East Asia and South Asia Now Fully Covered
CanIDrinkTheTapWater.com has completed coverage across two major Asian sub-regions. East Asia now has guides for all 9 countries, and South Asia covers all 6. Combined with our existing Southeast Asia coverage, we now have detailed tap water safety guides for over 30 Asian countries in total.
Whether you're trekking to Everest Base Camp, island-hopping in the Maldives, exploring ancient temples in Mongolia, or navigating the megacity streets of Dhaka, you'll find reliable and detailed water safety information for every destination.
East Asia — Now Complete
🇨🇳 China
Tap water is not safe to drink anywhere in China, including in Beijing, Shanghai, and other major cities. While treatment plants exist, the distribution infrastructure is heavily compromised by aging pipes and industrial pollution. Boiling is universally practiced by locals, and hotels provide electric kettles specifically for this purpose. Bottled water is extremely cheap and available absolutely everywhere.
🇯🇵 Japan
Japan is one of Asia's tap water success stories — water is safe to drink throughout the country including Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto. Japan's water infrastructure is modern and meticulously maintained. The water is treated and tested to strict national standards, and locals drink it without concern. Visitors can do the same with complete confidence.
🇰🇷 South Korea
Tap water in South Korea meets national safety standards and is generally safe to drink in major cities including Seoul and Busan. However, many Koreans choose filtered or bottled water due to concerns about older building pipes and rooftop storage tanks. Free filtered water dispensers are common in public buildings and subway stations throughout the country.
🇰🇵 North Korea
Tap water in North Korea is not safe to drink. Water infrastructure has severely deteriorated since the 1990s economic collapse, and waterborne illness is a documented public health concern throughout the country. North Korea is effectively closed to independent tourism — all visitors travel on state-organised tours and are provided with bottled water throughout. Our guide covers what the rare visitor needs to know.
🇹🇼 Taiwan
Tap water in Taiwan is treated to high standards at source, but aging building pipes and rooftop storage tanks mean most Taiwanese people don't drink it directly. The good news: Taiwan has one of the world's densest networks of free filtered water stations — in MRT stations, government buildings, and convenience stores — making safe hydration easy and sustainable for visitors.
🇭🇰 Hong Kong
Hong Kong's tap water is completely safe to drink and is among the highest quality in Asia. The Water Supplies Department manages one of the most sophisticated water treatment systems in the region. A minor advisory to flush taps for 30 seconds in older buildings is the only nuance worth noting for visitors.
🇲🇴 Macau
Like Hong Kong, Macau is a Special Administrative Region where tap water is safe to drink and meets international standards. Visitors staying in the territory's casino resorts and hotels — the dominant form of tourist accommodation — can drink tap water with full confidence.
🇲🇳 Mongolia
Tap water is not safe to drink in Mongolia, including in Ulaanbaatar where Soviet-era infrastructure has only been partially modernised. The greater challenge is rural Mongolia — the steppe, Gobi Desert, and mountain regions have no piped water at all. Our Mongolia guide is essential reading for adventure travelers, covering ger camp water safety, altitude boiling times, and filter recommendations for Gobi expeditions.
South Asia — Now Complete
🇳🇵 Nepal
Tap water is not safe to drink in Nepal, including in Kathmandu where the city faces one of Asia's most acute urban water crises. For trekkers, our Nepal guide covers altitude water safety in depth — including extended boiling times above 3,000 and 5,000 metres — and the environmental case for using filters instead of single-use plastic bottles on high-altitude routes.
🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
Tap water is not safe to drink in Sri Lanka. Beyond the standard infrastructure challenges in Colombo and beach resort areas, our Sri Lanka guide covers a genuinely unique angle: the chronic kidney disease of unknown aetiology (CKDu) linked to groundwater contamination in the country's dry zone — an important consideration for travelers venturing into rural north-central Sri Lanka.
🇲🇻 Maldives
The Maldives is South Asia's most nuanced water safety story. With no natural freshwater, every drop is desalinated or collected as rainwater. On resort islands the water generally meets international standards. On local inhabited islands, quality varies and bottled water is the safest default. Our guide covers both luxury resort guests and budget travelers doing local island hopping.
🇧🇹 Bhutan
Tap water in Bhutan is not recommended for direct consumption, though the country's strictly regulated high-value tourism model means most visitors stay in vetted hotels that universally provide safe filtered or bottled water. Our Bhutan guide covers the key trekking routes — including the Snowman Trek and Jomolhari — where natural water sources must be treated.
🇧🇩 Bangladesh
Tap water in Bangladesh is not safe to drink, and the country faces two distinct water safety challenges: bacterial contamination from aging urban infrastructure in Dhaka, and a severe arsenic groundwater crisis in rural areas — one of the largest mass arsenic poisoning events in history. Our guide covers both, including why standard filters are insufficient for arsenic removal.
🇵🇰 Pakistan
Tap water is not safe to drink anywhere in Pakistan. Urban centres including Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad all face significant infrastructure challenges with heavy metal and chemical contamination alongside bacterial risks. Our Pakistan guide also covers the spectacular northern mountain regions — Hunza, Gilgit-Baltistan, and the K2 trekking routes — where glacial water must be treated despite appearing pristine.
What's Next
Central Asia is the final piece of the Asia puzzle. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan are all in active development. Once complete, CanIDrinkTheTapWater.com will have full coverage across every Asian sub-region — a comprehensive resource for the continent's enormous diversity of water safety conditions.
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