Drinking water in Malta

The water in Malta is perfectly fit to drink.

Terry

Provided you are talking about mains tap water and not well water, as this would need to be tested by a laboratory before drinking.

Terry

Hi Pashala,

you should not really drink the tap water , even after boiling.

The water that comes direct from the mains and as such from the desalination plant is fit for drinking. The problem are the mains and the fact that the water goes into the tank on your roof!

If the water piping is correct then you should have the cold water in the kitchen coming direct from the main water pipe. The hot water comes from the boiler so it also depends where the boiler gets it's water from as you will probably always be mixing the two sources.

Bottled water is quite cheap and is probably the better option , especially taste-wise, although the tap water will not poison you. It is more about taste and colour!

Cheers
Ricky

Despite the relatively good quality of Maltese tap water, its poor taste could be the main reason why many people opt for bottled mineral water. A recent survey published on newspaper Illum showed that 63% of respondents rely on bottled water as the main supply for their drinking water.
Ironically, the source of most bottled water produced in Malta is derived from treated tap water.

Terry

or install reverse osmosis system at home - about € 300 incl fitting

are the RO systems easy to fit yourself - are the filters in the RO systems easy to change and how much are they

mine was fitted professionally

filters - about 10-20 euros every 18 months or so, easy to change, done so twice

If the tank on the roof is new / clean then fitting a R/O system is doing what the water company have already done! So would seem expensive and a bit OTT. If you think the water is not fit to drink, complain and get the water company to test it.
Terry

a home RO machine turns tap water into the same as the locally produced bottled water (in terms of taste)

tearnet wrote:

If the tank on the roof is new / clean then fitting a R/O system is doing what the water company have already done!

my RO machine takes the feed directly from the mains, not via the tank

Thanks to everyone for your helpful comments, they are much appreciated.


Pashala

I would definitively not drink water from the tap.
- Smells chemicals. This is normal but that's never good.
- I don't know if it's true but a friend of me told me that it was too much mineralized, and that it could be bad for kidneys in the long run.
- Maybe is it only for a few places with tanks, but after more than one week away, when I first open the tap again when I come back, water turns completely brown for a few seconds. Yuck...

I heard the same thing from a Maltese friend actually about it being bad for  kidneys if you drink it all the time. That's what made me wonder.

I have been told that the apartment we are staying in on Gozo only has one mains tap and that is in an ensuite!
We currently live in Norfolk UK and the water here is so hard that we filter or buy all our drinking water.
We have always bought all our drinking water on Malta, it's cheap enough.

redmik wrote:

I have been told that the apartment we are staying in on Gozo only has one mains tap and that is in an ensuite!

I thought by law there has to be a mains tap in the kitchen

georgeingozo wrote:

redmik wrote:

I have been told that the apartment we are staying in on Gozo only has one mains tap and that is in an ensuite!

I thought by law there has to be a mains tap in the kitchen

Just double checked the e-mail and it states:

the water in Gozo is very good, much better than Malta, definitely can be used for cooking and even drinking if you like the taste of it. We have a water tank on the roof.. it's better not to use water for drinking from the tank, just in case it's not so clean.  There is one faucet which is direct, which is in the ensuite under the window.  This is the only direct mains tap.

Still, I'll find out next week

I have no idea what my tank or tap situation is so I think I'll just stick to bottled water. Better safe than sorry, I Don't want to take any chances, especially when the water is so cheap here.

georgeingozo wrote:

redmik wrote:

I have been told that the apartment we are staying in on Gozo only has one mains tap and that is in an ensuite!

I thought by law there has to be a mains tap in the kitchen

GnG you are correct - by law this has to be the way the installation of mains water to a property....otherwise illegal.

NB i dont drink the water from the tap - dont like the taste of it - mineral content to high - i have to filter ours.

Well, whatever the law is, we're still going to buy our drinking water.

I'm not saying it's related but I was wondering it could be : does people here has some stomach burns, heartburns, or feels painful acidity reflux ?

