Are Restaurants Required to Provide Water?

How often have you bookended your order in a restaurant with the phrase “...and some tap water for the table, please”? For many customers, free water is the cornerstone of every good meal out. Whether you need something to sip during dry January or you’ve made a bad bet with a good curry, that glass of water can be a lifesaver. 

The ubiquity of free water raises an interesting question. Are restaurants required to provide free water? In this blog, we’ll be exploring the rules around water in the different states and countries Epos Now operates in and whether or not you’re entitled to quench your thirst for free. 

When can restaurants charge for water? A quick breakdown

We're giving you an international and state-by-state breakdown on water laws later in the article. But first, let's cover some of the basics.

When is water free and when is it paid?

• Restaurants cannot charge for tap water. This is true pretty much everywhere. Restaurants aren't allowed to refuse to provide water; they can charge for use of a glass or the service, but not the water itself.
• Restaurants can charge for bottled water. Bottled water has different qualities than tap, and the bottle itself has value. Therefore, restaurants are perfectly entitled to offer bottled water instead of tap, and to take a fee for providing it.
• Restaurants can charge for filtered and carbonated water. Not all water a restaurant serves in a glass will come from a tap. Many restaurants have water filter systems and soda water (carbonated water). This is very different to tap water and can be priced.

Rules concerning water 

For many in the hospitality industry, providing water for customers may seem like a part and parcel way of how things are done. If we look a little deeper, we find that the issue is by no means settled. As one would expect, different countries have different rules concerning whether or not a business is legally obliged to serve free water. 

UK

In England and Wales, the rules concerning free water are dictated by whether or not the business in question is a licenced premise*. The general rule is that if a business is licenced to sell alcohol, they are obligated to provide “free portable water” to anyone that asks. In Scotland, there is a similar law but the wording is slightly different. Scottish businesses are required to provide “tap water fit for drinking”. There are currently no such laws on the books in Northern Ireland. 

This means that anyone, paying customer or not, can walk in and ask for water. This could be a glass of tap water or a refillable bottle. A 2017 poll from the environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy found that only 25% of the population knew their rights around free water [1]. 

Ireland

While Ireland is stereotypically considered to be one of the friendliest countries in the world, there is no legal requirement around free water, although, as in England and Wales, if the restaurant sells alcohol they must offer tap water, too. This means that businesses have no obligation to provide customers free tap water and it must be paid for. Many premises may offer free tap water as a gesture of goodwill.

The United States

As it currently stands, there are no federal laws concerning free water for American businesses. This doesn’t mean that free water isn’t available as many businesses provide it as part of their service, and there are many state-specific laws that you can read about below! 

Canada 

Canada is part of the UK Commonwealth and so a lot of its laws takes their cues from the UK. This means that any business that serves alcohol must also provide free water for their customers. If a customer asks for a large cup, the restaurant does have a right to charge a fee. 

Australia 

While there are different regulations across Australia concerning free water, the Liquor Regulation 2002 laws require licenced premises to provide “cold drinking water” upon request. In addition to this, hotels, nightclubs, and casinos must serve free water during any hours they sell alcohol. 

In Western Australia, the rules are particularly defined. Businesses must provide “fresh water from a jug at the bar, from dispensers located near the bar, or by some other form of readily-accessible point.” In New South Wales, the regulations are focused on alcohol as venues are asked to provide water to “stop people from becoming intoxicated.” [2]

New Zealand 

In New Zealand, the laws surrounding free water are cut and dry. Hospitality businesses are required by law to provide their free drinking water to customers when requested. For restaurant customers and fellowships making their way to Mordor, this is particularly welcome.

Quench your thirst for a powerful POS system

Even if your country doesn’t require you to offer free water, giving your customers the option will definitely improve your customer experience. Another thing you can do to take your customer service to new heights is to use a top-of-the-line POS system.

The Epos Now Complete Solution is a one-stop shop for all of your business needs. To hear how you can automate admin, integrate your favorite apps, and evaluate your employees, get in touch with us below.

Why Some Restaurants Charge for Water

When you're in a restaurant and you ask for water, you're often not quite sure how they'll respond. So what do restauranteurs consider, beyond the law, when deciding on their water policy?

