Tap water in Malawi

Not safe to drink

This reflects the CDC's travel health guidance for Malawi; 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 Malawi.

Numbeo

37.5/100 on the water drinkability and accessibility index, which Numbeo reads as “Low”. This one is crowdsourced from residents rather than measured.

Lonely Planet

Don’t drink tap water unless it has been boiled, filtered or chemically disinfected (such as with iodine tablets). Don’t drink from streams, rivers and lakes. It’s also best to avoid drinking from pumps, boreholes and wells; some bring pure water to the surface, but the presence of animals can contaminate supplies. Bottled water is widely available, except in very remote areas, where you should carry a filter or purification tablets.

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.

What bottled water costs you here

Drinking tap water instead of bottled would save one adult about 752$ a year in Malawi, and keep several hundred plastic bottles out of circulation.

Work out your own saving

Places in Malawi

Water quality is local. These places have their own readings.

Elsewhere in Africa