J-Water 'Drink at your own risk.'

[Taro Toporific]

Bogged down:The government's stance on well water is: Drink at your own risk.
Aug 4 / The Asahi Shimbun
In March, the prefectural government urged households to switch to tap water after arsenic levels about 40 times higher than the government standard were detected in Ikeda's and nearby wells.
The contamination is believed to have come from leaking chemical weapons buried by Japanese troops at the end of World War II....An official at the Environment Ministry implied that anyone drinking water from a private well does so at his or her own risk.
``Drinking well water is the same as drinking water from a puddle,'' he said.
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Also see the thread: Beer bottles found to contain mustard gas

[Big Booger]

I cannot believe they are still using well water. I find it shocking that a country as wealthy as Japan has to resort to well water even in "rurual" areas.

Even with tap water, I always use a Brita (sp?) water filter. Have any of you drank the arsenic flavored well water? Did you get sick?

[Captain Japan]

I cannot believe they are still using well water. I find it shocking that a country as wealthy as Japan has to resort to well water even in "rurual" areas.

Even with tap water, I always use a Brita (sp?) water filter. Have any of you drank the arsenic flavored well water? Did you get sick?

But 25 years after Ikeda, now 58, built his house and dug a well in Kamisu, he is forced to drink tap water.

In March, the prefectural government urged households to switch to tap water after arsenic levels about 40 times higher than the government standard were detected in Ikeda's and nearby wells.

But this guy is doing it for nostalgia, or rather was doing it for nostalgia. So he has a choice. There's nothing wrong with using well water (assuming it's not contaminated). In remote areas it is much more practical than laying down costly water supply lines.