1. The Rise of Self-Serve and Premium Water Stations

A growing trend in restaurants is the self-serve water dispensers, which reduces labor costs and simplifies water policy. In its simplest form, a customer asks for water and the waiter points to a big dispenser in the corner.

But some dispensers also let venues charge for carbonated and filtered options, hot and cold, not only making water-access easy and labor-free, but also profitable (and environmentally friendly!). These devices turn what might in some venues be a cheap, plastic cup on the table into an impressive service which the business recoups any investment.

2. Upselling Premium Water (Sparkling, Filtered, Branded)

Charging for branded or sparkling water is a well-established business strategy. Given that the cost of carbonation or filtration is so low, the mark-up can be extremely high. When a business then chooses to charge for water, it can drive up profit massively.

Restaurants may sell branded, filtered (double and triple filtered), sparkling and fizzy, even while offering tap water for free. For instance, when a table asks for water, the staff member responds with a water menu, encouraging customers to choose a paid option.

If a customer is unhappy with the restaurant charging for water, the business can then position itself as providing the service of filtration or carbonation, which in fine-dining restaurants is a refined part of the dining experience; water, in this context, is part of the luxury, and not the human necessity many of us assume it to be.

3. Operating on Finer Margins

The Covid pandemic hit the hospitality industry particularly hard. Since then, many restaurants have operated on tighter margins as they try to recover. This makes the excellent profit margins on the wet menu particularly important. Consequently, when a table asks for a jug of water, which costs money where usually they'd hope to make the most, it can be particularly disappointing.

Is it any wonder, then, many restaurants are looking for ways to turn this into a profitable area? When not inhibited by state and national laws, selling bottled water or charging for filtration (and refusing water service, especially to none customers) is an understandable policy.

A water case study: Starbucks and the recent shift in their water policy

Until earlier this year, Starbucks policy was to provide free tap water upon request (alongside their free restroom use and free WiFi policies held since 2018). But these services are no longer free, following a change to their “Coffeehouse Code of Conduct” announced in January 2025, Starbucks now restricts free water and restroom access only to paying customers only^[2].

Starbucks staff are now told to withhold water and restroom access until customers make a purchase. The company has also said that in licensed stores (franchises, rather than Starbucks-owned venues), where margins are tighter, they may charge for water, too^[3]. This makes Starbucks a prominent, classic example of the changing direction when it comes to hospitality water policy.

Do restaurants have to give free water? It depends where you are

In the United States, there is no overarching federal law that mandates all restaurants must provide free tap water — the obligations are mostly determined at state or local levels. So let's run through a few examples:

California (CA)
Because of ongoing water-conservation efforts, California imposes rules under its State Water Resources Control Board that mean restaurants, bars, and similar establishments cannot automatically serve water unless a customer specifically asks for it. Violations can result in fines (up to $500/day in some cases) [4]. However, if the customer does ask, they are required to provide tap water free of charge. Not a customer? The restaurant is under no obligation to provide water.

New York (NY)

Unlike California, NYC restaurants are required to serve free tap water upon request to anyone, customer or no. Restaurants may even be required to post signs informing visitors of this right.

New York once shared the Californian law that restaurants cannot serve water without a request, specifically in cities over one million, but this law was repealed in 2014.

Florida (FL)
There is no state-wide law in Florida surrounding free water in restaurants for customers or non-customers. This means that while some restaurants may provide it as a policy, they are doing so by choice.

Texas (TX)
Similarly, in Texas there is no law requiring restaurants to give out free tap water. Cities like Austin, as in many other places across the US, also have water conservation laws that prohibit restaurants serving water unless they request it.

Other major states

• Illinois (IL): Restaurants with capacity greater than 100 people, or a public area larger than 5000 sq. ft. are required to provide water fountains, a water station, or bottled water to meet this requirement. In smaller venues, there is no free water law.
• Pennsylvania (PA): There is similarly no state-wide rule requiring restaurants to give free water. Furthermore, restaurants can enforce a no outside food or beverage policy.
• Virginia (VA): In Virginia, if your restaurant sells alcohol, you are required to provide free water by law, mirroring the laws of countries like the UK and Canada.