Straight from the Source

You can drink the water!

Back in mid-May, our 7 Days e-mail newsletter reported on the possibility of Beijing’s tap water being potable and as of this morning, according to the Beijing Waterworks Group, it is! We’re not going to be the first to try, but it seems that the water has passed the 106 tests recently set by the national regulators and is officially fit to drink. Back in May, we linked to this post over at Imagethief in which an official acknowledges that although the water is clean and pure at the source, by the time it reaches the kitchens of most Beijing residents, it's been polluted by old and dirty pipes to an un-potable point. From our perusal of the Chinese-language press, there doesn’t appear to be any mention of this important qualifier at this morning’s announcement.

Links and Sources:
Reuters: Beijing tells residents water safe straight from tap
Qianlong: 提前实施106项新标准 今年出厂自来水都能直接喝 (Chinese)
Imagethief: Don't Drink the Yellow Water
that’s Beijing: Health Feature: It Can’t Happen Here – Can It? (Image)