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.
Edit: 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.
2nd Edit: So in conclusion, people from everywhere basically just drink water straight out of tap. And to my surprise, I checked the Water Supplies Department website and notice it asserts that tap water in Hong Kong is potable, like many well-developed countries and regions.
However, as the majority of Hong Kong people are living in high-rise buildings, a small amount of residual chlorine is maintained in the water to keep it free from bacterial infection during its journey in the distribution system. Therefore it is recommended to boil the water so that chlorine dissipates.
So, in short, I actually do not need to boil the water unless I hate chlorine smell and taste. But I guess I’ll just continue this old habit/tradition as there’s no harm in doing so.
Australian here, never met anyone who boils tap water before drinking it. Some people have filtered water taps installed but our tap water is usually pretty great, I drink probably 2-3 litres of it a day
We filter our tap water here in Korea. Most people do, but as I understand, it’s safe to drink it just straight from the tap. It’s just better through a machine that gets rid of any lingering chlorine and heats it or chills it for you.
Belgium: yes! We drink tap water. Straight from the tap. Hardness varies from city to city. At my home I have a filter to make the water softer. That helps the taste but also keeps all faucets etc running.
deleted by creator
You can drink the tap water in most places in Iceland without boiling it (especially in Reykjavik), but if you’re further into the countryside then I would check first!
If its brown gulp it down, if its black send it back
If you can’t drink your tap water without boiling, your government has totally failed you.
Spainiard here. You can drink tap water everywhere (that’s connected to the drinking water network, obviously), but there are better tasting waters than others. Madrid’s water is bad, Barcelona’s is atrocious (I don’t know anyone living there that doesn’t buy bottled water, it even gives weird flavours when cooking), but other places are nicer. My town’s water is awesome, I just fill up bottles from the tap and put them in the fridge for easy cold water and laugh at the camacus.
I never drink water out of the tap because I prefer to filter it first. It’s safe to drink but I want it clean and much colder so into a filter pitcher and put that in the fridge
At home I exclusively drink tap water. I only boil it for tea sometimes :) I‘m from Germany.
I’m from Melbourne Australia but currently live in the San Francisco Bay Area. Both areas have drinkable tap water without having to boil it.
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.
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.
Adelaide water is fine now
One thing to consider: While tab water in most of the developed world is potable,any water safety guarantees usually end where the house water pipes begin. Depending on the state of the piping, tap water might not be safe, even if the water supplyer says it’s safe.
You can get a water test (especially bacteria is important) for relatively cheap. Last time I did such a test it was ~€60. It’s not wrong to do one.
Also, the definition of potable water is that the water is potable after the tap has been running for 10(!) minutes.
Bacteria contaminated pipes are pretty common and if the water has been sitting in these biofilm-covered pipes over night or even longer, the water can become pretty harmful. Especially after you get home from a vacation, letting the water run for a decent amount of time might be a good thing.
Also: the worst thing that can happen to your water pipe system are blind pipes, so pipes that are connected only on one end. That could be e.g. left-over plumbing after remodeling or pipes that lead to unused taps. If at all possible, these ahould be removed or flushed at best daily.
Tap water in Brazil is supposed to be drinkable, but I use a filter anyways because I don’t trust the companies.
Netherlands, yes we drink straight from the tap. We’re in the top 5 of safest drinking water in the world. Buying bottles of water is a marketing trick for fools out here.
