Ingredients in Tapwater: About minerals, pollutants, foreign bodies and more...

Many ingredients in Tapwater, such as magnesium, calcium, sodium, potassium or iron, enrich the "elixir of life water", as they provide the human body with the necessary daily requirement of minerals. According to Stiftung Warentest, Tapwater is even richer in nutrients than bottled mineral water.

However, Tapwater also contains ingredients that are less enriching and sometimes even harmful: e.g. heavy metals, hormone-like substances, microplastics, pesticides, drug residues, bacteria, germs and chlorine. The fewer of these foreign bodies and pollutants there are in drinking water, the better!

This Guidebook explains why these and other substances (can) be found in drinking water despite strict controls and legal limits, and what such harmful substances and bacteria can do to the body.

Clean Tapwater is of central importance

Water determines our everyday lives, as we realize at the latest when the supply of clean water is interrupted. Every person in Germany uses between three and five liters of water a day for drinking and cooking. 

Valuable ingredients in the water

In fact, our Tapwater contains valuable minerals and trace elements that are essential for the human organism. For this reason alone, clean drinking water is of central importance for humans. The following table gives you an overview of the most important (valuable) ingredients in Tapwater.

Ingredients and their effects: minerals & trace elements

Magnesium

• Magnesium is needed for many bodily functions.
• For example, it supports muscle activity in the body, protein formation, signal transmission between nerves and much more.
• The daily requirement is 300 - 400 milligrams.

Hydrogen carbonate (baking soda)

• Contrary to popular belief, hydrogen carbonate is not only found in mineral water, but also in Tapwater.
• For example, it balances the acidity in the stomach. 

Calcium

• Calcium supports the development of teeth and bones.
• It also acts as an important transmitter in the transmission of nerve impulses to the muscle cells.
• A calcium deficiency can cause headaches or poor circulation, for example.
• The daily requirement is 1000 - 1200 milligrams.

Sulphate

• Sulphate supports the development of healthy nails and hair.
• The sulphur compound is also said to have a digestive effect. 

Sodium

• Sodium helps to regulate the body's water balance.
• A sodium deficiency can cause nausea and muscle cramps, for example.
• The daily requirement is around 1500 milligrams.

Potassium

• Potassium is important to regulate the acid-base balance and the fluid balance in the body.
• A potassium deficiency can cause loss of appetite or constipation, for example.
• The daily requirement is around 4000 milligrams

Iron

• Iron is essential for the transportation of oxygen in the blood.
• The trace element is also important for blood formation in the human body.

Undesirable substances in the water

As we show in this Guidebook , numerous health hazards can arise from (undesirable) ingredients and germs from our Tapwater . Here you can see a list of the substances that can cause this. Use the individual links to find out ...

• ... Interesting facts about (undesirable) ingredients in German drinking water,
• ... how the substances get into Tapwater in the first place
• ... and why sewage treatment plants are unable to filter out many harmful substances such as microplastics or hormones.

Why you should filter your drinking water again

There are therefore numerous substances of concern which suggest that the water from the tap should be filtered again. Even if most consumers obtain their Tapwater from a drinking water supplier, where it has previously been purified and treated in the waterworks, there are good reasons to filter the water.

The fact is that although Tapwater is strictly controlled in Germany , in practice it often has serious deficiencies. Reports of contaminated drinking water (e.g. due to legionella or germs) are constantly appearing in the German press: 'Many municipalities simply invest too little in their sometimes dilapidated water systems. ^[1]

3 good reasons to filter ingredients out of drinking water

There are also other good reasons to filter Tapwater . The three most important are

• Many substance concentrations and ingredients such as heavy metal or drug residues, hormones, microplastics and pesticides are neither listed nor taken into account by the German Drinking Water Ordinance. ^[4]
• Drinking water travels several kilometers before it comes out of your tap. On this journey, it can be (heavily) contaminated by a dilapidated drinking water network or pipes that are too old in your home, for example. For example, some water pipes are still made of lead ^[5].
• Perhaps your Tapwater simply contains (harmless) ingredients that smell funny or taste strange? Then that would also be a reason to filter the water again. A good activated carbon filter, for example, removes all odor- or taste-impairing substances from the water.

How inadequate is the German Drinking Water Ordinance?

The statement of the Federal Environment Agency is not wrong when they claim that our drinking water fulfills all guidelines, as the limit values of the Drinking Water Ordinance are met. ^[6]

However, the Drinking Water Ordinance only sets limits for pollutants whose short and long-term effects on the human body have already been researched and are known. However, as already mentioned, many of the substances in our tap water are not (or only insufficiently) monitored.

The unlisted substances include, in particular

Drug residues

hormone-like substances, 

Microplastics

and pesticides

Inadequate public drinking water treatment

Public water suppliers must ensure the quality of drinking water for all consumers. However, drinking water treatment by public water suppliers is always a (political) compromise between technical possibilities, costs and compatibility.

Due to a lack of or outdated treatment technology, waterworks still occasionally supply consumers with water that is contaminated with germs. Studies show that up to 50% of smaller drinking water supplies in Germany regularly exceed the limits for faecal bacteria.

