For context, I live in Hong Kong where most people drink tap water after boiling first. Some may install water filter but may still boil the water. Very few drink bottle water unless they’re outside and too lazy to bring their own bottles.
Now, I’m researching whether I can drink tap water in Iceland (I’m going there in August), and while it looks like the answer is affirmative, almost no web article mention whether I need to boil the water first. People in Japan (a country I’ve visited a few times) also seems to be used to drink tap water directly without boiling.
The further I searched, the more it seems to me that in developed countries (like US, Canada and the above examples), tap water is safe to drink directly. Is that true? Do you drink tap water without boiling?
It sounds like a stupid question but I just can’t believe what I saw. I think I experienced a cultural shock.
Editted: wow, thanks so much for the responses and sorry if I didnt reply to each one of you but I’ll upvote as much as as I can. Never thought so many would reply and Lemmy is a really great community.
US here. Yes, can confirm I can, and do drink water from the tap without boiling. The city provides, maintains, and regularly checks the safety of the water. Notices are put out if something damages the pipes and a “water boiling” policy is put out promptly over local radio and/or newspaper.
It depends on where you live in the US for sure. Not everywhere has drinkable water. And even more places have poor-tasting or very hard tap water.
Also depends on what’s happening. I used to live in the US in Texas and when the power went out at all we would need to boil for a while. A lot depends on the local government and utilities in the US, every state and county seems to do stuff in a slightly different way.
In the US, the only time you’d have to boil water before drinking in most places is if there’s something wrong with the water system and they put out a “boil water” advisory, and that’s pretty rare. It’s definitely not something you have to on a daily basis. Some people will use water filters but it’s not usually a necessity.
Very true. However in the less urban areas there is often well water which varies by jurisdiction from drinkable to toxic (even flammable!) Also some places in the US have water that is unsafe to use even if it was boiled. Usually water is handled on the local level and can be different depending on the local government’s ability, wisdom, and funding.
My wife’s old house was on well water and surrounded by farms. Due to the nitrate levels it was unhealthy to drink without an expensive filtration system.
Lol, I was you 10 years ago. For context I’m Malaysian and we only drink water that is first filtered and then boiled. When eating outside we generally avoid iced drinks unless it’s a reputable shop.
Then I moved to Australia and reacted with utter horror to see my then-bf drink straight from the tap. I was like wtf you’re going to get parasites! Spit it out!
Now I drink water like Aussies and my kid refills her bottle from the tap too. My parents, when they visit, still boil water to drink but they’ve at least stopped thinking we’re trying to murder their grandchild.
Great story
It is safe in most parts of the EU. If you can’t, they tell you, usually.
Iceland has one of the cleanest water in the world.Iceland is, imho, one of the best countries in the world for many reasons. Clean and safe tap water is just one of them. 👍 🇮🇸
Finland
Yes. Our tap water is among the cleanest on earth
I lived in Finland for a semester as an exchange student in Ylivieska, I remember the tap water was very fresh
My wife boils it… to make tea
German here. Yes, constantly. The only reason to not do it would be taste (personal preference) or sometimes due to pollutants entering the system, which is explicitly communicated by the city.
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Yes, mineral content is usually the biggest factor for taste. But it is still perfectly safe to drink straight from the tap.
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I’ve lived in Canada and the US and I’ve never thought twice about drinking water straight from the tap.
Australian here. Yes, I regularly drink water from the tap without boiling it.
The only exception is if Sydney Water issue a “Boil water” alert. That usually only happens after really major flooding though.
West Aussie here, straight from the tap. Though different areas will taste different, they’re nearly all safe to drink. Any unsafe are well signed.
The taste of the water varies a fair bit depending on the area. I find northern suburbs of Perth water tastes a bit odd and would definitely want to filter it if I lived there.
Funny you say that, I’m NoR and think its fine 🙂
Another Australian here. Our water is safe to drink out of the tap. I drink tap water daily and have so all my life.
Another Australian here who drinks water on tap. Some places have bad tasting water but it’s still drinkable. It’s probably only bad because it’s different.
Netherlands - we have some of the cleanest tap water here. You can drink water from any tap. Ironically bottled water from the shops is a big seller here and you see people with liters of the stuff in shopping trolleys and I’ve never been able to figure out why anyone would spend money on something that we have an abundance of in our houses
Yep. They’re alessentially the same but one is €1 per liter and the other about €0,25 per 1000 liters.
