# Tap Water



## rosy83 (Jul 18, 2012)

Hi guys
So I finally arrived here yesterday
I am pleased to say I have already learnt to navigate the metro and I am about to go on my first supermarket food shop!
How exciting ...well it is to me

I wanted to ask is the tap water drinkable 

I am staying in a serviced apartment and the concierge's response when I asked if i can drink the water was

"erm mam....not bad....but not so good either for you"

Do brits / non uae's drink the tap water ? Or is it bottled all the way


By the same rule does my cat need to drink only bottled water?


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## saraswat (Apr 28, 2012)

As I mentioned earlier in a similar thread, the more people you ask the question the more confused/in-decisive you'll end up being unfortunately, lol. Everyone has their views, some for, some against... Most people usually go for bottled water (masafi/arwa/al ain etc..) or distilled/natural spring water (the blue tubs on top of water coolers).. There are the adventurous kind who drink the tap water. I can say that in the many years I've stayed here, I haven't heard of anyone falling ill off of the tap water, and the government is pretty good about such things IMHO (expiration dates of food stuff, restaurant inspections, overall health and safety for public consumption etc..) 
Don't know about the cat sorry.. never had a pet in the UAE... 

P.S: I go the distilled water/brita water filter route...


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## Gavtek (Aug 23, 2009)

The water should be fine, it'll just taste a little differently. I always use tap water in the kettle or for cooking, generally not for drinking though as it's never cold from the tap and the bottled stuff is so cheap.


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## m1key (Jun 29, 2011)

When it leaves DEWA the water is fine for drinking. I personally don't trust property companies and landlords to keep pipes and water tanks suitably clean. Add in poor quality workmanship I just don't take the risk. I have one of them air purifiers with humidifier and the water tank on that accumulates brown crap. I use tap water for the purifier.


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## rosy83 (Jul 18, 2012)

thanks guys! that helps
oh well bright side of food poisoning is weight loss....


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## BedouGirl (Sep 15, 2011)

I have water delivered. I use it in the kettle, for cooking, to drink, for the animals and so on. I used to drink the tap water until I saw some pipes being removed and wished I hadn't .


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## vantage (May 10, 2012)

i drank the tap water for my first three months. cooled it in the fridge.
I'm absolutely fine (twitch twitch snick)

When my wife arrived, she started asking questions, and every nonsense story came out, but a different story from each person.
"the water's fine, the pipes are rubbish"
"the water is full of aluminium"
"legionella"
eyc etc

so 'for the sake of the kids' we get the big blue bottles (9 dirhams a pop, for 18 litres, i think) but use tap for cooking, kettle, teeth etc.

you also have to bear in mind that water sitting in a tank outside at over 30 degrees is probably a fairly good breeding ground for something bad.


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## Gavtek (Aug 23, 2009)

On a related note, on 2 occasions I've felt unwell after drinking Nestle Purelife water.


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## Ish (May 15, 2011)

I brought a PUR water filter system back with me from vacation. Better safe than sorry.


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## Guest (Sep 23, 2012)

I've been told that 99% of the time, tap water is fine but it may occassionally be contaminated by a back flush and yes, you don't know what is lurking in the building storage tanks and how often building maintenance carry out appropriate testing and cleaning.

I went out and bought a 350dhs water cooler and get the 5 gallon bottles delivered to my door for 8dhs each. 

I clean my teeth in tap water but I use bottled for absolutely everything else - a bit over the top perhaps but better safe than sorry.


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## vantage (May 10, 2012)

the safest water is treated with malted barley.
It improves when stored in wooden casks and bottled after 18 years


DON"T DRINK WATER - FISH P*SS IN IT.


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