What is the consensus here regarding tap water? I strongly believe that Tap water here in Germany is much better than in the U.S. but I am not sure if I should avoid it. The levels of arsenic in the water supply in the U.S. is staggering. Should I buy bottled water?

Crosslinks by admin: Fluroide in the water, Calcium (Kalk) in the water

no, drink away. It is fresh from the alps, yum yum.
Germans like to buy fizzy water to drink, and there are usually water coolers in the offices, but they brush their teeth with, and drink, tap water too.

@Kza (edit) it's nothing like as chalky as the water in SE-England, back home the water comes out white and you let it settle before drinking! And chalk won't harm you, unlike arsenic!

Tap water is pretty good. Some people dont like the high levels of chalk in it though.

Munich has amongst the BEST mains water in the WHOLE of Europe and has beaten the mineral water companies in tests hands down.

Tap water has the strongest regulations for purity than any other substance for human consumption.

Drink it!

@ Kza, Yeah Munich water is pretty hard, but that's good for your heart and teeth and bones innit!

I've been drinking the tap water here for years and look at me now Mmmm calcium.
It's appliances like kettles and washing machines that suffer, but you can take precautions there.

bee_sting knows shitloads about all this. She once posted about water quality here I think, might be worth a search but I am too lazy.

EDIT:
Oh, my tuppenceworth is that you should not drink water atall. Better to drink it in a higher form, beer. All that dehydration rubbish you hear about is an urban myth started by Evian.

The tap water is okay to drink here, but there is no Fluoride added to it, like in North America... resulting in higher rates of tooth decay here! So still take a fluoride supplement or use a fluoridated toothpaste.

@don

and your dehydration problem can be solved by more beer. if its good enough for the monks, its good enough for us!

I drink it all the time, aint caused me any problems so far.

Don't drink water, fish fuck in it!

<how much time can you waste in the interweb at work?>

not only do the fish fuck in it, they poo in it!!!

oh don't start that topic, reminds me of swimming in India... or anywhere on the english coast about 10 years ago, before they mended and extended the sewage pipes running into the ocean...
you could be swimming along quite happily until you realised there was a dirty nappy, a used condom and a panty liner on your head... [img]http://www.keydeck.com/smilies/puke3.gif[/img]

I wish they'd ban Pampers from operating in Asia, the world is better off with 1 billion kiddies pooing in the gutter and using towelling nappies...

my God, I'm bored today!

Now that I agree with
Certainly better than bottled water, which is firstly a complete rip-off for what it is, secondly is no better quality than the tap stuff here anyway, thirdly doesn't taste as good as beer, fourthly doesn't get you pissed.

I use one of those Britta chalk killer filter thingies... not sure I want my arteries clogged up in the way my kettle suffers

... Otherwise, it seems damn good.

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Image added by admin.

@shaggy So you take your water intravenously then
I too have one of those filters and they're a good idea but I don't use it for anything but water to make coffee/tea. The cartridges are dead expensive though, making filtered tap water almost as expensive as bottled "mineral" water.

@Jeeves- Try Walmart... don't seem that expensive really... and it tastes way better... also easier than carrying bottles up to the 5th floor

Brita filters are great little bacteria breeding facilities.

Bottled water can legally have more impurities than tap water which is being used to flush the toilet and wash your car (not necessarily in that order).

Yep those filters need to be kept clean! Which is also why I use them for water that is going to be boiled anyway.

If you want to know exactly what is in the water in your area and how much of it there is, most (if not all) cities are required to report this in the local paper or at the rathaus, atleast once every 4 months.

These reports are usually 4-8 pages in detail and contain almost every water test known to man...

See also Fluoride in the Munich Water Supply, is there?. Munich water is reputed to be purer than Evian bottled water.

Drinking water that fish fuck in is no problem for me. I still sleep in my own bed, for God's sake...

YL6

@YL6
Try having your sheets for breakfast, then we'll see...

If this link is to be believed that's not all that fish do in the water.

Fish in mysterious noises study

my God you must be bored, to be reading about fish farts! I was about to have a field day about canadians, but the Brits were involved too...

@JB

Yes a tad bored today. The really sad thing is I read this ages ago and remembered it.

Nothing wrong with the water at all... <head twitching>

First of all ...Happy New Year everyone!

Munich tap water is the best...almost...it has 647 mg of different additives whereas bottled mineral water has over 1.600 mg. There are filters which can be attached to your kitchen sink as an extra tap which filters the water again and then you have super tasting clear water on tap. I drink tap water (until I can afford to buy this filter) ...very seldom mineral water.


