Copyright 1997-2012, A.D.A.M., Inc. Duplication for commercial use must be authorized in writing by ADAM Health Solutions.