3 in 4 Seoul residents drink tap water: survey
Three in four Seoul residents now drink the city’s tap water, which is sold under the brand name Arisu, and more of them are drinking it away from home, a city survey showed Thursday. In the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s annual survey, 75.5 percent of residents said they drank tap water this year. That was up from 75 percent last year and 69.6 percent in 2024, when the city started using its…
Three-quarters of Seoul's residents now drink the city's tap water, according to a new survey from the Seoul Metropolitan Government. The figure, which rose to 75.5 percent this year, marks an increase from 75 percent the previous year and 69.6 percent in 2024. The survey defines tap water consumption as drinking it at home or away from home. Of those surveyed, 53.9 percent drink tap water at home, while 21.6 percent consume it only outside their homes.
The city introduced the new metric because standards for calculating tap water drinking rates differ globally. Under the American Water Works Association's criteria, Seoul's rate was 78.2 percent, surpassing the U.S. figure of 65 percent in 2024 by 13.2 percentage points. Paris, on the other hand, counts residents who drink tap water either solo or in combination with other water sources. Using the same method, Seoul's tap water consumption rate was calculated at 82.5 percent, compared to 81 percent in Paris in 2025.
The city attributes the increase primarily to more residents opting to drink tap water outdoors.
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- 3 in 4 Seoul residents drink tap water: survey koreatimes.co.kr
