Dubai Rules: Drink Free Tap Water in Restaurants, Don’t Use Plastic Bottles

New measures to cut down single-use plastic water bottles in Dubai is taking effect in 2020: restaurants will be advised to offer free tap water, and landlords will be responsible for ensuring their tanks are well-maintained.

“Whenever you go to restaurants or hotels, you will now be seeing drinking water regulations. If you want to have a cup of water, you will see you can get it from the tap or from the bottle and you just have to select which one,” says Amal Al Bedwawi, Head of the Drinking Water Control Unit at Dubai Municipality in the United Arab Emirates. “We are treating it as a new trend to protect the environment and reduce the use of single use plastics.”

Dubai’s water is already filtered, but the tanks the water is stored in need to be washed and maintained in order to remain drinkable. Al Bedwawi adds, “We are currently building different systems to ensure water quality is continuously and routinely tested even in private villas not only government controlled establishments.” The Dubai Municipality plans to eventually evolve the advisory into law, affecting both restaurants and residential properties.