I was interested to know what happens at a TT night out
...ah well... if it is just another drinking session I guess I haven't missed anything

As mentioned before, All city water companies are required to release the results of the water tests to the public.

HERE (PDF) are the results of Munich's last test (Jan 2004)

There is alot of Info (In English) over at the SWM Info Site

Save that money for a filter. It's unnecessary. Munich water is suitable for baby food the way it is, how much better can it be?


Not additives, natural minerals! The same stuff people spend money for at the health food store. 1600 isn't necessarily worse than 600, it might even be better for your health. Those minerals are not what really matters, it's the absence of bacteria, fertilizer residues (nitrate) and pesticides

Thanks for that info!

I was at a presentation at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Feldkirchen a few weeks ago and drank this filtered water...I must admit it did taste good and was so clear...could they be adding something to the water to "purify it"...who knows...its a new product coming on the market called Ostmose Wasser.

I shall nevertheless continue to drink the Munich water. A friend of mine puts three stones (Edelsteine/Precious stones: pink, purple and clear white) into a large carfe of water and leaves it over night and the next day it tastes just as goood as the "filtered water"
I have found drinking water straight from the tap rather hard but when it stands for a while is easier to drink. ?

Then fill it into a glass first and _then_ drink it

has anyone noticed the water quality drop recently...these days theres this kind of spanish chlorine aftertaste to the tapwater in munich...

Stop licking the inside of the tap then, one day your tongue will get stuck and you'll have to sms for the firebrigade.

That would imply i carry my mobile around with me WHILE IM IN MY HOME...thats just weird...

You mean you don't?

Not half as weird as waiting for your tongue to shrivel up enough through dehydration for it to slip out of the tap. Almost impossible as you probably have the water turned on.

You don't want to be the inspiration for the remake of Se7en, do you ?

Stick to the Augustiner, much better for you

I'm still wondering what the difference is between Spanish chlorine and any other kind

just spanish water usually tastes like swimming pool...

Ive just come from an English lesson where we were reading and discussing bottled water. The figures on pollution and enironmental damage as well as ethical grounds are shocking. However, the group generally said they would not drink Munich tap water as there are harmful elements in it which cannot be removed. I dont want to get on a soapbox about it. I'm just looking for other opinions. What do you think? As with all these issues there seems to be hype on both sides of the spring.
Topics merged by admin

I am so used to the purity of Munich water that I can't brush my teeth with tap water in California, leastways not around Vallejo where my Ma lives. Vile brackish stuff!

As one of the guides to living in Germany noted, Germany is a country with excellent tap water and a population who firmly believe that if you drink it then you may as well be drinking from the toilet. It's very odd.

STB couldn't agree more...

The water from to flush the loo comes from the same source as tap water - so I guess you could drink it

I think the Germans just prefer fizzy water. A few years ago all my friends had a Soda Stream or Wasser max to fizz up tap water, but this seems to have gone out of fashion again.

It also depends on the waterpipes in your house.
We learned at school (I grew up in Munich) that most of the older houses here have cupric pipes, and that drinking the tap water there may be harmful to your health. Some elements out of the cupric may go into the water or whatever...
Most of the newer houses have a different kind of pipes and the water is very safe to drink.
You can apparently send a sample of your tap water to some institute and have it all analysed so you know for sure.

I love the Munich tap water and all my family drink it - have always done so.

Yeah, I noticed that. A few years back, loads of people seemed to be fizzing up their own water, but have since cast their soda stream aside to be abandoned, unwanted, in the cellar alongside a 15 year backlog of old ski equipment.

On a side note, whacking some chilled white wine through a soda stream can be passed off as prosecco to 97.6% of the population of the world.

Have you been going through my loft?

Count yourselves lucky not to be living in the former East - the tap water was groundwater that had hardly been processed and there was a vile sewage-like stench when the tap was run, at least where I lived.

Munich's tap water comes fro the Alps where the forbears of the current city council bought up land.
The current council (SPD-Green) has over the years encouraged farmers in the region to go organic and they have done.
So you get in Munich arguably the BEST tap water in Europe; at a cheap price.

The CSU and FDP would like to privatise Munich's water.
Luckily the franchised Münchners didn't quite see it their way in this years elections.

SW//M

This should answer all your questions about Munich drinking water.

Bottled Water Blues

and this let's you know why bottled water is such a waste!