We could give you a hundred reasons as to why bottled water is bad — to start with, it produces an enormous amount of plastic waste! Having said that, the doubtful hygiene of tap water in many places turns out to be a concern for travellers as well as local residents, who then end up buying the relatively safer of the two — bottled water. But, there are a few countries in the world where the running tap water available to all for free may just be better and cleaner than bottled water! By Shubhanjana Das
1. Denmark
Denmark serves tap water in its restaurants and cafes unless specified otherwise. The tap water is so clean that people hardly buy bottled water. Even if the water isn’t eligible for consumption, it is always clearly stated. So, while in Denmark, just carry your own bottle and hydrate all along without having to buy bottles throughout.
2. Switzerland
The Swiss cities can boast their cleanliness as strongly as they can boast their clean tap water. The Alpine nation is blessed with good rain as well as glacial melt, and teamed with the government’s water policy, Switzerland drinks its tap water without apprehensions.
3. Greenland
When you drink the tap water on the streets of any city in Greenland, you’re not just consuming absolutely safe drinking water, but water that is sourced from the icebergs. The waterworks deliver plentiful healthy drinking water and thanks to the Government’s policies, the quality of water is maintained with the help of a number of statutory duties concerning the approval and control of the supply of water.
4. Canada
Canada, despite being a large country, has some of the world’s cleanest tap water, thanks to its low population density. Canada may not have the best environmental laws, but its government has been quite stringent in maintaining a highly-regulated filtration process. Coupled with plentiful sources of natural water, you have easily available tap water in every Canadian city.
5. Iceland
Sparsely populated mountainous countries seem to be taking the ball as far as clean drinking water is concerned. The glaciers melt into lakes and are then made available to the population via water networks. In fact, if you could just drink the water from the lake, it’d be as safe, if not safer, than drinking mineral water from a sealed bottle. And that’s a claim not many countries can make.
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