Tap water in Eritrea

Not safe to drink

This reflects the CDC's travel health guidance for Eritrea; no WHO coverage figure is published for this country. National figures describe a country, not the tap in front of you.

What the sources say

US CDC Travelers' Health

Advises travellers that tap water is generally not safe to drink in Eritrea.

Numbeo

75.0/100 on the water drinkability and accessibility index, which Numbeo reads as “High”. This one is crowdsourced from residents rather than measured.

Lonely Planet

Though Unicef efforts in partnership with the national government in recent years have helped provide access to clean drinking water for a little over half of the country's population, it is recommended that travellers not drink tap water in the country and check that bottled water has not been tampered with.

This is a national picture, and it varies. Some cities treat their water to a standard the country as a whole does not reach. Where the water is not safe, boiling, filtering or sealed bottles are the usual options, and ice and raw salad washed in tap water carry the same risk as the water itself.

Elsewhere in Africa