Why filter water? The advantages of filtered water and a water filter

Belongs to our Tapwater really one of the most strictly regulated foods ? Yes and no! The Drinking Water Ordinance does contain strict limits for around 50 pollutants, but other concentrations of substances that can be found in drinking water are not even listed - including residues of medicines, pesticides, hormones and microplastics . So the question arises: Should you Tapwater filter?

In this Guidebook find out...

• ... whether you need to filter water,
• ... the reasons for filtering drinking water,
• ... whether water filters make sense,
• ... to what extent prejudices against water filters are or are not true,
• ... what water filters actually filter,
• ... what you need to look out for in a water filter
• ... and whether bottled water is a good alternative to water filters.

In a nutshell: Do you have to filter Tapwater ?

Yes, there are many good reasons to filter water again at home - even though the majority of the population obtains supposedly clean Tapwater water from a drinking water supplier.

This Tapwater is already purified and treated in a waterworks. Then it should actually flow cleanly out of the tap, right? Here's the catch:

• During quality control and treatment, only limit values of around 50 substance concentrations are taken into account, as specified in the Drinking Water Ordinance [1]. This does not include residues of pesticides or hormones, for example.
• Your 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.

Despite purification and treatment at the waterworks, numerous pollutants can get into your drinking water. These include the following:

Only with a high-quality drinking water filter can you filter these pollutants out of your drinking water and enjoy clean water!

Why filter water? 5 top reasons

Tapwater is apparently one of the most strictly regulated foodstuffs, but even in Germany there are always shortcomings in the quality of drinking water. We take a look at the reasons for this below.

Outdated drinking water ordinance

The Drinking Water Ordinance (TrinkwV) originally dates back to 2001, but in light of new medical findings and improved testing methods, the regulations have been gradually updated in recent years. The aim of the TrinkwV is to ensure and improve the quality of tap water in Germany . The legal text states that:

"Water intended for human consumption must be of such a quality that its consumption or use is not likely to cause harm to human health, in particular through pathogens (...) [and] that the drinking water reaching the consumer meets the requirements of the Drinking Water Ordinance."

But can consumers therefore rely on the fact that the Tapwater reaches their taps in perfect condition? After all, this is a controversial question.

The German Drinking Water Ordinance (TrinkwV) is divided into chemical, microbiological and radiological requirements with binding limits for a range of around 50 possible pollutants. In practice, this means

• Around 6,000 waterworks test drinking water regularly.
• The treated water is considered to be easy to drink and digest.
• Pollutants enter the water cycle through industry, agriculture, the environment and human influences, which are not taken into account .
• Up to 100,000 impurities and pollutants can be found in our drinking water.

Is this all new? No. Renowned institutes such as Ökotest [2], Stiftung Warentest [3] etc. regularly point out dangerous ingredients and pathogens in German drinking water. This is in contrast to the frequent claim that German drinking water is the most controlled food of outstanding quality. We consider the latter to be a myth that needs to be challenged in many places.

Contradictions with harmful substances

As far as the concentrations of substances - including medicines, pesticides, hormones and microplastics - not covered by the Drinking Water Ordinance are concerned, certain contradictions on the part of the authorities are striking:

• On the one hand, consumer advocates give the all-clear for many of these substances, as the amount of substances detected is harmless [4].
• On the other hand, there are (as yet) no long-term studies on the smallest concentrations of substances in drinking water. It is therefore difficult to say whether the smallest quantities can be consumed with a clear conscience.
• As Spiegel [5] and Handelsblatt [6] reported in 2019, the EU has already taken Germany to court twice because the nitrate levels in the water are far too high. The reason is too much liquid manure on German fields.
• In addition, at the end of 2020, the EU imposed Europe-wide upper limits for some substances in drinking water, e.g. hormones, plasticizers (bisphenol-A) and microplastics, for the first time.

Inadequate water treatment

Depending on the quality of the raw water, more or less complex techniques are used in Germany to purify the water. These include, among others:

• Ventilation
• Sedimentation
• Filtering
• Disinfection
• Flocculation

Even in Germany, a country with a very well-developed water treatment system, outdated or inadequate technologies are sometimes used to treat tap water. One of the reasons for this is that water treatment is always a compromise between technical possibilities, cost aspects, health compatibility and political interests.

For example, activated carbon is by no means used in every treatment plant. This is despite the fact that there are some pollutants that can only be reliably removed from the water using activated carbon.