I sometimes have some, more violent as I ever had since I arrived in Malta a few months ago, and one of my colleague told me the same for him. So that's a bit strange.

I'm not drinking water as I said before, but I'm still using it for cooking of course.

I think that any change in water and/or food can cause these problems, especially for the first while until the body becomes used to the differences in the content of what we ingest. It also depends upon how much and what one eats or drinks.
I have never experienced these issues on my previous stays to any significant degree.

Frediy wrote:

I'm not saying it's related but I was wondering it could be : does people here has some stomach burns, heartburns, or feels painful acidity reflux ?

I sometimes have some, more violent as I ever had since I arrived in Malta a few months ago, and one of my colleague told me the same for him. So that's a bit strange.

I'm not drinking water as I said before, but I'm still using it for cooking of course.

i suffer from acid reflux but it comes and goes (its been many many months since my last attack) and i find its more to do with diet than the water...although it has to be said Farsons beers (cisk Hoppy Blue Label et all)  cause me lots of problems if i drink them - which i now dont

Could I suggest taking pro biototics?
One of the causes of reflux is not having enough digestive enzymes in the stomach and that could be linked to changes in diet, water etc.

Also see here:  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/146619.php

What would your advice be for using tap water for cooking, ie pasta, rice etc. Yes or no? I have no idea about the condition on my water tank.

On the subject of bottled water- just a note for some people that may not be aware- there can be huge differences in the mineral content between each different brand.

"What would your advice be for using tap water for cooking, ie pasta, rice etc. Yes or no? I have no idea about the condition on my water tank."

Yes. The water in the kitchen must by law not come via the water tank

georgeingozo wrote:

Yes. The water in the kitchen must by law not come via the water tank

Can you tell me more about that ?

I'm pretty sure that my water comes from the tank on my roof (but I think it's the same for a lot of flats/buildings here).

My flat is a top floor, and they even had to install a pump outside because there was not enough pressure for the water coming from the roof then.

It's the sink tap in the kitchen that has to be direct mains, others like bathroom can be from the tank

georgeingozo wrote:

It's the sink tap in the kitchen that has to be direct mains, others like bathroom can be from the tank

Yes, but I'm really not sure that it works like that for many buildings/flats here...

Water from both my taps comes from the same source, as the pump gives me enough pressure for both.

I never heard about that law but it sounds interesting, if you can find us something about it ?

basically if you turn on the cold water and the water pressure increases after a few seconds (after pressure pump starts), the water comes from the roof tank.
the water from the main grid always has the same pressure.

I drunk tap water in the beginning but got pain in my stomach. Better not to do so!

b-biche.com

There is no problem drinking the water, but you have to get used to it by adding tap water step by step to bottled water.
But if you have a sensible stomach it's for sure better to stay with bottled water.

Strangely I didn't have any problem when I got to Gozo and made tea and coffee. Lynn did though and found that tap water caused her a reflux issue so we are now using bottled for drinking.
Could be because the water where we are in UK is very hard and we have to filter it there.

Interesting is, that my dog like tap water or also imported still mineral water but does NOT drink the cheap bottled table water (e.g. Kristal)

matm911 wrote:

Interesting is, that my dog like tap water or also imported still mineral water but does NOT drink the cheap bottled table water (e.g. Kristal)

A posh pooch then.

We have also problems with the water tank. Since the landlord installed a pump we have brown water coming up from the taps. He told us that he checked the tank and the water is ok. We guess is coming from the deposits within the tank. If we install a filter, it should be enough? or is better asking him for cleaning up the whole tank.

Besides we have no water from the main anywhere, either the cold water in the kitchen. Is 100% sure that it is illegal?
Could the sediments come from the heater rather the tank?

Thanks!!

Tap Water in Malta is fit for drinking. They add chlorine to it so the taste is not very good. When you boil tap water you will be removing part of the hardness content from the water.

Please do not drink water which is not from the main.

I'm confused by the answers in this thread. You say the tap water is fit to drink, but when you do some research Malta has the highest nitrate concentration in the water in all of EU. At some places 8 times higher than the EU limit.