Testing water quality: Does it make sense?

Thanks to the German Drinking Water Ordinance, our Tapwater is regularly tested^[1]. However, the ordinance only ensures the water quality up to your own house pipes. The public drinking water suppliers no longer provide a guarantee for anything that happens after that.

For this reason, and also because there are still some undesirable substances in our Tapwater from time to time despite the Drinking Water Ordinance, we have to ensure that we only drink clean water ourselves. With a drinking water analysis, you can test the water quality and, if necessary, initiate measures for better Tapwater . But is a drinking water analysis really always so useful?

In this article you will learn ...

... what a drinking water analysis is,
... what you can have your water tested for,
... what options are available for testing the Tapwater ,
... whether and when it makes sense to test the water quality
... and what alternatives there are to drinking water analysis.

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Updated on: 11.02.2022

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Testing water quality: what is a drinking water analysis and how does it work?

Drinking water analysis involves testing the water for various chemical, physical and microbiological parameters. These include, for example, the concentration of various pollutants, electrical conductivity, pH value and water hardness.

Water analyses are carried out regularly at numerous municipal utilities. However, you can also have your water tested at home. A sample is usually taken directly from the tap. This is then sent to a laboratory where it is analyzed for the various parameters. In the case of self-tests, the sample can also be analyzed directly on site.

Recommendation

Are you looking for a professional drinking water analysis? Then take a look at IVARIO and have your water tested by a certified laboratory!

Testing water for pollutants: what can you have the water tested for?

Depending on the test kit, a drinking water analysis can detect various heavy metals, pollutants and other substances in the water. These include, among others:

Aluminum
Ammonium
Arsenic
Lead
Chrome
Coliform bacteria
E.coli
Iron
Enterococci
Flouride
Bacterial count 22°
Bacterial count 36°

Copper
Legionella
Manganese
Nickel
Nitrate
Nitrite
Phosphate
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Mercury
Sulphate
Uranium
Zinc

Testing Tapwater : What options are there?

Basically, you can either test the water quality yourself at home or have the water professionally analyzed in a laboratory. There are different tests for both options. You usually have the choice between specific tests that only examine selected ingredients in Tapwater and complete packages that detect a large number of different pollutants, etc.

Test the water quality yourself

Water tests that you carry out yourself are quick and easy to do. They are also comparatively cheap and easily available in pharmacies or online. All you have to do is take a water sample according to the instructions and you will receive the results just a few minutes later.

However, the major disadvantage of testing your water yourself at home is that the results are nowhere near as reliable as laboratory analyses. In addition, this method is highly sensitive - even the smallest errors when taking the sample massively distort the test results.

Have water quality professionally tested

Professional drinking water analyses can be carried out in different ways. On the one hand, there is the option of taking the sample yourself and then sending it to an accredited laboratory. However, here too there is the problem of incorrect sampling.

Secondly, there is the option of having a drinking water analysis carried out by the public health department or a special laboratory . In both cases, a certified sampler comes to your home and takes the sample for the laboratory itself. Although this option is by far the most reliable, it is usually very expensive.

Why have the water tested?

In principle, it can make sense to have your own water tested. The reason for this is that our Tapwater - despite drinking water regulations - is contaminated at least occasionally in some places for various reasons.

The main reason for this is our own pipelines ^[2]. If, for example, old lead pipes are still installed in your home, there is a risk that they will gradually release lead into your drinking water. A similar problem can occur with nickel or chrome fittings - these can also release unwanted metals into the Tapwater . In addition, there are medicines, hormones and other pollutants that are difficult to filter in waterworks and therefore often remain undetected in drinking water.

Water testing: useful or not?

For the reasons just mentioned, different situations can be derived in which it may be useful to test the water quality:

Is your water cloudy and/or smells funny? This is a sign of heavily contaminated drinking water.
Do you live in an old building that may still have old lead pipes installed? In the worst-case scenario, lead could leach into your drinking water.
Do you live in a new building with copper pipes? Under certain conditions, the water can have a corrosive effect on the copper pipes and copper can pass into your drinking water.
Do people with weak immune systems live in your household? They are particularly sensitive to various germs and bacteria (e.g. contamination with legionella) in drinking water ^[3].
Are you expecting a baby or already have a baby/toddler at home? With a dirty Tapwater you are jeopardizing the healthy development of your child^[4].
Do you draw your drinking water from your own well? In such cases, there are no checks by the local public utility company and any pollutants can enter your body unnoticed.
Do you have symptoms of illness associated with the consumption of Tapwater (e.g. nausea, vomiting, headaches)? Then there could be germs or bacteria in your water.

But beware: drinking water analyses are not always as accurate and reliable as they promise. Especially if you take the sample yourself, errors can quickly creep in, for example due to incorrect sampling or late transportation to the laboratory, which falsify the result.

You can largely avoid this disadvantage with professional tests, but these are usually very expensive. And even high-quality laboratory tests do not detect all pollutants in the water. It therefore makes more sense to ensure clean water yourself in advance. Here are a few tips to help you do this.

Alternatives to drinking water analysis: 6 tips

Do you want to consume clean drinking water? Then the best drinking water analyses won't help you! Instead, you have to do it yourself and make sure your drinking water is clean.

These 6 tips will help you:

Avoid microplastics in cleaning products, cosmetics, etc.
Do not dispose of food waste, oils, hygiene products, medicines etc. in the toilet.
Use detergents and cleaning agents sparingly and use natural household products whenever possible.
Support organic farming so that fewer chemical pesticides end up in the groundwater.
Have your pipes checked and counteract the discharge of heavy metals.
Use a drinking water filter to filter unwanted substances out of your water.

6 tips for alternative drinking water analyses

Conclusion: test the water quality or not?

In principle, drinking water analyses in your own home can be useful from time to time. However, a more sustainable solution is to ensure clean drinking water yourself. This will save you the sometimes expensive costs of often inconclusive water tests and you can enjoy your Tapwater without any worries.

FAQs on testing the water quality

Do you still have questions? Here you will find answers to the most frequently asked questions about "Testing water quality".

How can you test drinking water?

You can either test your drinking water yourself or have it tested by the public health department or an accredited laboratory. You can obtain self-tests from pharmacies and online retailers.

Where can I have Tapwater tested?

In principle, there are numerous online providers as well as laboratories and health authorities that offer drinking water analyses. We at Alb Filter recommend the drinking water tests from IVARIO. The company uses state-of-the-art methods for drinking water testing and offers a wide range of different test kits.

What does a drinking water test cost?

The cost of a drinking water analysis depends on the type and scope of the test. Self-tests are available from as little as €20. For professional drinking water tests by the public health department or selected laboratories, on the other hand, you can expect costs of up to several hundred euros.

Who pays for the drinking water analysis?

As a rule, you will have to pay for the drinking water analysis yourself. If you are a tenant, it is possible that your landlord will cover the costs of the test ^[5].

Testing water quality: Does it make sense?

Testing water quality: what is a drinking water analysis and how does it work?

Testing water for pollutants: what can you have the water tested for?