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Drinking water - reporting contamination

Water supply companies are responsible for supplying or making available safe drinking water to consumers.
No pathogens or pollutants may be present in dangerous quantities in the drinking water.

Notice: Drinking water can also be contaminated within the building water supply system. Here, the building owners or landlords are responsible for compliance with the quality requirements for drinking water.
This also applies to any necessary renovation of the pipelines.

Changes in the taste, smell or colour of the water can be indications of contamination.
If you have the impression that your drinking water could be contaminated, you should report it.

The water supply company or the operator of the building's water supply system must investigate the problem, for example by carrying out their own tests.
In the case of justified complaints, the local health authority can also have an official drinking water test carried out.

Responsible department

  • the local water supply company or
  • the operator of the building water supply system (e.g. house owner, landlord or homeowners' association) or
  • the local health authority

The competent health authority is

  • the district office,
  • if you live in the city districts of Stuttgart, Mannheim or Heilbronn: the respective city administration,
  • if you live in the other city districts: the district office of the surrounding district

Details

Prerequisite

You notice impurities or unusual changes in your drinking water.

Procedure

Contact one of the following with your suspicions via contact form or e-mail, in writing or by telephone:

  • the water supply company
  • the operator of the building water supply system (e.g. house owner, landlord) or
  • the health authority responsible for your place of residence
    The responsible health authority is either
    • the district office or,
    • if you live in the city districts of Stuttgart, Mannheim or Heilbronn: the respective city administration, or
    • if you live in the other city districts: the district office of the surrounding district.

Above all, you should describe the following characteristics of the water in detail:

  • Colour
  • Taste
  • Odour
  • general condition (e.g. foaming)

This information can be a clue for the experts as to the nature of the contamination.

Employees of the water supply company or the public health department or laboratories commissioned by them can come to your household or business if they suspect contamination and take a drinking water sample.
This is analysed in a laboratory to find the cause of contamination (e.g. auxiliary substances in drinking water treatment, deposits in pipes).

Deadlines

none

Required documents

none

Costs

for official drinking water tests due to a consumer complaint: none

For more information, please contact your public health department.

Miscellaneous

Water from the tap is of drinking water quality in Germany. You can drink it without hesitation. Make sure that the water has not "stood" in the tap for more than about 4 hours beforehand. Especially in the morning, you should let the water run a little until it comes out of the tap constantly cool. In addition, as a precaution, you should only drink cold water or use it for preparing food and heat the water if necessary, e.g. with the help of a kettle. Certain substances that pass from the tap material into the water are mainly found in hot water, but not to any significant extent in cold water.

Release note

24.08.2023 Ministerium für Ernährung, Ländlichen Raum und Verbraucherschutz