Tap water in Tanzania

Not safe to drink

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

Numbeo

38.57/100 on the water drinkability and accessibility index, which Numbeo reads as “Low”. This one is crowdsourced from residents rather than measured.

Lonely Planet

Unless your intestines are well accustomed to Tanzania, don’t drink tap water that hasn’t been boiled, filtered or chemically disinfected (eg with iodine tablets) and be wary of ice and...

Unless your intestines are well accustomed to Tanzania, don’t drink tap water that hasn’t been boiled, filtered or chemically disinfected (eg with iodine tablets) and be wary of ice and fruit juices diluted with unpurified water. Avoid drinking from streams, rivers and lakes unless you’ve purified the water first. The same goes for drinking from pumps 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 635$ a year in Tanzania, and keep several hundred plastic bottles out of circulation.

Work out your own saving

Places in Tanzania

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

Elsewhere in Africa