Asklemmy

In Germany, Luxembourg and Norway I was drinking it straight from the tap. In Germany specifically, tap water is more regulated than bottled water you buy from the shop, making it safer to drink.

When I was living in Africa (Liberia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Madagascar, Kenya) as well as now in China, tap water is generally considered unsafe for consumption, no matter if you boil it or not, due to the possibilities of heavy metal poisoning. At home I tested my water through a lab (twice with ~24 months in between) and it's free of any dangerous metals or chemicals so I use it for cooking and for my coffee machine, but even though it's supposedly drinkable I wouldn't do so - neither boiled nor fresh.

Same applies for HK by the way, even though you don't have as much heavy industry poisoning the water supplies, the proximity to Shenzhen alone means that there's gotta be a ton of toxic fumes washing down that ends up in your freshwater supply. And while boiling gets rid of bacteria and stuff, many carcinogens are largely unaffected.

Philippines here. You cannot trust the tap water in this country anywhere, even after boiling. You really have to use a good water filter or just buy jugs of purified water from a water station.

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

I’m from Scotland which has some of the best tap water, so yeah, I drink it without boiling.

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.

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

Here in Austria we drink our tap water as it is. It comes basically straight from the mountains, you can't get any better.

In our biggest city, Vienna we even have the best water in the country (in my opinion) if you live on the West side of the Danube river. I miss the Viennese water, no joke!

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

Seattle, United States - we drink without boiling although a water district in the area has semi-annual boil water orders for e. Coli and stuff. I've lived in water districts where the tap water tastes funny and lots of people put it through a cheap filter, but I've never minded the flavor.

Basically, the default here is that you don't need to boil or filter your water.... But sometimes contamination happens and then everyone freaks out for a week or so.

In Canada, I know people from Hong Kong who still boil water before drinking. They have been in Canada for 40+ years, have seen everyone around them drink tap water, and yet hang on to this ritual of boiling copious amounts of water.

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.

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.

UK checking in here - straight from the tap is perfectly safe. I still put it through a filter though because I like the taste and it makes me feel fancy.

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

Spain here, tap water is safe for drinking everywhere, though you might have some issues in small old towns. But generally you will not contract any illnesses nor have any health issues, 100% guarranteed

Chinese person in Canada: I just drink cold tap water, but my parents and grandparents drink boiled water. Not really for safety concerns over here, but they, my grandparents especially, subscribe to that traditional Chinese medicine thing of don't put anything cold into your body ever.

I live in the pretty rural u.s. and my water is pumped up from an underground water table, a well that may or may not contain high traces of any number of metals, minerals, or toxic substances, and it's important to have it tested.

I get my drinking water in refillable 5 gal jugs, 2 at a time, from a machine that has pretty intense filters, iirc. So it's pretty much filtered tap water.

A filtration system would be pretty expensive outside of a basic sediment filter, which I have. Showering is fine with my tap water. Drinking it is probably fine too tbh, and I do it once in a while. Though I try to be conscious about my water usage, cause digging a deeper well is out of my power, money wise.

In some cities, there is lead in the water due to infrastructure incompetence, and straight malicious bad actors.

That's not a problem in my home city, and the tap is largely fine to drink.

Yes. Canada

Murican here: I only boil if there's a boil alert, but I always run tap water through a carbon or ceramic filter even though tap water is supposed to be regulated and safe to drink. I think it just tastes better and I am a little mistrustful given disasters like Flint Michigan.

I am from Singapore, so I am used to drinking straight from the tap without boiling. In school, we just drink from the taps, or water cooler (which probably have gone through a particulate filter).

When I moved to the UK, I was also drinking from the tap. But I did noticed that there is a lot of scummy residue in the kettle after I boiled water for making tea. That was probably from the hard water in London area. So, if I am making tea, I would use filter water for the kettle. But i won't think twice about drinking straight from the tap still.

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

I think almost everywhere in Europe you can drink tap water (my 2 cents from France)

Drank tap water from the faucet for 35 years. Broke down and bought a Breta filter just for the heck of it and never looked back. US citizen btw

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).

Europe, slovakia tap water is drinkable but the taste differs from city to city i think usualy vilages and tiny towns have better tasting water

Here in the US, tap water is safe to drink, but its "hardness" (that is, mineral content) can vary even between adjacent municipalities. Harder tap might taste "bad" or "off," especially if you're not used to it, but it's actually healthier because of all the magnesium/calcium/whatever.

A lot of people use filtration devices (such as Brita pitchers) to improve the taste, but I don't know anyone who would refuse to drink tap.

Absolutely. We have outstanding tap water here in the PNW. It tastes better than bottled water and is crystal clear.

Canadian here. Municipal water supply is highly filtered and treated. I drink it straight out of the tap.

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.

The thing about living in an undeveloped countries is that you don't have to worry about that sort of thing.. I'm pretty fucking sure a billion things will get me before contaminates water does.

I live in a major Italian city, I'm well over fifty, and I've always drunk unfiltered water straight from the tap without boiling. Some Italians apparently don't like the taste of tap water but it's still safe to drink it unfiltered and unboiled in nearly all the country.

I live in the great lakes region of Canada and our tap water is totally safe

No boiling, but I bought a filter after listening to a story about PFAS.

Yep, in the Netherlands we drink tap water all the time. No reason to boil it, except for tea of coffee of course.

Australia- Safe to drink. The water is chlorinated and fluoridated (for dental health).

I'm not 100% sure if the water is fluoridated across the whole country or just in my state

Illinois, US. tap water has always been safe to drink wherever I've lived in this state. I've only been under a boil order a couple times in my life. That being said, I do filter my tap water otherwise it tastes strange to me

I live in Sweden. Yeah, the tap water is clean and can be drank straight from the tap without boiling, filtering, or treatment in the whole country.

Dublin, Ireland here. Always drank water straight from the tap. Unless there is some kind of issue with the water system in your area, then a notice will be put out to tell people to boil water before drinking.