The hottest topic upon arrival amongst the exchange students was water quality. Please, leave your water purifiers at home. You don’t need them here.

Desalinated ocean water comes from the tap, and is used for all washing purposes. This is not supposed to be consumed, but I did it anyways for about a week with no side-effects. Bottled water is used for food preparation, completely safe, and there is a healthy supply of it all around the country. In the AUS dorms there are multiple bottled water dispensers in every hallway, and almost every academic building has a bottled-water vending machine in it. The machines cost 1 Dirham, or .27 cents per 600 ml bottle of Aquafina water, making it super cheap to stay hydrated.

I’ve also eaten fresh and canned fruit in this country, and never had any side-effects. I even used tap water to clean the fruit. Street vendors are non-existant, and even take-out from grubby-looking places has been safe. I only once felt something similar to food poisoning in the Emirates, and it was after dinner at an American restaurant. So much for worrying about food quality!