Can you drink the tap water?
Short answer
In Taipei, yes — the city's water department certifies it directly drinkable. That certification is Taipei's own, and it does not travel with you.
What the utility actually says
The Taipei Water Department's English guidance is unambiguous: Taipei water is safe, directly drinkable, with quality comparable to world-leading countries. That is the supplier itself standing behind drinking from the tap, not a traveller's rumour.
The certification has machinery behind it — testing across 141 items where Taiwan's national drinking water standard requires 68, and 95 monitoring stations watching the network around the clock.
Where the certification ends
Everything above is the Taipei department speaking for Taipei. Outside the capital the water comes from a different supplier, and this page's promise does not extend there.
The other gap any utility has: it certifies the water it delivers to the building. An old building's own pipes and rooftop tank sit between that handover point and your glass, and no city can certify those.
What to actually do
In Taipei, filling a bottle from the tap is what the city itself says its water is for. In newer buildings and hotels that is the end of the story.
Elsewhere on the island, or in a visibly aged building, do what you would in any uncertified place — boil, filter or buy. The habit costs little and removes the question.
Good to know
- Taipei's certification is the city utility's own — it does not cover the rest of the island
- Old buildings' tanks and pipes sit outside any utility's certification
Yes, anywhere in the country — including from the drinking fountains in stations and parks.
No. Boil it or drink bottled — the kettle in every hotel room is there for exactly this reason.
The Bangkok utility certifies its supply as safe and drinkable. What that certification cannot cover is the building you are standing in — or anywhere outside its three provinces.
No — the instruction from the tourism board is to stick to bottled water. Read the rest of that sentence carefully though: the caution about ice is written for rural areas, not for the whole country.
Yes — it is safe and heavily tested. Almost nobody drinks it straight anyway, out of habit rather than doubt.