this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2023
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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.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Im from Newfoundland Canada. The city I live in has a water treatment facility and the tap water is perfectly fine to drink without any filtering or boiling.

Many smaller towns in my province only have natural water sources (lakes/ponds/streams) or wells for their water supply. The town I grew up in was like that up till about 2005-2006ish. It was pretty rare for us to have to boil water though, maybe 3 weeks out of the whole year, a neighboring town with a different water supply had to boil their water for most of the year so there was alot of variability.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Poland: water is always drinkable from the tap.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Austria, yes, water is fine like that I would even drink it in the shower without issue. What is an issue is this habit once made for a bad time in Egypt where I didnβ€˜t drink tap water (I was warned), but I mindlessly used it for brushing teeth and that probably ruined my last few days there.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Irish person here. Yes, I drink my tap water without boiling. My water comes from a well as I live in a rural area, but town/city water is drinkable too.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

US, Colorado - no need to filter or boil the tap water here. One of the benefits of living at the base of the mountains I suppose

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Your examples, yes, but I also dont know of any European country where you need to boil the water you drink.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Asian that’s moved to the U.K. here.

Back home, when I grew up I’ve never drank tap water. In my college days I was way too lazy and started just drinking it with a cheap filter. Surprisingly I survived for 5 years despite everyone around me telling me otherwise.

Now in the U.K. I’ve always drank straight from the tap. It’s surprisingly refreshing! And the boiled water taste I can’t really get used to again when I visit home.

The water in Iceland is safe to drink from the tap. Although if I recall correctly it’s pretty sulfuric due to the local hot springs.

I’ve visited a few countries around Europe and have always enjoyed sampling their local tap.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yes. Here in Portugal, water is drinkable without boiling. Of course, water quality varies from region to region, but as it happens, where I live it's quite good :)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

New Zealand, Christchurch. We can drink straight out of the tap BUT it was chlorinated while our crappy infrastructure was being upgraded in recent years. Still is in some parts of the city I think? The actual water is from deep aquifers and was pristine and then it went through our dodgy wellheads which have since been upgraded.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Here is Jamaica it is safe to drink the tap water without boiling.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Hello Mr Hong Kongnese. I'm a Brit. We don't boil water here and I've visisted Iceland - they don't boil it either.

Diu gau lan tsat hai - Merry Christmas. Enjoy your holiday.

[–] win98se 2 points 1 year ago

Noice Cantonese you have right there. πŸ‘

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

India here. I can drink tap water without boiling, it just has a slight chlorinated taste. That's why we prefer to filter it, rather than boil.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Damn that sounds so time consuming. In most of the US where I'm from, water is treated really well and can just be drank straight from tap safely. I put my water in a brita to filter it so it's a bit more pure, and it also tastes better. Some nicer fridges with have a water filter in the front door, so you just press your glass against it and it fills it with perfect water. Also they usually have a button to dispense ice cubes. I never realized how nice I have it compared to the rest of the world lol.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

no and no. The tap where I live taste nasy, i think its safe to drink but its not very good so I dont use it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

When I was in Cainta, Rizal, Philippines, my uncle always boils tap water before drinking. This is indeed a safety measure. He doesn't buy gallon bottles of drinking water.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Modern treatment plants don't use chlorine anymore, they use cloramines that have little scent or taste. This is most likely the case in HK as well.

Boiling water that doesn't need to be boiled is a waste of energy and GHG.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Where I live in the US, I don't have a need to boil water unless I'm cooking or making tea, and am safe drinking the tap water. I consider myself lucky.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I am from the Philippines, and in my city, there are districts that have unpotable water and they resort in using purified water for drinking and cooking. In my district though, water is very potable and we drank it until switching to purified water last year because our water provider got their system contaminated.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

In India generally people use a water purifier to filter tap water before consumption.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Here in Armenia all tap water is drinkable as is

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

USA: Yes, I drink tap water.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

In Lithuania we do not need to boil tap water to drink it and usually it tastes nice unless your plumbing is fucked

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I'm from Italy and i drink tap water since I was child. Never had any problem. But I was told to check tubature aging and materials first, if it's new and not made in lead metal, it's safe.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

certainly no harm in boiling, but yeah most places in the US I just drink right out the tap if it's public water. Some places are better than others, but usually a filter does the trick. Well water is a whole other story.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Bermuda here, straight from the tap!

It actually gets collected from rain water on each individual home's roof. The roofs are lime-washed to kill the really nasty stuff as it runs down in to a holding tank under the house. Some times you get dead critters in there, but nothing larger than a small lizard or bug. They tend to sink to the bottom of the tank, below the outlets.

Most Bermudians swear by a "cup of bleach" thrown down there every couple of years. It's in to a tank that's 10,000gal+ at a minimum (mine's over 40,000), so it's basically homeopathy at that point - but the lime-wash works!

The only place you'll want to avoid it in Bermuda is in the City of Hamilton (mains, not great quality), a house with a dirty roof, or in one near the sole power station on the island. This is an on-going fight to get them to adhere to the emissions safety standards they claim to.

White roofs and smoke stack in the picture!

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