The noteworthy bit of the UK arrangement is the habit of having 2 taps per sink, not the habit of having a hot water heater at all. I am not aware of any cities with municipal hot water supplied in the way that cold water is—the closest thing I know of is steam systems that can supply heat to large areas, but I’ve never seen anyone suggest drinking the water from those. Steam hot water heaters are available to purchase, which suggests they might be used in areas with steam for heat.
Most places I’ve stayed in the continental US have had each building’s hot water provided by a heated reservoir of some sort. The off-grid options I’ve seen are the high-tech on-demand water heaters you mention, or the old-fashioned wood stove water jackets and solar roof heaters.
When I’ve asked friends who drink or cook with hot tap water why they’re ok with doing so, their answers have been along the lines that the risk of harm is relatively tiny in modern homes with everything built to code, compared to the convenience of having the water boil that little bit faster. I’ll keep my cultural superstition of only drinking from the cold tap, but I do see where they’re coming from in reasoning that they know that newer plumbing doesn’t contain any of the “really bad stuff” like lead.
The noteworthy bit of the UK arrangement is the habit of having 2 taps per sink, not the habit of having a hot water heater at all. I am not aware of any cities with municipal hot water supplied in the way that cold water is—the closest thing I know of is steam systems that can supply heat to large areas, but I’ve never seen anyone suggest drinking the water from those. Steam hot water heaters are available to purchase, which suggests they might be used in areas with steam for heat.
Most places I’ve stayed in the continental US have had each building’s hot water provided by a heated reservoir of some sort. The off-grid options I’ve seen are the high-tech on-demand water heaters you mention, or the old-fashioned wood stove water jackets and solar roof heaters.
When I’ve asked friends who drink or cook with hot tap water why they’re ok with doing so, their answers have been along the lines that the risk of harm is relatively tiny in modern homes with everything built to code, compared to the convenience of having the water boil that little bit faster. I’ll keep my cultural superstition of only drinking from the cold tap, but I do see where they’re coming from in reasoning that they know that newer plumbing doesn’t contain any of the “really bad stuff” like lead.