Water

Is tap water safe to drink?

Short answer

Yes: in Flanders 99.56 % of tap analyses met the standards in 2024. Problems mostly come from the home installation, such as old lead pipes.

Explanation

Water companies monitor the water up to the meter. After that, the owner is responsible for the pipes. The European Drinking Water Directive sets the quality requirements. In 2024 lead was the parameter that most often exceeded the standard.

Rules of thumb

• Flanders 2024: 99.56 % of tap analyses met the standards. [SW-S38]
• Let water that has stood for a long time run briefly before drinking it. [SW-S38]
• Lead: 2.18 % of tap measurements in 2024 were above 10 µg/l. [SW-S38]

Pitfalls

• A water filter or jug that is not replaced in time can itself become a source of bacteria. (practical tip, not a source value)

By region

VLFlanders

VMM figures 2024. [SW-S38]

NLNetherlands WAWallonia BRBrussels

Quality information from your water company. [SW-S36]

Search terms

These search terms are in Dutch; only terms that also find a topic in English are links.

kraanwater drinkwater waterkwaliteit flessenwater

Read also

• Do I have lead pipes and what can I do?
• How hard is my water?

Sources

1. SW-S36 Richtlijn (EU) 2020/2184 betreffende de kwaliteit van voor menselijke consumptie bestemd water — Europees Parlement en Raad (EUR-Lex) (Reference date 2026-09-27)
2. SW-S38 Drinkwaterkwaliteit (indicator) — Vlaamse Milieumaatschappij (VMM) (Reference date 2026-09-27)

Reference date: 2026-09-27 · Translated with AI from the Dutch original.