People around the world, do you drink tap water without boiling?
People around the world, do you drink tap water without boiling?
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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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.
Also USA. To clarify for those unfamiliar, a "boil alert/order/notice/advisory" is a strong recommendation released by the local government stating that something has gone wrong with the water system and tap water should be boiled. In my experience it's usually a short window (24-72hrs) while the water dept flushes the system. Also in my experience boil orders are pretty rare in the US and often are out of an abundance of caution, so even if you don't boil the tap water you're unlikely to get sick, especially if you aren't part of a vulnerable group (e.g. very young, very old, immunocompromised, etc). However I imagine this is very regionally dependent, and some areas probably deal with this more than others depending on how developed their water system is. Boil orders are pretty rare in metropolitan areas, but for example Portland, OR uses an old uncovered reservoir system so they have more boil orders than most cities.