Can I Drink Tap Water in Vienna?

Vienna's drinking water comes mainly from alpine spring pipelines and is a flagship public utility service. Vienna's official pages publish water quality information including pH and nitrate values, water hardness by district, and annual sampling results. The city states that more than 95% of residents receive spring water from the Hochschwab and Schneeberg/Rax regions, making Vienna tap water safe and excellent for direct drinking.

Vienna is widely regarded as one of Europe's benchmark tap-water cities, and the municipal government supports this reputation with detailed public information. Official Vienna pages explain that the city's drinking water is supplied primarily from protected alpine spring sources via long-distance spring water pipelines, with only a small share from groundwater in some districts and periods. The city also publishes water hardness information and laboratory sampling results, allowing residents to check local characteristics rather than relying on vague claims. Vienna's published water quality information includes strong indicators such as pH around 8.2 and nitrate values well below EU limits (the city page references less than 10 mg/L versus the 50 mg/L limit). The taste is one of the main reasons many travelers and residents prefer tap water over bottled water. In practical terms, Vienna tap water is safe for drinking, brushing teeth, restaurant service, and ice, with only rare building-specific plumbing issues affecting an individual property.

Vienna is a very low-risk city for tap water and one of the easiest places in Europe to avoid bottled water. You can generally drink straight from the tap in hotels, apartments, and restaurants, use tap water for brushing teeth, and accept ice without concern. If a specific building has stale-tasting water after long stagnation, run the tap briefly, but city-wide water quality is excellent.