Copper in the Munich water supply

Err...total random one here.

but can anyone tell me if the Munich water supply has low/medium/high levels of copper in the water ??

Edit: and is munich a hard or soft water area ?

No idea about the copper, but Munich's water is quite hard. Usually a 3 on a 1-4 scale, I believe.

Munich water has very low levels of copper.

The German word for "copper" is "Kupfer".

You can look on the SWM München Wasser pages to find the levels for all minerals in the water.

Copper levels are <0.001 mg/l which is well below the safe limit of 2 mg/l.

can someone explain what "hard water", "soft water" means? i hear that a lot but have no idea what it means, what does it do, why should i be concerned?

Hard/soft refers to the 'Kalkgehalt' in water, i.e. the amount of limestone contained. Soft means low level, hard high. No reason for any concern.

so which is better for you...hard or soft?

You know the difference when you wash your hair. Hard water makes the hair heavy, and soft makes you hair soft.

Last i Heard Hard water is good for your heart but you know how often scientists change there mind

so its better when its harder...i suppose when its soft it doesn´t accomplish much...

a friend once asked for the hard/softness of the water so that he can find out which powder/detergent to use for washing clothes?? what else to "look out for"?

Hard water leaves gunky stuff in the bottom of your kettle. If you use a Britta filter or similar, a lot of the lime is removed.

Oh goody, stuff on water...I´d say "hard" water is good for you - i.e. it usually contains beneficial minerals and ions such as Calcium.

Water in Germany is measured using degrees of dH (deutscher Härtegrad). 1 dH is the equivalent of 10 mg CaO/Liter. Waters <8 degrees dH are considered soft, between 8-12 "medium hard", and >12 dH are considered "hard".

As seen in Editor Bob´s link above, the water here in Munich is around 15 degrees dH. There´s a little more to the hardness water that should be explained. The major category is "Gesamthärte" i.e. total hardness. In Munich it´s 15. However, subcategories of total hardness are "Carbonathärte" and "Nichtcarbonathärte". That is, if you add the two you get the "Gesamthärte".

Referring to Editor Bobs link, you can see that the water in Munich is a.)Hard, and b.) the hardness is mostly due to "Carbonathärte".

Why is this important? Carbonate waters have a higher pH. A higher pH is not really desired when brewing beers, enzymes are generally less efficient, and you get less precipitation of unwanted compounds. The result is a darker, more astringent beer. One way to counter this is by using dark malts that are more acidic by nature. In the old days that was one of the reasons that the beer here in town was dunkel i.e. dark and the beer in Plzen (home of Pilsener beer) could be made very light colored (the Gesamthärte there is under 2!) Cheers.

that means the tea, coffee and soup you make from the water from Bavaria a different kind of tea, coffee & soup taste! BLEAH. that explains! so, is there different kind of tea, coffee & soup catered from different hardness of water then? if not, there is a market for it!

Yes. Taylors of Harrogate make a special version of Yorkshire Tea for Hard Water, for example.

I´d also let the water boil a little longer, that way, more CaCO3 precipitates into your kettle, then decant...not very energy efficient though.

...not very kettle efficient either

Thanks guys !! Wow - ye all know so much. I knew people in the TT brain trust would have some info for me !

I have to say, there wouldn't be any copper in the Munich water if that Spudbury fella hadn't pushed him in.

I have been told (numerous times) that munich's water has a lot of calcium in it though...which turns kettles and coffee machines white on the inside. (this comes from the mom I work for)

to get it out though you can often use vinegar and boiling water...has to soak for about 10 min. It works on our stuff just fine.

Not calcium, but limestone (see above Kalk = lime). Calcium is either Calzium or Kalzium.

I prefer soft water as I don't have to clean the bathroom as much also my skin is less dry, and I don't need to use as much shampoo or washing powder, as they froth up easier in soft water.

I saw some magnetic thing in Conrad that you attach to the water pipe and is supposed to change the Kalk structure... anyone know if this is effective? Seems a cheaper alternative to fixing a filter to the pipe...

We use one of these at work, and I meant to do some research on it. I just found this on the web, will read later:

http://www.aqua-correct.dk/correct/default.htm

We usually descale our hot water tank (capacity about 40 hectoliters) every 4-5 weeks. It´s not particularly difficult to do, just tedious (Sulfuric acid does wonders.) All water entering the hot water tank runs through one of these magnetic gizmos..my boss says that the lime scale buildups have signigicantly decreased since installing this system.

wow, this is really great to know...ever since coming here 6 months ago, the white trace of kalk has been driving me CRAZY!! ...on the sink, the wood panelling around it, dishes, everything is constantly stained with white, not to mention having to slather my hands in insane amounts of vaseline to stop myself from feeling like a dry corpse...we already use brita, but have been meaning to isntall something for the whole sink/faucet pipe.
i have never experienced this in america. actually when we moved in, we had this problem with hot water, it would just suddenly run out after about 10-15 minutes of use, or after one persont took a shower, or doing the dishes a few times. after our landlady called the handy man, he said that our hot water tank has decreased it's capacity for hot water storage from like 90 liters to about 40 due to kalk overgrowth, and clogging...god knows how old this thing was. but that has been sorted now...
(just wanted to share my muenchen water experience )