The map above shows where in the world restaurants have a legal requitement to offer free tap water and where they don’t. Of course there is nothing stopping restaurants in areas where it is not legally required doing so, just they don’t have to.
MonotoneCreeper explains:
Because of the news that an Italian court ruled that “there is no obligation to supply tap water” in Italy, I wanted to map where in the world such a right exists.
What counts as ‘customary’ is not strongly defined, but people from Ireland, Norway, and Iceland on reddit seem to report that all restaurants will provide free tap water on request, despite no legal obligation, and there may be other places where this is normal.
This information was not easy to collect as there doesn’t seem to be a single comprehensive source, so there are almost certainly countries or local areas missing from this map. I would be glad to hear where else in the world it’s normal or a legal right to get free tap water in restaurants.
User luisgdh said:
“China is definitely customary. Lived there 4 years, and I don’t remember going into a restaurant where they didn’t give me a cup of hot water.”
to which he replied:
Probably even attempting to put ‘customary’ on this map was a mistake, opening a whole can of worms about what counts as tap water and what level of normalcy counts as ‘customary’! I found contradicting information online about China so left it as red as there seems to be no laws about it.
Same situation for many other countries where you apparently might get complementary tap water in some cases, or where the tap water is unsafe so you would not be served it anyway.
h1h1guy asks:
“Out of curiosity, what does partial requirement mean? Like sit-down restaurants only or something?”
To which he replies:
In the UK, Australia, and South Africa, a restaurant only has to provide free tap water if it also serves alcohol. Because this covers most restaurants this would be a partial requirement.
How accurate do you think the map is for where you live?
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