Asklemmy

Norway = Yes. But the fresh water pipes are in the same trench as the sewer pipes, and being 100 years old, the clean water depends on the pressure. This is in Oslo btw..

The US varies widely. Some Americans in this thread tell you their tap water is squeaky clean. Meanwhile, there are places like Flint where the tap water not only is deadly but remains deadly even if you do boil it.

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!

German: Yes. Most of the water I consume comes straight from the tap

Moscow, Russia. You can usually drink tap water in Moscow, but it's something unusually good for Russian bigger cities in general, and it's considered a good thing to boil it. Actually depends on local specifics and where the water comes from.

Quebec, Canada. I grew up in a rural area where we had our own artesian well on the plot of land, so not attached to any city infrastructure, and no purification process at all, except what is done naturally from the soil. And guess what? It's the purest water I've ever seen, it taste amazingly fresh and the tap is directly plugged on it.

Moved to a big city and now have to use the city infrastructure, which of course have a huge purification plant and they do tests continuously to make sure it pass a high quality threshold. But even if it's probably cleaner than 90% of the rest if the world, it still have a slight unpleasant taste. I could probably buy a filter, but never bothered.

Buying bottled water is seen as wasteful and also a scam since it's often just tap water they bottled. When my family visited a country where bttled water is common, they were disgusted at how much plastic pollution it creates.

I would hate to have to boil water before every usage, I assume you always keep a few gallons in the fridge to keep some cold? It takes space and energy to prepare, must be annoying. But what I wonder the most is, how to do wash yourselves and your clothes? If the water smells foul, doesn't taking a shower just stink you even more than it cleans?

Luxembourg here, i'll drink straight from the tap.

In Rome there are literally fountain running constantly in the middle of almost all the streets(old area specially ) of potable whater. Again non stop, people use them allot

I'm from Chile and we drink tap water without boiling. Some people buy filtered water because they dont like the taste, not because is unsafe.

It shocked me when I visited Peru and Mexico and realized that tap water is not safe there.

I believe in Canada we have high standards for our potable water, unlike the UK for example our water heaters need to be up to par (UK typically has seperate taps AFAIK).

So no need to boil, also if you're trying to get rid of chlorine you can just use Brita filters, carbon filters that restaurants use do the same AFAIK. Also even cities like mine which (at least at some point before now) had way more houses than apartments still chlorinated the entire city's supply.

Filters are insanely good these days. I was thinking about getting a life straw, but there's a slightly more expensive alternative that can do like 500x more filtering before it needs to be replaced, and comes with a pouch you can fill and then pour into a regular water bottle. Life straws are meant to be drank from directly, and the alternatives that company offers are just water bottles with life straws built in - so you put unfiltered water in the bottle itself... Probably gets gross or requires constant cleaning

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.

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.

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

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

Canada - Many people here put water in the fridge or a britta jug to get rid of the chlorine taste

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.

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.

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

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.

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).

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.

Poland: water is always drinkable from the tap.

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.

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.

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.

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