Dangers in the distribution network

Even if the water were 100% purified of pollutants and residues at the waterworks: On its long journey from the waterworks through kilometers of pipelines to the tap in your own home, the water is exposed to numerous opportunities for renewed contamination.

The entire distribution network in Germany is over 500,000 kilometers long and therefore huge: if all German water pipes were laid around the equator, they would circle the earth more than eleven times. This huge network is provided by more than 6,000 public drinking water suppliers, over 90 % of which are in municipal hands.

The drinking water treated in the waterworks reaches the consumer's tap via a sometimes very complex water distribution system up to 50 kilometers long. On this transport route, the water comes into contact with a variety of different materials and components.

These can release substances into the drinking water that change the smell or taste of the drinking water, have a health impact or lead to a proliferation of microorganisms and thus possibly also pathogens.

In summary, the public distribution network poses the following risks:

• Interactions with surfaces, e.g. in pipes or lines, can lead to more or less pronounced changes in the water composition.
• In addition to pathogens, toxic chemical substances also play a role in the drinking water network.
• Microbiologists have now discovered that drinking water can contain between 40,000 and 200,000 germs per milliliter at the point of transfer from the public water network to a building.
• In addition to the type of raw water, the length of the pipes between the waterworks and the consumer also plays a role in the degree of contamination.
• Temperature and nutrient supply in particular are decisive for the multiplication of microorganisms.

Dilapidated water pipes

There are frequent reports of dilapidated water pipes in German cities and some water pipes in residential buildings are still made of lead [7].

Pipes in old buildings (pre-1973) in particular are often contaminated with "stagnant water" or heavy metals [8]. While lead pipes have been banned since the 1970s, copper pipes are still frequently used today. However, copper also releases traces into drinking water, especially if the pH value is below 7.

The Drinking Water Ordinance does not apply here and conventional house inlet filters only filter larger dirt particles (such as sand) from the water.

Outdated and dilapidated water pipes in your home pose a high risk to water quality and therefore to your health. This danger is usually underestimated. However, if you regularly ingest heavy metals such as copper, lead or bacteria and germs with your drinking water, this can have considerable health consequences:

• Babies, children and immunocompromised people are particularly at risk.
• Complaints, symptoms and illnesses are often only associated with the contaminated Tapwater at a late stage or not at all.

Stagnant water and water temperature

Another problem is rarely used water pipes in which the water "stagnates". The longer water stands in the pipe, the more substances it absorbs from pipes and taps. From rarely used taps, for example, nickel from the alloys gets into the water.

If the water temperature in the system is also higher than 20 degrees, this encourages the formation of bacteria and germs, especially legionella. These multiply explosively in lukewarm water. Legionella and other bacteria may find excellent conditions to multiply here.

The danger is not only present in the hot water pipe, but also, particularly in old buildings, in a poorly insulated cold water network that is heated by a nearby hot water pipe. This can be noticed, for example, by the fact that the water from the cold water pipe initially flows relatively warm from the tap.

Are water filters useful?

In Germany, where more than 90 percent of consumers are connected to the public drinking water network, drinking water hygiene depends on careful treatment, the condition of the water network and domestic installations. Depending on the region, more or fewer impurities remain in your Tapwater.

In order to be able to rely on hygienically safe drinking water despite these possible impairments, it is essential to filter the water again using a water filter directly at the tapping point. Only through this repeated filtering can you reliably remove contaminants from the drinking water.

If you do not use a water filter, you run the risk of drinking contaminated Tapwater water without realizing it! Water filters are highly recommended, especially if children, pregnant women or people with health problems live in the household. Compared to bottled water, filters are also much cheaper and more environmentally friendly, making them the best way to drink clean water.

Not all water filters are the same! About prejudices and myths...

Despite all this, water filters do not enjoy a very good reputation in the German press. In some cases, even consumer advocates advise against them. What are their arguments?

• The benefits of water filters are controversial.
• Every Tapwater is harmless to health.
• Important nutrients would be filtered out by the water filters.
• Last but not least: water filters could even make you ill.

These prejudices - especially those spread by Stern - relate solely to table or jug filters (from commercially available brands). However, table or jug filters have nothing at all in common with drinking water filters from Alb Filter, for example [9]. The filtration technologies, filter processes and filter media behind them differ significantly.

