If you’ve visited a large Spanish city like Barcelona, Madrid, or Seville, you might have noticed something slightly peculiar.
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Residents buy massive plastic water bottles, sometimes up to eight liters, which you’ll see them toting home. That’s because, although Spain’s tap water is technically (very) safe to drink, it’s not advisable. The same is true in other hotspots around the world—including the beloved Big Apple.
What’s with the hesitancy to drink tap water if it’s deemed safe by the EPA and CDC?
It’s not the water you need to worry about. It’s the pipes that get them to your faucet, aka the local ‘water infrastructure’.
Let’s stick with the NYC example for a second. Many pipes around the city date back to the 1960s, 70s, and early 80s. The pipes used then were prone to leeching chemicals and other compounds into the water… mainly lead. (Don’t worry—NYC has a plan to address these concerns.)
Here’s my point for travelers like you and me: even if you know that tap water is safe to drink at your destination, should you be drinking it due to subpar water infrastructure?
Let’s jump back to Spain. I live in Barcelona, and my kitchen sink has two faucets: one for tap water and one for drinking water from our reverse-osmosis filter. Despite the fact that Spain has clean tap water that is CDC-approved for Americans, it has a pipe problem, similar to some parts of New York City.
Will you grow a third arm while drinking it on your vacation? Probably not. You’d need long-term exposure to experience negative health effects. But you’ll absolutely notice the weird taste, and might feel conflicted about gulping down a glass of water every morning.
Want to play it safe? Here’s a list of countries where you shouldn’t drink the tap water, even though the water itself is safe. (I also recommend looking into the US’s status in this NRDC report.)
10 countries where you shouldn’t drink the tap water, although it won’t make you sick
Again, this list does not show countries with unsafe tap water. Instead, it shows countries that are dealing with aging water infrastructure. That means that you might be drinking from pipes that are degraded and create contamination that can lead to long-term health effects.
Unfortunately, it’s a common problem in North America and Europe, along with parts of Oceania. Some countries, such as Australia and the Netherlands, have launched programs to eliminate compromised water infrastructure. Other countries, however, are a bit further behind int he process.
Similar to the United States, some countries might have regional issues. As in, some counties and provinces have safer water infrastructure.
If you’re careful about your drinking water, stick to bottled water or filtered taps in these countries, or do more research about how to stay safe drinking from the tap:
- Canada
- France
- Ireland
- Italy
- Malta
- New Zealand (due to pipe fittings rather than lead pipes)
- Spain
- Poland
- Portugal
- UK
