617
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by nigelinux@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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.

(page 7) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] JaneDoe@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

In France tap water is drinkable and good almost anywhere, the exceptions being in some cities during drought or due to unusual pollution. I actually dislike most mineral bottled water because I find it tastes like something.

I used to live in Thailand, while the authorities say the water is good you'll likely get sick if you drink water straight from the tap. I used to buy my water from a filtering machine near my condo.

[-] tmpod@lemmy.pt 2 points 2 years 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 :)

[-] DominicHillsun@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

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

[-] sojourn@geddit.social 2 points 2 years 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.

[-] sajran@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

You can safely drink unboiled tapwater in most places in Poland.

[-] thelittlea@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

US here. Although we have a water municipality, I still drink bottled water or water through a filter. I had my water tested by third party lab and found out they over chlorinate which leaves a lot of disinfectant byproducts in the water. I’m looking to get a whole home water filter installed to remedy that.

[-] SimplyKnorax@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 years ago

In Canada, tap water is perfectly fine to drink as is. There are some exceptions when it comes to more remote places, especially in some camping grounds, but they'll tell you or write it somewhere if that's the case.

I went to Iceland last year and the water's very clean and safe! There's no problem drinking it from the tap.

[-] llama@midwest.social 2 points 2 years ago

Even better, I do not boil I run though and store in a Brita pitcher that should have had a filter change six months ago!

[-] GONADS125@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

I live in the US in a location where the tap water is safe to drink (not always the case, e.g., Flint Michigan) but I still filter it for the taste (chlorine in the water).

Most municipal water is safe to drink in the US. Ground water depends entirely on where you live and many situational factors (City pollution, water level, etc.).

We will get boil notices from time to time when a contaminant is detected in the water supply. But that's been rare in my experience, after living in several regions in the US.

No one should ever use tap water for netty potting without boiling it though! You can contract a brain-eating amoeba if you don't boil, which has over 97% death rate.

[-] Hundun@beehaw.org 2 points 2 years ago

In Finland I drink straight out the shower head, it's fun and wonderfully safe.

[-] Foon@beehaw.org 2 points 2 years ago

I think you've already had plenty of replies here, but yeah here in western Europe, straight from the tap. I'm also fortunate not to have any chlorine in my water. It's delicious.

One thing about the chlorine, it also just evaporates over time without boiling. Filling a jug of water and leaving it standing around for a while will also get rid of that chlorine smell/taste!

[-] cashews_win@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

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.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] dmxk@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

Here in Austria(and some other places in Europe), tap water usually is better quality than bottled water. Even where it isnt, its chlorinated enough so there should be nothing in there to cause any sort of health issues. This seems to be the case everywhere in Europe in myexperience.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] SillyIce@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I drink tap water, but ours comes from our private well. We double filter it: sediment then carbon. Back in Costa Rica I also drank tap water, Costa Rica has one of the safest water.

[-] mac12m99@feddit.it 2 points 2 years 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.

[-] JASN_DE@feddit.de 2 points 2 years ago

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.

[-] degrix@hqueue.dev 2 points 2 years 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

[-] Gray@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

US/Canada here as well as someone that has visited most of western Europe (UK, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland) and stayed in hostels - no boiling necessary in any of these places.

There's actually a pervasive myth I've encountered that hot tap water is dangerous and that one should only drink cold water. As far as I'm aware, this myth is due to an old setup for water systems that many western homes had before modern taps. The tap was separated into separate cold/hot faucets. The cold water came safely from the city, but the hot water came from tanks that were stored in people's attics. The water in these tanks sat stagnant and was therefore prone to rats and other creatures dying in it or bacteria building up. This is why still today, most British homes have separate hot/cold taps - to keep the "safe" water separate from the "dangerous" water. I occasionally encountered such taps in the US and I assume that's why my dad raised me to make sure the water was cold before drinking it. My father's understanding of this was clearly outdated though. I learned all of this from a Tom Scott video.

[-] Rokil@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I'm not sure that's a myth, everywhere I search I find reasons to not drink hot tap water:

  • The heated water may cause the plumbing to release harmful substances such as lead and nickel
  • Cold water is fresher. Hot water stays in the plumbing system for a longer period of time to get heated. Longer stagnation time in the system may cause higher bacterial levels
  • Hot water is exposed to more pollution sources since it passes through additional tanks or heating systems.
  • The level of microorganisms is higher in hot water plumbing

From this page

(PS : I'm talking about France, where I live, where we mainly use water tanks to heat and store hot water. Cold tap water is perfectly fine to drink, on the other hand.)

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] TONKAHANAH@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years 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.

[-] 5pz@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years 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.

[-] med@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 years 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!

[-] Abel@lemmy.nerdcore.social 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I live in Brazil. When I lived on the farm, father set it up so the water would come from a natural underground mine and it was entirely safe to drink. However, in the town, we always bought gallons of packet water instead of using it from the tap. In the city I drank tap water for some years and didn't die, but the taste of the water changed when we began using a filter (thought it was likely that it was because the thing connecting our tap to the system was made out of rubber and a colony of bacteriae began to grow there).

Still, Brazil as a whole is mid risk for intestinal parasites and everyone is recommended to get a filter or packed water by the UN, and also to take anti-vermin medicine once per year.

[-] f5xs_bhw0a@beehaw.org 2 points 2 years ago

In the Philippines, we don't drink from the tap. At all. It's quite dangerous and there have been a number of internet personalities that got stomach aches from drinking tap water ^cough^ ^haachama^ ^cough^

Instead, there are a lot of establishments here that sell drinkable water at a fraction of a dollar per 5 gallons.

[-] computerfan0@beehaw.org 2 points 2 years 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.

[-] zakiuem@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years 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.

[-] Iconoclast@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 years 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 didn‘t drink tap water (I was warned), but I mindlessly used it for brushing teeth and that probably ruined my last few days there.

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›
this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2023
617 points (98.1% liked)

Asklemmy

44256 readers
974 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS