BEIJING, July 2 (Reuters) - Residents of China's capital have been assured that their tap water is "drinkable even without being boiled", state media reported, a breakthrough of sorts in a country where boiling drinking water is second nature.

The Beijing Waterworks Group said the 2008 Olympic host city's water had passed 106 tests for contaminants set down in new national standards, the Xinhua news agency reported late on Sunday.

"This is a blessing for Beijing residents," said the China news agency. "For many years now, owing to a host of environmental factors, the quality of Beijing water has been doubted by the outside world."

Many of the city's near 16-million dwellers might need convincing. Grumbling about metallic-tasting and unhygienic pipes is widespread.

Many Chinese people habitually boil drinking water to kill germs and also because many people believe it is unhealthy to drink water that is very cold.

China has been beset by scares over pollution menacing cities' drinking water, most recently in Wuxi in the country's east, where an algae outbreak left much of nearby Taihu Lake putrid and shut down supplies to many residents.

Chinese drinking water suppliers across the country must meet the new standards set by the Ministry of Health no later than 2012.

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