Is tap water in Portugal safe to drink?
Ayus installs and maintains 4-stage water filters at home, hidden under the kitchen sink. Let us start with the essentials: mains water in Portugal is within the law. Water utilities carry out regular tests and publish the results, and ERSAR oversees that monitoring across the whole country.
Many people buy water because of the taste, especially the chlorine taste, or out of habit. These are understandable reasons, but they do not mean tap water is unsafe. You can see where yours comes from in water by municipality.
How much does drinking bottled water cost a year?
We did the maths with the figures from our calculator. Two adults drinking the EFSA reference amount get through about 25 L of water a week. A large bottle from a common brand costs around €0.30 per litre.
- 25 L a week is about 1300 L a year.
- At €0.30 per litre, that is about €390 a year.
- In 1.5 L bottles, that is about 867 bottles a year.
- Tap water, for the same amount, costs a small fraction of that on your water bill.
What weighs on you besides the price?
1300 litres of water weigh 1300 kilos. That is what someone at home carries every year from the supermarket to the car and from the car to the kitchen. Then there is the space to store the bottles and the trip to the recycling bin.
And there is the plastic. Even when it is recycled, every bottle had to be made, transported and collected. Drinking from the tap takes all of that out of the equation.
What did the 2018 study find about plastic in bottled water?
In 2018, Orb Media and researchers from the State University of New York at Fredonia, in the United States, analysed 259 bottles of water from 11 brands, bought in several countries. They found, on average, 325 plastic particles per litre.
The study does not say that this water is bad for you. It only shows that a bottle does not mean water free of plastic. It is one more thing to bear in mind when you choose where your drinking water comes from.
And when you are out?
Drinking from the tap works away from home too. A reusable bottle, filled in the kitchen before you leave, replaces the bottles bought on the way and fits in your bag.
To keep the water tasting good, wash the bottle often with hot water and washing-up liquid, rinse it well and leave it to dry with the cap off. If the water has sat in the heat for many hours, swap it for freshly drawn water.
How to drink tap water that tastes good?
If your tap water tastes of chlorine, there are two simple fixes: let it stand in a jug in the fridge or use a filter. We explain both in the guide on the chlorine taste in water.
The Ayus filter sits under the sink and has 4 stages: sediment, activated carbon, ultrafiltration and magnesium. It removes the chlorine taste, holds back microplastics and adds magnesium. It uses no electricity and no tank, and the water comes out of a 3-way tap fitted in the same hole as your current one. If you want to taste the difference, you can book a visit.
