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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
UK. Yip. Water “hardness” varies across the country which means people usually prefer the taste of the water in the region they grow up in. Other than all the leaky underground pipes and lack of investment in a privatised service, UK water is actaully very good.
When i lived in hongkong i never boiled the water, i just drank it from the tap
I live in a major Italian city, I’m well over fifty, and I’ve always drunk unfiltered water straight from the tap without boiling. Some Italians apparently don’t like the taste of tap water but it’s still safe to drink it unfiltered and unboiled in nearly all the country.
Switzerland here,
Yes we absolutely drink tap water here, not only it is well regulated but it may also beat many bottled water in terms of taste…
In the United States, it is a little bit different.
There are “standards” that water quality has to live up to. Do these standards actually meet the criteria for safe drinkable tap water? Not always. This is evident in places like Flint, Michigan and other poorer urban areas.
Some of the tap water can be so bad that people wouldn’t dare to drink it even after boiling.
In some areas, the tap water quality is wonderful.
Here is a relatively decent source about the topic as it pertains to the USA. https://wisevoter.com/state-rankings/best-tap-water-in-the-us/#:~:text=The ten states with the,%2C South Dakota%2C and Nevada.
The long story short here, is certain places like Hawaii have extremely clean tap. Other places, like Texas, are notorious for having numerous water quality violations.
It falls down to each individual State and City for maintaining the standards that were set. In my opinion, it it just an easy way for them to waive liability at the end of the day.
X.
I live in the great lakes region of Canada and our tap water is totally safe
This is crazy - for sure, in many countries it can be taken straight from the tap depending on the reliability of infrastructure… but to waste energy boiling it??? No thanks.
In England, I moved a few times - some places have great tasting water - others not so great - meaning it’s always safe (and ok for brewing or cooking) but not so good for drinking from the tap.
In Scotland (a couple of places I stayed and worked) it’s a toss up whether you should drink the tapwater, or go to your local and take another dram from the top row… those Single Malt Whiskeys made with water from Scotland are amazing… but both are safe in moderation.
In Bangkok, if I don’t clean my shower out monthly, it ends up with brown gunge building up, so I certainly don’t drink the stuff… and it’s hard to know how clean it is (though we’re told it’s certainly drinkable at source, it has a long way to come to my house - and the pressure of the system is low… another red flag). Visiting tropical islands, you see some resorts are connected via long plastic pipes which are often on the surface (in the sun) and so definitely not the best candidate for anything more than a shower.
In Bangkok too, unless you can test it yourself you shouldn’t drink it - but I fail to see why you’d decide to boil dirty water and drink it, seeing as most countries with inadequate tap water have drinking water.
I wouldn’t use ‘boiled tap water’ to make my pasta either.
I have six large bottles which gets topped up each week, to make sure I have plenty of water to cook and drink with… If I didn’t, then I’d invest in a good water filtration system.
I live in Seattle WA in usa. We have some of the cleanest water. This is because of the great fire of 1889. An entire district and most of the waterfront went up in flames. The reason is that the fire department had no water pressure because of all the demand from the attempt to put out the fire.
After that they got the cedar river shed. A huge amount of land that is owned by Seattle and kept pristine.
So yes you can drink the tap water in Seattle.
But I only drink la croix, lol
NL here. Tap water here is a very well managed substance, and as a result, it’s not only hella safe, but hella tasty as well.
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I live in Melbourne Australia and we drink water straight out of the tap. Even restaurants give you tap water
