Tourists coming to Dubai often have this question in their minds. People in the US and UK drink water directly from their taps. So what about Dubai? Generally speaking, yes, you can drink tap water in Dubai. But there is a catch to this.
Water supply in Dubai
Dubai is a desert city. Natural water sources in Dubai are rare to find. The city relies primarily on desalinated seawater for the water supply. There are two central desalination plants in Dubai — one in Jebel Ali and the other in Al Kaffah. These two plants account for 80 percent of the city’s water needs.
Dubai has turned into a global business hub in the past century. People from countries around the world come here to work. Many ex-pats spend most of their lives here than in their native lands. In the last century, the population of Dubai exploded and grew manifold. A small city where about 20,000 people lived became a metropolis within a few decades—an unprecedented growth in human history.
Today, there are about 3 million people in Dubai. Dubai’s only resort was the sea, arid land with scarce water resources. As all or most of Dubai’s developments are close to the sea, things got easier. Still, it was a Herculean undertaking. Dubai hasn’t experienced any water shortages in the past decades shows its planning efficiency.
The Quality of the Tap Water in Dubai
The standard of life in Dubai is on par with that of developed countries. There are high-quality health care, education, and some of the best roads in the world. But what about the tap water?
Dubai Electricity and water authority (DEWA) manages and oversees water, cooking gas, and electricity in Dubai. They go to great lengths to ensure that the water supply is clean and meets the World Health Organization’s recommendations for potable water.
The first part of supplying clean drinking water is desalinating and purifying salt water. The desalination is done by a process called reverse osmosis. After extracting the water, the brine is returned to the sea. After that, the water is treated to remove any harmful bacteria through chlorination.
In some countries, fluoride is added to tap water to prevent tooth decay. But not in Dubai. This, however, does not affect the safety of the water. Some have even claimed that overconsumption of fluorine is terrible for health.
After water purification, it has to be sent to the consumers through pipes. Supply pipes are a potential source of contamination. It can be either through a broken pipe or corrosion. But the authorities take strict measures to clean the pipes regularly. They use fully biodegradable biocide disinfectants, which leave no harmful residue.
Can you Drink Tap Water in Dubai?
The tap water you receive from the supply company is safe to drink. Furthermore, Dubai’s water supply infrastructure has a large surplus reserve to compensate even if everyone in Dubai starts to use tap water for drinking and cooking. But what about the tanks and pipes in your building? Are they safe?
A few factors affect the quality of the water from the consumer side. One is the quality of the pipe used. If they are substandard, they can cause corrosion and pollute the water. The lines also require periodic cleaning.
Another part of the puzzle is the storage tank. Residues from the water will settle at the bottom of the tank and accumulate over time. This can result in molds and fungus growth, rendering drinking water unsafe. A few, though, compensate for this by boiling the tap water.
Can you Cook with Tap Water in Dubai?
All the cafes and restaurants in Dubai use tap water for cooking. Besides the fact that the water is perfectly safe, bottled water will skyrocket food costs. Bottled water is 50 times more expensive than tap water.
Some people go to extremes by using bottled water for cooking. This practice worsens plastic bottles’ impact on the environment and their pockets. Cooking involves heating the water to a level that will remove the impurities. When you use tap water for cooking, you reduce the number of plastic bottles thrown away.
If you are skeptical, simply installing a water filter will save a lot of money for you in the long run.
Should you Buy Bottled Water?
It is estimated that, on average, a Dubai resident consumes about 275 liters of bottled water a year. That is among the highest in the world. There are a few reasons why people prefer bottled water to drink. One is the taste. Even though 90 percent of bottled water companies use tap water, they add extra minerals to taste better.
The problem with RO (reverse osmosis) is that it removes all the minerals in the water. This, in turn, changes its taste of it. You can remineralize the water by using a water filter in your home.
The other reason is convenience and fear. Bottled water is readily available everywhere, and people don’t bother to drink from the tap. But a lot of them are just afraid to drink from the taps. There are many myths about the health effects of tap water. Most of which are untrue.
There are concerns about the safety of bottled water too. Even though bottled water undergoes strict regulations in Dubai, there are chances of pollution after the water has left the company facility. The plastic bottles containing water are often left in scorching heat for hours before they arrive at your doorsteps or supermarket shelves. Because temperatures in Dubai can get relatively high in summer, there is a high chance of plastic contamination of the water. Repeated use of the bottles can cause chemicals like BPA to leach into the water.
So what should you do?
Ask your landlord how often he inspects and cleans the water system. The storage tanks and plumbing in private buildings are not the responsibility of the government authorities. Therefore it is the building owner who should be carrying out regular maintenance.
If you are unsure about your facility’s plumbing and water storage, you can test the quality of the water. You can use a home test kit or take it to a laboratory. Results using home test kits may not be very reliable, but they are better than nothing. And if you find it safe, kudos! Now you can drink tap water without any fear. The other option is to install a filtration system.
Salination of the sea
There is contention about acquiring huge volumes of fresh water from the sea. Because the brine returns to the sea, it can cause an increase in the salt content in the Arabian Gulf. Remember that the Gulf’s only connection to the Arabian sea is the Strait of Hormuz, which is only 96 kilometers wide at its narrowest part. Therefore the exchange of water is a bit slow. It is estimated that it will take nine years to replace the Arabian Gulf’s water completely.
As the output of desalination plants increases, it might also increase the water’s salinity to the extent that it harms marine life.
Is tap water bad for your skin and hair?
Another main complaint about tap water in Dubai is that it causes hair loss and greying. People say they experienced a significant increase in hair fall within the first few months of living in Dubai.
There is some truth to the claim that tap water causes hair fall. The chlorine content in the water will cause the skin and scalp to dry up a little bit. But the major contributing factor to dry skin is something else. It might be because those living in Dubai spend more than 90 percent of their time indoors in air-conditioned rooms. Air conditioners remove humidity from the room, causing dryness for some people. Another factor can be their stressful lifestyle itself. But these effects are reversible. The most they can do is make your hair a little more frizzy.
But there is no evidence that tap water causes greying of the hair. Quite the contrary, studies show no trace of such chemicals in the water. Most likely, they have a genetic predisposition for greying. Or it could be a vitamin deficiency or oxidative stress.
Dubai has a massive market for anti-hair fall shower filters despite all these. Not to say that shower filters are bad. Shower filters do remove the hardness of the water to some extent.