Polski
Issue 5/2026, From the world, From the world, Issue 5/2026
Is it okay to drink tap water in Europe? Paris, Rome, Venice and Barcelona under the magnifying glass
May
Is it possible to drink tap water in Europe? For tourists, it’s a practical pre-trip question, and for cities it’s a test of confidence in local water infrastructure. Mere information that the water meets standards is not always enough. In the context of growing environmental awareness and mass tourism, what also matters is whether water is readily available in urban spaces, whether residents use it and whether local institutions clearly communicate about its quality.
Paris: water as part of urban policy
In Paris, drinking tap water is part of a conscious urban policy. The city is showing that trust in tap water is not built only by declarations of quality, but also by its easy accessibility in public spaces, restaurants, cafes and stores.
According to the 2025 Eau de Paris barometer. 87 percent. Parisians rate the quality of tap water as satisfactory. Eight out of ten people drink it regularly at home, and 52 percent also use it outside the home. This is helped by a network of some 1,300 fountains and water points and more than 1,000 establishments involved in the Ici, je choisis l’eau de Paris campaign .
The program works simply: a passerby recognizes an establishment participating in the initiative by a sticker placed in its window and can fill a bottle of tap water there free of charge. Restaurants and cafes also operate a system of serving a free carafe, or carafe d’eau.
Eau de Paris describes the initiative as a way to increase water availability and fight single-use plastic, with the ambition to make Paris the first city without single-use plastic.
Rome: nasoni as historic and usable water infrastructure
In Rome, public access to drinking water has a long tradition, and its most recognizable symbol is the nasoni – small fountains with a distinctive curved spout resembling a nose.
The first cast-iron nasons appeared in Rome in 1874, when the city was expanding its public water distribution system. Their task was simple: to provide residents with constant access to potable water in public spaces. Over time, they became one of the more distinctive elements of the Roman landscape. There are more than 200 of them in the historic center alone.
Today, the traditional nasoni are complemented by other public drinking water points and modern Case dell’Acqua, which are stations where you can get chilled water, as well as carbonated water. According to Roma Capitale, there are about a dozen of these in the city. 60. This is a contemporary development of the same idea: drinking water is to be readily available where residents and visitors need it.
Roma, Case dell’acqua in tutta la città, stamane inaugurazione a Testaccio
– AGR (@AGR_web) August 1, 2024
Prosegue il piano di installazione delle Case dell’acqua ges ...https://t.co/fcJ5arG04e pic.twitter.com/YDbZGjxs4W
Venice: tap water vs. plastic
Venice immediately brings to mind a lagoon, canals and water embedded in the urban landscape, but that flowing from taps is a different story. Public utility operator Veritas stresses that the drinking water supplied to residents and tourists comes mainly from underground intakes, up to 300 meters deep. It is regularly inspected and available without being transported in plastic bottles.
In a city overloaded with tourism, each bottle is not just waste, but part of a larger problem – supplies, logistics and pressure on the historic center. That’s why promoting tap water here is part of thinking about how to reduce the footprint of mass tourism.
This is helped by a network of public drinking water points spread throughout Venice and the islands. Veritas provides a map of 141 fountains, and local initiatives such as Venice Tap Water and Plastic Free Venice encourage the use of reusable bottles.
Barcelona: a taste of tap water and the shadow of a drought
In Barcelona, tap water is considered safe to drink, meets current standards and is regularly inspected. The city also makes it easy to use public water points – the Fonts BCN app allows you to find the nearest fountain, check its location on a map and map out a route to get there.
However, there are two factors influencing the reception of Barcelona’s tap water, which distinguishes the situation in this city from that in Paris, Rome or Venice. The first is the taste of the water. For some tourists, the first sip may be less pleasant than in other parts of Europe – more mineral, sometimes with a perceptible aftertaste of chlorine. This is due to, among other things. From the sources of supply: water comes from various systems, including Ter and Llobregat. The one from Llobregat is more heavily mineralized, containing more chloride and sodium, so its taste tends to be more pronounced. However, this does not mean inferior quality.
The second issue is drought. The years 2023-2024 showed how vulnerable a water system can be in a Mediterranean city. February 2024. Catalonia declared a drought-related state of emergency, and reserves in the reservoirs supplying most of the region fell to about 16 percent. Later, the situation improved markedly – by the end of March 2026, the Ter-Llobregat system, crucial for supplying Barcelona, was 92.2 percent full.
Drought doesn’t mean that tap water is no longer safe. It does, however, change the way residents and tourists think about water. If they’ve been hearing for months about restrictions, low reserves and the need to conserve, confidence begins to depend not only on the quality of the water on tap, but also on the resilience of the entire system.
Can you drink tap water in Europe? What do EU regulations say
There is a common set of rules behind the safety of tap water in the EU. The most important document defining them is Directive 2020/2184 on the quality of water intended for human consumption. It is it that defines what requirements water used for drinking, cooking and food preparation must meet.
However, it’s not just about testing tap water. The directive implies control of the entire pathway – from intake, treatment and distribution network to installations in buildings. Information is also important – users are to be able to see data on water quality, monitoring results and possible risks. The legislation also encourages drinking water to be more readily available in public spaces – in fountains, bottle filling points or eating establishments.
Since 2026, PFAS monitoring has also played a greater role. New regulations have introduced EU limits for their presence in drinking water and an obligation for more standardized monitoring. Member states must report results, exceedances and corrective actions.
This is important, because trust in tap water cannot be based solely on the belief that the water has always been good. It must be confirmed on an ongoing basis – with research, transparent information and a readiness to respond to new threats.
