Portugal's Tap Water Meets the Safety Standard in 98.84 Percent of Cases, and Only Two Mainland Councils Fall Below 95
ERSAR's annual report puts mainland tap water at about 99 percent safe for the eleventh year running. The weak spots are small inland systems and public fountains, which are still the only water source for 8,797 people.
Tap water on the Portuguese mainland met the national safety standard in 98.84 percent of cases in 2025, the eleventh year in a row that the country's water regulator has put the figure at about 99 percent. The results come from the second volume of the RASARP (Relatório Anual dos Serviços de Águas e Resíduos em Portugal, the annual report on water and waste services), presented on Tuesday by ERSAR (Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços de Águas e Resíduos, the Water and Waste Services Regulation Authority) and reported by the Lusa news agency.
"The essential message is that there is no unsafe water," said Susana Rodrigues, who heads ERSAR's water quality department, at the presentation.
How the figure is built
ERSAR's "safe water" indicator combines two things: whether the mandatory tests were actually carried out (99.91 percent of them were) and whether the samples met the legal limits (98.93 percent did). In 2024 the same indicator stood at 98.86 percent, according to last year's edition of the report, so the change is marginal.
The water that bulk suppliers take, treat and deliver to councils scored 99.69 percent. Of 74,473 tests at that stage, 229 failed. At the tap, where councils and their operators distribute to homes, 392,667 tests were done, 99.1 percent of those planned, and 4,235 (1.07 percent) did not comply. Most failures were for pH, usually a natural feature of the water, or microbiological, which points to problems with disinfection.
Where it falls short
Of the mainland's 278 municipalities, 225 (81 percent) reached 99 percent or more, and 42 scored 100 percent, five fewer than the year before. Another 51 sat between 95 and 99 percent. The weaker results cluster in parts of the Alentejo and in inland municipalities of the Centre and North, where small systems with many separate supply zones, often run by parish councils, are harder to manage.
Only two municipalities fell below 95 percent. In Fornos de Algodres the problem was administrative: the technician's certification had lapsed. In Marco de Canaveses the low score comes from public fountains. Last year's report explains why that council stands out: in 2024 about 4,060 of its residents lived in places with no mains network and drew their water from 23 fountains fitted with disinfection. Nationally, ERSAR now counts 180 fountains that are the only source of drinking water for 8,797 people. Where tap water is available, Rodrigues said, fountains should not be used for drinking.
Vera Eiró, ERSAR's president, said the safest arrangement is for a local network to be connected to a bulk supplier, and noted that only 62 councils run both stages themselves. Asked whether this year's floods had hurt quality, she said operators had increased monitoring and "whenever there was water in the tap, it met the parameters". Drought, she added, "affects the quality of raw water, not of tap water".
Last year ERSAR carried out 60 inspections of water operators and issued reports against 32 of them, mostly for failing to publish data. The ASAE (Autoridade de Segurança Alimentar e Económica, the Food and Economic Safety Authority) inspected 128 private supply systems.
Checking your own water
ERSAR publishes results for each municipality and operator on its consumer pages, under "Qualidade da água" (water quality), where you can search by council. For how water is billed, see our explainer on ERSAR's new tariff rules.
