Tap water in Sri Lanka

Not safe to drink

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

Numbeo

63.69/100 on the water drinkability and accessibility index, which Numbeo reads as “High”. This one is crowdsourced from residents rather than measured.

Lonely Planet

Tap water is not safe to drink. Use bottled or filtered water; for the former, look for the small round ‘SLSI’ logo, which shows the water has been tested by the government’s Sri Lanka Standards Institution (the majority of local brands).

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 358$ a year in Sri Lanka, and keep several hundred plastic bottles out of circulation.

Work out your own saving

Places in Sri Lanka

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

Elsewhere in Asia