Can I Drink Tap Water in Shanghai?

Shanghai is a major municipality with regulated water governance and large-scale public water infrastructure, but traveler guidance commonly remains cautious about direct tap-water drinking. City and state-linked reporting has highlighted management of source-water and supply challenges (including salinity intrusion events) while maintaining normal production and distribution. In practice, many visitors and residents still prefer boiled, filtered, or bottled water for drinking, especially in older buildings.

Shanghai is not an unregulated water environment; it is a mega-city with municipal governance rules for urban water and a large-scale public water system. Official Shanghai government materials outline local water management and conservation frameworks, and state-linked reporting has described how city water authorities respond to events such as saltwater intrusion affecting raw-water conditions while maintaining normal supply operations. These factors support the view that Shanghai's water system is managed and monitored at a large scale. However, for travelers the practical recommendation is still caution. In Shanghai, direct tap-water drinking confidence can be reduced by taste (chlorine/mineral notes), district-level variability, and building plumbing or storage conditions. Many residents boil water or use filters as a routine practice. For short-term visitors, bottled or filtered water is the simplest and most reliable choice for drinking, while tap water is generally used for bathing and often brushing teeth. This is a precautionary travel recommendation, not a claim that the entire municipal supply is uniformly unsafe at the plant level.

Shanghai is manageable for safe hydration if you follow common local and traveler practice: use bottled or filtered water for direct drinking, and use tap water for bathing and most hygiene needs. In international hotels, many travelers also use electric kettles to boil water. Ice is safest in reputable venues. If you are staying for weeks or months, a countertop or under-sink filter is worth considering.