In the summer of 2021 alone, the floods that occurred contributed to dangerous bacteria from rivers or lakes entering public wells and hundreds of thousands of people having to boil their water. ^[9] Here are a few recent examples.

Hazardous ingredients (bacteria) in Tapwater: Press reviews 2021 in Germany

The dilemma of drinking water treatment in Germany

The (political) dilemma of drinking water treatment in Germany can be summarized in a few key points:

• Tapwater must be such that there is no risk of harm to human health or the environment. 
• It must therefore be free of impurities and pollutants. 
• For this reason, the Drinking Water Ordinance sets limits for the most common ingredients. 
• These limit values are revised as soon as new pollutants are detected in drinking water or new findings on their negative effects are available.
• This means that waterworks would actually have to be upgraded on an ongoing basis at great technical expense. 
• However, this would be reflected in a high price for drinking water.

Untimely monitoring

Incomplete monitoring of pollutants is already worrying enough, but this is often compounded by untimely analysis:

• According to the Drinking Water Ordinance, germs in drinking water must still only be determined using the smear method, which is now over 100 years old. ^[10]
• However, it is known that only 0.1 - 1% of the bacteria present in drinking water tend to form colonies that can even be counted on a smear. 

In combination with nutrients contained in the water, such as nitrates, phosphates or dissolved organic components, this can lead to a strong increase in germs and pathogens in the pipe networks of buildings.

How harmful ingredients can get into Tapwater

Bacteria & germs

• Germs and bacteria often find their way into drinking water by multiplying in the water pipes on their way through the public supply networks. 
• The growth of bacteria in drinking water is favored by old water pipes and higher temperatures.

Hormones & drug residues

The three main sources of hormones in drinking water are:

• Incorrectly disposed of medication (e.g. via toilet or sink)
• Industrial waste (chemical industry)
• Female urine (birth control pill)

Microplastics

• The ways in which microplastics get into the water and also into Tapwater have not yet been fully researched.
• However, practically every private household contributes to the spread of microplastics - e.g. by washing polyester-containing clothing in the washing machine.
• However, the daily abrasion of car tires - especially after rainfall - also releases enormous quantities of microplastics into the water.

Legionella

• Legionella is almost always present in drinking water in very low, non-hazardous concentrations. 
• They can reproduce particularly well in stagnant water.
• However, if these bacteria multiply, legionella in drinking water can cause serious illnesses.

Chlorine

• In Germany, the chemical industry consumes around 40 million tons of the toxic halogen chlorine per year.
• Chlorine residues can also often be found in the wastewater from slaughterhouses and meat processing plants.
• As a widely used chemical, it often takes a detour via wastewater - and so chlorine ends up in drinking water.

Nitrates

• Due to the pollution of groundwater with liquid manure from agriculture, nitrate levels in drinking water can be very high.
• Because no adequate countermeasures or fertilizer bans are in place, Germany has now been sued by the EU.

A lot can happen from the waterworks to the tap

Even if all limit values at the water supplier are still within the green range, numerous impurities can still get into the water on the way to the consumer and their tap. 

The older a house and the longer it has been renovated, the higher the probability that a large proportion of the contamination in the drinking water comes from the pipes themselves. Be it through the release of substances or through improved growth conditions: Germs pose a concrete threat to water quality and the health of residents. This is particularly true of ...

• ... old copper pipes, 
• ... galvanized lead pipes, 
• ... damaged seals 
• ... inactive wiring harnesses
• ... low flow velocities
• ... or temperatures above 20 degrees.

What harmful ingredients and bacteria from Tapwater can do to the body

Water is not only our most important foodstuff, it is vital. Our body consists of approx. 70% water. Accordingly, this element is very important for our body. 

Considering how much water a person consumes during their lifetime - we are talking about 60,000 to 100,000 liters - even the smallest amount of pollutants in water can be enough to provoke negative effects in the body and damage our health in the long term.

Pollutants have no place in drinking water!

Nitrates, heavy metals, copper, hormone-like substances and plasticizers, drug residues, microplastics, pesticides or herbicides therefore have no place in drinking water. The same applies to pathogens and microorganisms.

The fewer of these substances there are in drinking water, the better!

Who is particularly at risk?

Although people with a healthy immune system normally rarely have problems, a certain amount of germs can lead to serious illnesses, especially in young children, the elderly or people with a compromised immune system.

Legionella bacteria, for example, are particularly treacherous as they enter the body through the respiratory tract - usually through aerosols from the spray mist or steam from showers - and can cause legionellosis, a serious form of pneumonia.

• Every year, more than 300,000 people in Germany fall ill with Legionella. 
• Up to 3,000 die every year as a result.
• The number of unreported cases is estimated to be much higher.

Ingredients in Tapwater - a black box?

For most consumers, the path of their drinking water is a "black box" and water quality is often based more on hope than on real knowledge. To ensure that you and your family can drink your Tapwater from the tap or use it for showering without hesitation, you should protect yourself better. You can achieve the best possible water quality with relatively little effort.

Optimum drinking water quality can be achieved by treating the water at the point of use. With suitable water filters at Under-sink, directly at the tap or in the shower, this is child's play. Good water filters reliably remove both pollutants and pathogens. This guarantees pure, safe and fresh water in the kitchen and bathroom. It's better not to rely on a black box!

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