Activated carbon granulate (table or can filter)

Sintered activated carbon block (Alb filter)

For example, table or jug filters use loose activated carbon granulate poured into the filter. The water flows around this and uses its adsorptive and catalytic properties to purify the water. However, the performance of table or jug filters is severely limited. There is also an increased risk of contamination as soon as the capacity of the filter is used up.

Sintered activated carbon block filters, on the other hand, such as those from Alb Filter, clean the water in three ways and are therefore more efficient. They reduce a large number of impurities while retaining minerals and trace elements in the water.

Filtering drinking water: What do I need to consider with a water filter?

Whether water filters are good or bad always depends on the individual case. Not every water filter works in the same way. As the market is flooded with different types of filters, it is extremely important to take a close look here.

When deciding on a water filter, you should therefore always consider the following questions:

• Which filtration technology and which filter medium are used?
• Does the filter suit your needs?
• What efficiency is guaranteed by the manufacturer?
• How high is the filter performance?
• Is the filter certified?
• Does the filter have to be installed somewhere?
• Are all the requirements for installing a water filter met?
• How often do the filter or cartridges need to be changed?
• Is it an environmentally friendly and recyclable water filter?

Tapwater filter vs. buy mineral water: Which is better?

Many people turn to bottled water for fear of contamination Tapwater. In Germany alone, 17.4 billion plastic bottles are bought every year, most of them filled with mineral water [10]. If all these bottles were stacked on top of each other, they would stretch almost 15 times from the earth to the moon! Lined up one on top of the other, the bottles could circle the earth about 143 times!

But the fact is: bottled water is neither healthier nor more environmentally friendly or economical than Tapwater. Let's take a closer look at the whole thing:

Water from plastic bottles has a worse carbon footprint

Irrespective of aspects such as taste and hygiene, bottled water has a miserable ecological footprint. Very little water is still bottled in reusable bottles today. The proportion of reusable bottles made of glass or PET plastic has fallen from over 90 percent in the 1990s to just under 40 percent today [11].

The production of plastic bottles requires vast quantities of fossil raw materials - to be precise, around 438,000 tons of crude oil and natural gas condensates. Filling and transporting the bottles to the supermarket also consumes energy. The subsequent disposal of the plastic bottles also has a negative environmental impact and causes 450,000 tons of waste per year in Germany alone.

Although the German Packaging Act aims to increase the reusable quota again, if every consumer simply drank Tapwater instead of mineral water in plastic bottles, the amount of CO2 saved would be many times higher [12]. This is because both disposable and reusable bottles have an enormously high CO2 footprint [13].

Tapwater has a very low CO2 footprint in comparison. Although drinking water treatment also costs energy, it is relatively low. According to a study by the ESU-services institute, bottled still mineral water has a 90 to 1,000 times higher environmental impact than Tapwater [14]. The exact amount depends on the distance the water has to travel to reach the end consumer.

Tapwater is cheaper

Clean drinking water in unlimited quantities from the tap is taken for granted in Germany. And compared to bottled drinking water, you can get it at an unbeatable price, even if this can vary depending on the region and the supplier.

Filtering water? It's worth it!

While the Drinking Water Ordinance in Germany sets limits for some pollutants, there are numerous contaminants that are not taken into account. Inadequate water treatment and distribution are also a growing problem.

water filters can help to reduce these residues and pollutants and thus significantly improve the quality of drinking water. By filtering your water, you can ensure that you are drinking clean and healthy Tapwater - in an environmentally friendly and cost-saving way!

FAQs

Does Tapwater filtering make sense?

As drinking water is always contaminated, it makes perfect sense to filter Tapwater . With a high-quality water filter, you can ensure that you are always drinking clean and healthy Tapwater.

Is filtered water better than Tapwater?

Filtered water is generally better than Tapwater, as it does not contain any pollutants or impurities. However, this depends on the respective filtration technology and requires regular maintenance of the filter.

How can you filter water?

There are different types of water filters that can be used depending on requirements. The drinking water filters from Alb Filter, for example, clean the water in three ways and thus remove a wide range of impurities. Other options include reverse osmosis, ion exchange filters or distillation.

Which water filter system is the best?

Which water filter system is the best depends entirely on individual requirements. This is because the different filter types clean the water in different ways and therefore do not all filter the same substances out of the water. In general, activated carbon has proven to be a very effective filter medium, as it reliably filters a wide range of substances out of the water.

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