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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[โ€“] 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.

[โ€“] 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.

[โ€“] 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.

[โ€“] ikidd@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years 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.

[โ€“] AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years 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.

[โ€“] flexcyness@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years 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.

[โ€“] kaikanaki@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

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

[โ€“] neothefox@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

Here in Armenia all tap water is drinkable as is

[โ€“] PetrusHyde@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Spanish here. I drink tap water, but I have a filter installed in the faucet, otherwise it tastes a bit funny (it is drinkable though).

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[โ€“] wildeaboutoskar@beehaw.org 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

UK- we don't boil water here unless there's an issue with the pipes. I got told not to drink the water in places like Spain and Italy as it could make me unwell, but not sure if that's as big a deal now.

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[โ€“] nick@campfyre.nickwebster.dev 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

New Zealand and yes it's safe to drink without boiling here. I do run the tap for a few seconds to clear out any standing water before drinking anything though.

[โ€“] Aaron@lemmy.nz 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Also NZ, South island, only time I boil water to drink is for tea โ˜•

Tastes great right from the tap.

[โ€“] nick@campfyre.nickwebster.dev 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Haha true, although I'm more of a coffee person myself.

I didn't know there was a NZ lemmy instance, I've got some new communities to subscribe to.

[โ€“] Aaron@lemmy.nz 2 points 2 years ago

One of us... One of us..

USA: Yes, I drink tap water.

[โ€“] 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

[โ€“] sajran@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

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

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.

[โ€“] Hundun@beehaw.org 2 points 2 years ago

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

[โ€“] 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!

[โ€“] 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.

[โ€“] 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.

[โ€“] 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.

[โ€“] Gray@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

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.

[โ€“] Rokil@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

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.)

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[โ€“] 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.

[โ€“] 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!

[โ€“] 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.

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