Yesterday the Ministry of Commerce and Industry issued a decision where all restaurants and cafes in Kuwait will now be obliged to have tap water as an offering. Now that this was announced I realized how odd it was that this wasn’t a thing considering the tap water in Kuwait is actually really clean and safe to drink straight out of the tap.
Years ago I was invited to the Water Resources Development Center located in Shuwaikh where they explained to me how the water sent to homes is clean and safe to drink. The Water Resources Development Center also has two laboratories, a chemistry lab and a bacteriology lab and every single day water samples are collected from various institutions around Kuwait (schools, hospitals, mosques etc..) and delivered to their laboratories for testing. If the water is contaminated, the source of that water is closed down right away and only reopened once the problem has been fixed.
The government is responsible in providing you clean and safe water up until the building meter, after that point it becomes the building owners responsibility. If the water you’re getting at home isn’t clean, thats most likely because of a problem with your building pipes, boilers, or storage tanks. In that case, you’re recommended to use a filter which is what most restaurants will also be using.
But the answer is yes, Kuwait’s tap water is safe to drink but only if your building or home is maintained correctly, if not, you’ll have to use a filter.
18 replies on “Is Kuwait’s tap water safe to drink?”
I only drink tap water at home.
Restaurants used to serve free water.
This is great news.
Mark, can you allow my IP to post classifieds
Thanks
Like you said, it’s mainly piping. Issue with Kuwait as opposed to countries that use wood and drywall is that the pipes are hard to change so the older buildings have very old pipes. In restaurants that really shouldn’t be a problem.
I’ve seen the opposite problem in Dubai, but with hotels. I used a filter for the shower and the capture-filter in my shower head would become very dirty after 1 or 2 uses.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a place that serves meat off sheep and cows that are still alive.
Really needed that laugh.
Can you recommend a residential building that maintains its pipes properly in Kuwait? Let alone maintain all other aspects of the building.
Don’t look at me, my building is from the 80s and the building pipes are corroded and falling apart so they’re constantly replacing them with PVC pipes as they start to leak.
How long have you lived in your building?
32 years
Yes, i believe restaurants will serve clean water.
You keep paying for your drinking water.
Kuwait’s tap water is one of the best, We tested random tap water samples few years ago.
A step in the right direction! Maybe next they can require drinking fountains and bottle fillers be installed at malls and the airport and other large gathering places.
I think if all the restaurants decides to install Coolpex water filters. It’ll be a great! as cost of water bottles will be reduced! But if the restaurant wants you to purchase their mountain water bottle which is expensive then thats a different debat!
Coolplex & their RO water, no thank you. RO water is fine as long as minerals are added post filteration. In Coolplex, there is no mineral addition & it is not safe to drink.
What about Vepfsa? I’ve got their RO system and I think the sales rep mentioned that they put minerals back in but it was many years ago. Any chance you are informed about Vepfsa?
I’ve been here over 20 years amd have been drinking majority tap water with a basic filter the entire time. My home state in the US has had a law since at least the 80s that any establishment that serves food or drink is obligated to offer free water. When you sit down at any [sit-down style] restaurant, the server brings everyone glasses of water with the menus. Fast food places have special cups for water. I didn’t realize how rare that was until I started to travel more around the US and abroad.
My husband has asked for just tap water at restaurants here in Kuwait previously, and they looked at him like he had 2 heads! He’s like, you are using the water to cook and clean – it should be ok to drink!
The water purifying companies are actually fooling the people by making fear out of tap water. They are misleading people by telling the lower the ppm the better. But actually it’s not. Just get a TDS meter and if your tap water reading is below 300 ppm its totally drinkable and you don’t need water purifier. If it is above 300 ppm then only you can consider having a water purifier. I have tested my home tap water it’s 107 ppm which totally safe for drinking. I have water purifier in my home as well and it’s reading is nearly 17 ppm which is shockingly devoid of all the minerals and it won’t be water instead it’s just a thirst quenching liquid.