Is It Safe to Drink Tap Water in a Hotel?

Oct 27, 2024

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It’s common to use tap water for daily essentials like brushing your teeth or washing your face, both at home and while you travel.

But should you should drink tap water directly from the bathroom sink in a hotel, or use the water to make a cup of coffee?

Here’s what you need to know about drinking tap water from a hotel and safe alternatives you can rely on during your next trip, according to experts.

The safety of tap water depends mostly on where you are traveling to, but it can also depend on the particular hotel, according to Scott Bartell, PhD, MS, a professor of environmental and occupational health at the University of California Irvine Public Health.

Different countries and regions can have various levels of water quality regulations, infrastructure, and treatment processes. Some hotels might have water purification methods that meet safety standards, while others may have inadequate filtration systems or maintenance practices.

“Hotel water is often as safe as the public water supply where the hotel is located,” Bartell told Verywell in an email. “But some remote hotels have their own private water supplies, which are less regulated.”

In some older hotels, tap water might be contaminated by lead pipes, Bartell added. If there's a boil water advisory at your travel destination, you can ask the hotel for bottled water or boil the tap water before drinking.

Tap water is generally “very safe” in the U.S. because it’s regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), according to Natalie Exum, PhD, an environmental health scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

“It’s one of the engineering accomplishments of the 20th century to say that we can open up our drinking water tap and not get diarrheal disease when we drink out of that water,” Exum said.

However, the quality of tap water can still vary significantly depending on location, she added. Water treatment practices can differ in different areas, and when water is delivered through property pipelines into hotels, the responsibility for ensuring the water’s quality falls onto the property owner.

Drinking tap water that contains unsafe levels of contaminants can lead to certain health issues, including gastrointestinal illness, reproductive problems, and neurological disorders.

Infants, young children, pregnant people, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems may be at a higher risk of becoming ill after drinking contaminated water.

Drinking unclean water may also cause stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, fever, kidney failure, and hepatitis. But the severity of symptoms depends on the type of contaminant, the concentration, the amount of water consumed, the duration of exposure, and an individual’s susceptibility.

“Waterborne diseases can be debilitating and some may cause you to get dehydrated and you may need to go to a clinic,” Exum said. “So you really want to be careful when you’re traveling, not just blindly trust the water that’s coming out of a town because a lot of other countries don’t necessarily have the kind of regulation around their drinking water as we do here in the United States.”

Globally, each year over a million deaths and countless illnesses are attributable to unsafe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene, Bartell added. However, he noted, “most of that burden occurs in developing countries.”

“I expect that the vast majority of U.S. hotels are in populous areas with well-regulated water supplies, so the health risks for healthy domestic travelers are likely very low,” Bartell said.

Certain signs may indicate that the tap water is unsafe to drink, according to Exum. If the water appears cloudy or discolored or has visible particles, it might mean that there are issues with the water quality or the plumbing system. If the water has a strong, unpleasant smell or taste, it might have been inadequately treated or contain contaminants.

You can also check the local water quality reports in the area where the hotel is located, or look up any travel health warnings issued by government agencies.

Bartell added that apart from direct water testing, it’s hard to know if the hotel you’re staying at has unsafe drinking water. “Larger public water systems in the U.S. are required to perform microbial and chemical testing on a regular basis, which is the best way to detect problems,” he said.

There are alternatives you can consider if you’re uncomfortable with drinking tap water from a hotel. This includes using portable water filters, purifiers that use UV light technology, purification tablets, and iodine water disinfectants. You may also consider boiling your water, which is the best method to kill viruses, bacteria, and parasites, per the CDC.

“There are water bottles that have reverse osmosis including in the straw themselves. They’re disinfecting it as you sip the water,” Exum said. “They’re not long-term sustainable solutions, but in terms of short-term travel, I would say go for it.”

However, the easiest thing travelers can do is to purchase and drink bottled water when these devices and tools aren’t available.

“There are many portable options for water treatment, designed largely for camping, that travelers could take with them,” Bartell said. “That being said, bottled water is widely available in places with questionable tap water safety, so that’s probably the simplest option for most travelers.”

Tap water quality largely depends on the region. Prior to drinking tap water in your hotel, experts recommend doing research online regarding drinking water regulations and water quality, especially when traveling abroad. If you are unsure about tap water quality, opt for using portable water filters or drinking bottled water.

World Health Organization. A global overview of national regulations and standards for drinking-water quality, 2nd ed.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Drinking water FAQs.

Environmental Protection Agency. Drinking water.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Avoid contaminated water during travel.

By Alyssa Hui-AndersonHui-Anderson is a health news writer and former TV news reporter. She was the 2020 recipient of the Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association Jack Shelley Award.