Asklemmy

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.

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.

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.

Netherlands: our tap water is better than bottled spring water

If you can't drink your tap water without boiling, your government has totally failed you.

Finland

Yes. Our tap water is among the cleanest on earth

Berlin, Germany: we drink water straight from the tap. It's free and delicious. If you don't feel like drinking tap, just drink a "Berliner Rohrperle". It's the same thing with a fancier name, because our tap water is awesome.

Nowadays we even have public drinking fountains dotted around the city.

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.

In France we drink it straight without boiling it. But water quality control is pretty strict here in France and more generally in Europe

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

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.

I'm from Germany and I always drink Tap water without boiling it first. Well to be fair, I turn my tap water into sparkling water with my beloved SodaStream.

Here in the Netherlands (and I’m pretty sure most Western European countries) its perfectly safe to drink tap water without boiling

Germany, yes we do drink water without boiling it directly from the tap. Tap water must in general have drinking water quality across the country. However, even it may not be a health risk, some people don't like the taste. Where I live, it tastes very good.

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.

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.

Tap water in Brazil is supposed to be drinkable, but I use a filter anyways because I don't trust the companies.

In Germany tap water is considered "one of the most strictly controlled food products"

BC, Canada - our tap water is perfectly safe and delicious! My experience in North America has been generally safe to drink tap water, but there are areas where it is not safe. I find it similar to reviews - if nothing is wrong, people are less likely to leave a positive review.

Germany here. My family and I drink tap-water all the time. No problems. Sometimes the Water could be contaminated with certain bacteria, but thats rare and the local government will warn you.

In Germany the tap water has, by law, higher quality standards than bottled water. So yes, you can drink the tap water without boiling.

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

Most people I know of don't drink from tap water here at all, boiled or not.

Edit: I forgot to share where I'm at lol (Indonesia)

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.

Portugal 🇵🇹, we drink tap water here it should be fine unless you're in an old building and the pipes haven't had any maintenance. Been in old buildings in Lisbon that had brownish/tan water and I had to let it run for a good 30secs until it came out clean.

Never drank water from there unless I was desperate, always used bottled water. However, where I was raised the tap water there is sooooo good.

Also I'm absolutely biased and conditioned by living here my whole life, but I've visited a lot of countries. And no tap water is even close to Portuguese tap water.

P.S. Been to HK just about a month and I really found it charming. The way "western" culture is applied there. Mostly on buildings and lamps etc. While on the other side you have traditional temples. Very cool

Shame for the past couple of events there (cough CCP cough)

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.

Italy here: tap water is drinkable BY LAW, at least inside houses and public places.

In the US, tap water is regulated to higher standards than bottled! In the rare cases where there is a problem with it, everyone gets notified, for example http://www.msdh.state.ms.us/msdhsite/_static/23,0,148.html.

NYC prides itself on having really good water, both for local food production, and just for taste. NYC did this by buying up land around its reservoirs further inland and building a large aqueduct system. The water isn't even filtered!

That said, some locations have unpalatable water, such as towns near the ocean that get their water from nearby wells.

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.

In Germany, France, the Netherlands, Great Britain, and italy, everybody also just drinks it without boiling or anything

I've lived in Canada and the US and I've never thought twice about drinking water straight from the tap.

Tapwater in Iceland is safe to drink. Went there a couple of years ago and spoke to the locals regarding bottled water. They told me that the bottled water is the 'same' water I get from the tap.

In France I once went to a water museum, yes those exist. They told us that tapwater is safe to drink and that we should stop buying bottled water.

I live in The Netherlands myself and I don't know better then drinken water from the tap. I would go as far as saying that we are among the countries with the best tapwater in the world.

Joining the choir from Italy - we too drink without boiling.

In NL, the public water company pulls their water literally from the exact same springs as the expensive bottled waters (no joke). So our water is exactly the same.

Manila, Philippines: My drinking water comes from a delivery service that drops off a few blue containers of drinking water every few days. I've never swallowed tap water but I do use tap water when rinsing after toothbrushing. The sticker on the blue containers has the company name on it, contact details (obviously), and something about "18-stages latest US technology".

Northern California, United States.

I filter my tap water mostly for taste, but it's completely safe to drink without boiling. I would even argue that it's beneficial to drink because of the fluoride (I'm not an anti-fluoride/anti-science nutjob).

Poland: I drink tap water everyday, it's safe to drink, it's tasty and it's cheap :)

It's super strange for me to only drink bottled water/filtered abroad.

I've visited Peru and when I said to locals that we drink tap water directly they just didn't believe. It was unthinkable to them. And the bottled water was not cheap there...

I'm Portuguese

I’ve been to Iceland a few years ago. The tap water often had a strong smell of sulfur, especially in the capital, Reykjavik.

Maybe it’s still safe to drink, but the taste was not great. Even showering was not awesome.

Australia. My local water supply is sourced from a muddy river. Not ideal as there is agricultural runoff and occasional algal blooms but it is a semi-arid region and the only option. The towns water supply has sediments settled out then is filtered, treated with chloramine, then UV, then fluoridated for dental health. We mainly drink it chilled through an inline fridge filter. There is no need to boil as the chloramine and UV kill any microorganisms. The bigger concern is probably agricultural chemicals but I am sure the quality is monitored. Some people still buy bottled water because they are ignorant. We take water bottles filled with tap water to school and sports and the schools all have chilled tap water for refilling water bottles.

Eastern US here. Definitely can drink without boiling. I do filter it, though. I'm more concerned about metals and particulates than pathogens.

Austria here, I drink tap water without boiling all the time without thinking twice about it. Pretty much in the entire EU I feel safe doing so.

Sweden. Very good water here, people drink from tap.

In NZ, the only time I've boiled water is when we had an earthquake that screwed up a bunch of stuff, including the water & sewage pipes.

Yes I'm drinking untreated tap water in Germany, got a SodaStream to add bubbles sometimes. When we were recently visiting the US (NYC) I drank tap water, too, but my wife didn't like it because of a distinct chlorine smell and taste but I didn't mind

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.