If I boil my tap water will it be safe to drink?

Question

does it get all the chlorine & any parasites out?

Answer 1

Your tap water is already safe to drink. The chlorine is there to kill any parasites, and is perfectly safe to consume in small quantities such as what is present in tap water.

Answer 2

You need to tell us where you live, and what impurities you are worried about.  If it is a public water supply in the US or the UK, it is safe anyway, but you may want to filter it for flavour.

Thorough boiling will get rid of chlorine and kill parasites, but it will not remove mineral impurities such as lead and arsenic, which can be a real problem in countries like Bangladesh.

Answer 3

If you're on public water in the US, it's safe to drink without boiling.  In fact, numerous tests have shown it to be just as pure, and in some cases more pure, than bottled water.  This is because tap water is more strictly regulated than bottled water (tap water is EPA regulated while bottled is USDA).  Most bottled water plants test their water for microorganisms once every few days to once a week.  Public tap water is tested several times a day.

In addition, if you're drinking the common big name bottled water, like Aquafina or Dasani, it's just tap water that they filtered and put in a bottle at the factory.  The filtering removes the 'tap water taste' but it doesn't make it any safer.

It still amazes me that people think they're not supposed to drink tap water.  It's probably one of the most amazing cases of marketing I know of, that corporations have been able to convince Americans they need to pay $1 or more for a bottle of something they get out of their kitchen sink for free.  Tells you how much of a consumer society we've become, doesn't it?

If you don't like the taste, get a filter.  Bottled water is bad for the environment (waste plastic) and economy (spent fuel resources in transporting it contributes to fuel crisis).

Answer 4

It depends on where you live.  If you live in the US then the answer is almost certainly yes, it will be safe, but completely unnecessary.

Boiling water does not change its chemical properties, so if you have clean, safe tap water like we do in the United States and boil it and then let it cool, you are probably not doing anything.  The water will boil and escape as steam and either collect on the lid or escape into the environment. The salts like chloride, calcium and magnesium that are most likely present will remain in solution for the most part.   If you boil all the water out and collect it in a sterile environment that is called distillation.  You will leave the salts and anything else behind.  As more and more water escapes the salt concentration will increase and they will begin to precipitate [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precipitati...  

The heat should kill any parasites or bacteria but you cannot be certain of what pollutants or other chemicals are present unless you can get good information about your specific location.  Talk to a travel medicine doctor or health department, or even consult guide books and environmental sources to find out what specific precautions to take.

Completely pure water is actually not good for you to drink.  I mean 100% H2O.  Drinking some is probably fine, but relying on it is extremely dangerous.  Consuming large amounts of water relative to salts (a.k.a. ions or electrolytes) will dilute your blood and can actually lead to death.  This would be an extreme situation.

Answer 5

Boiling means :

A roiling boil(full boil) for one minute.   Its not just the temp but also the duration of the boil.  (In the Navy I was taught to boil water four minutes).