In some places tap water might be better quality than bottled water, since it’s fresh. Bottled water may have gotten some microbial growth during the storing.
Some water treatment facilities actually filter the water to almost to a demi water and add certain elements afterwards. So the quality is really stable and often better than bottled water.
Buying bottled water in the Netherlands is kind of frowned upon, not many people do it and you’ll be judged for it.
Only since I’m abroad I got into drinking bottled water because of my girlfriend from Germany (Germans drink bottled water all the time because they claim their tap water is toxic). I drink it because it’s got bubbles and I’m no longer buying sugary drinks.
Interestingly it’s perfectly safe to drink tap water in Hong Kong. But tradition and fear of the government keeps water boiling alive.
https://www.mychinainterpreter.com/china-travel-guide/can-you-drink-tap-water-in-hong-kong/
As opposed to say parts of the US where you really shouldn’t drink tap water but everyone does anyway. Flint Michigan looking at you.
México. NO. Do not drink the tap water. Boiling does not help. It has a bunch of heavy metals and other contaminants in it. It sucks because mechanical filtering is incapable of removing them effectively. Reverse osmosis does but it is a challenging and expensive process to properly keep in your house. We always buy bottled water. Trucks deliver twice a week.
Important:
Despite the overall quality of the water in the region, the water pipes can ruin it. If you got lead pipes you should avoid drinking the water or using it for cooking. Boiling won’t change it.
In Germany, landlords are legally required to tell you if there are lead pipes in your house, don’t know about other countries. Typically, the risk of having lead pipes is higher if the house is older.
TL;DR: lead pipes are very bad
I don’t know if it’s actually true, but some have said that the Roman empire collapsed because the lead in waterworks and aquaducts made people lose their sanity slowly.
Likewise, the crime wave of the 70s in the US has been directly linked to leaded gasoline putting lead in the air, and leaded paint. You can map the crime wave literally block-by-block to correspond with areas that have not done lead mitigation efforts or those that have.
Also makes you think about the pathologically evil governmental policies the older generation have enacted, and how those people have also been influenced by lead in the air.
I’m of the understanding that lead poisoning effects the ability to engage in theory of mind (thinking about what someone else is thinking— also, empathy) and future planning, consideration of consequences, first before influencing other mental faculties. Which is why it can be linked to crime so easily.
German person here.
Tap water is very regulated here in Germany. It’s legally classified as food. The community and your landlord are obliged to make sure the water stays within the regulations. You can also always contact the water company and have your water checked if it is within the regulations.
Usually it’s absolutely save to drink directly from the tap if there isn’t one of those. It may not always taste great, though.
Berlin. About two years ago or so, I noticed that the limescale (Kalk) on my teapot and even on tap itself had become much more severe. Since then, I have started using a filter.
Fyi most filters aren’t going to do anything to calcium in the water. You’d need a special ion exchange filter.
But the calcium is not a health problem. I grew up with very calcium rich water (a well in suburban New Jersey, USA). We had to buy a new coffee maker every few years because it would just kill them, even if we washed it with vinegar regularly.
It’s not unhealthy, though. It’s actually slightly towards the healthy side.
yeah, i’m not considering this as unhealthy too, but frustrating a bit. Have you noticed the same thing last years in your place?
In Germany tap water is even more regulated than bottled water so it’s actually safer to drink than bottled water
Italy here: tap water is drinkable BY LAW, at least inside houses and public places.
In Germany tap water is considered “one of the most strictly controlled food products”
Yes. And i’m always stunned by how many people buy loads of bottled water at the Getränkemarkt. Just drink it from the tap or get one of those machines that make sparkling water if you like that?! There is no chlorine in ordinary german water and it tastes just fine.
I just moved here, I usually drink tap water but some places just have a weird taste to it which makes me wonder how often the individual taps are tested. While the source may be good, I don’t know about everything in between. I feel like I still need a filter.
I was one of those idiots. I sort of inherited the behavior from my parents.
When my employer bought some sparkling water machines, it dawned on me that I should do the same.
Do the home machines even have a lower environmental footprint? You have to continue to buy canisters of CO2
The CO2 comes in returnable metal bottles which get refilled after you return them. There’s almost nothing disposable at play. If you buy the recent and more expensive models, you even get glass bottles, so less plastic, too.
good quality water is an underappreciated factor in quality cuisine.
