Can You Drink the Water in Fuerteventura?

If you are coming to Fuerteventura on holiday, then asking if you can drink the tap water in Fuerteventura is not an unreasonable question.

Tap water in Fuerteventura is safe to drink; however, it contains a high amount of chlorine, so it doesn’t taste very good. It is fine for washing and brushing your teeth, though. Bottled water is cheap, so buy it to drink.

Bottled water is very cheap here. Many supermarkets sell 8-litre plastic bottles for around 1 euro.

Can you drink tap water in Fuerteventura?

The Fuerteventura tap water is safe to drink straight from the tap and, of course, safe to drink after it has been boiled.

Many locals use Fuerteventura drinking water from the tap to make tea, coffee etc, but many expats find that it makes the drink taste odd. If you drink the water straight from the tap, you can certainly taste the chlorine.

Instead, many people buy water in the supermarkets in 8-litre plastic bottles, which can cost as little as €1 in some supermarkets, such as Mercadona, which is relatively cheap. The biggest drawback is having to carry heavy bottles back.

We have an excellent under-sink filter system with a separate drinking water tap, which works well, saves money, and means we no longer have to lug 4 to 5 heavy water bottles to the supermarket a week. We also use less plastic, which is better for the environment.

Where does Fuerteventura get its water from?

Fuerteventura has very low annual rainfall and no rivers (at least not ones that flow year-round), so water is a rare commodity. There are only a couple of reservoirs on the island, and these feed agricultural land, not the Fuerteventura water supply.

Therefore, all tap water in Fuerteventura comes from the sea and is desalinated in several desalination plants located around the island. Without desalination plants, tourism couldn’t have happened here.

Desalinating seawater consumes a lot of energy, so now all, or most, desalination plants have wind turbines that generate the electricity used in the process.

Despite Fuerteventura’s lack of natural water and little rainfall, we never have hosepipe bans here—unlike in the UK, where it never stops raining!

What did they do in the past?

If you travel around, you may notice some of the hillside terraces leading to a central gully. These were built to channel rainfall into the gully, which then ran down to a village at the bottom of the hill and fed underground water tanks under many of the houses.

Many of the houses had tanks under them, with an opening on the high side and another on the low side, to let the water continue flowing down the hill to the next house once the tank was full. The rumour is that if you had fallen out with your neighbour down the hill, you peed in the water as it left your house. That is probably just an urban myth, though.

If you walk in the countryside (the campo), you may come across some old Fuerteventura water storage tanks, just huge holes rendered with cement to make them watertight. These are rarely used anymore.

In more recent times, water was brought to the island in navy tankers to supplement the rainfall, which must have been pretty costly.

Even today, not every home is linked to the water mains, particularly in some very rural areas. These homes have their water delivered in tankers and have their tanks topped up.

Are there any springs?

There is little underground water here, so there are no Fuerteventura water sources. Most rainfall runs along barrancas (dry valleys) and ends up in the sea without soaking in.

There is a small spring high up on a hill overlooking La Oliva, which is the source of the Tababaire (not that there is a Tababaire river or anything). Because water was available, this was the site of a very old tiny settlement.

Summary

One common concern for travelers visiting Fuerteventura is whether it is safe to drink tap water on the island.

It is understandable to ask, “Can I drink tap water in Fuerteventura?” The answer is yes; you can drink water from the tap in Fuerteventura. However, it is essential to note that the quality of tap water may vary, and some people may prefer to use bottled water for drinking purposes.