How does our drinking water actually get into the tap?
Summer, sun, thirst! I've just filled up my soulbottle with tap water for the umpteenth time today - drinking a lot is sooo important in these temperatures. Drinking water is the number one food. I try to drink 2 to 3 liters a day because water cools you down, increases my ability to concentrate and makes me (almost) more awake than coffee. After a few refreshing sips, I thought about how natural this actually is for us: our tap water is so clean that we can drink it almost anytime and anywhere without worrying and it comes out of the tap whenever we want. But how does the water actually get into the tap? I did some research for you and asked the experts from the Federal Association for Energy and Water (BDEW)!
Where does the water come from?
The water that ultimately flows from our taps as drinking water is obtained from the underground groundwater stream, springs and reservoirs. Around two thirds of our drinking water comes from groundwater. Groundwater is rainwater that has seeped through the various soil layers: earth, sand, gravel and clay function like a kind of filter. This means that the water is partly cleaned naturally before it is extracted. The so-called raw water is then transported to a waterworks via pipes, wells and pumps and processed there into drinking water.
Over 6,000 water suppliers...
... in Germany, we ensure that more than 99 percent of the population is always supplied with sufficient water via central drinking water distribution networks. After all, we use around 120 liters per person every day! We use 2 to 5 percent of this for cooking and drinking. The remaining liters are used for bathing, showering, flushing the toilet or washing, for example. In order to ensure short distances and to keep the effort for drinking water distribution as low as possible, the water supply is organized regionally.
The Drinking Water Ordinance ensures that only clean and safe water ends up in our pipes in the long term. There are clear rules and quality requirements that water supply companies must adhere to with regard to the extraction, treatment and distribution of drinking water. The Drinking Water Ordinance serves to protect human health and specifies which substances and processes may be used to treat drinking water. It regulates the strict limits that ensure that we can drink and enjoy our drinking water for a lifetime.
From Water to Drinking Water
In Germany, around 50% of raw water does not need to be treated at all or only slightly! If the extracted water does not meet the high requirements of the Drinking Water Ordinance, it is treated. This happens, for example, by removing iron, manganese or carbon dioxide. Water suppliers often use natural processes such as sand filtration. More complex processes such as activated carbon filtration are used when the raw water is contaminated with pesticides, for example.
In recent years, the microfiltration process has also been developed: This allows even trace substances to be removed from the water! However, this costs a lot of money and energy. That is why it is very important that everyone contributes to ensuring that as few pollutants as possible enter nature and thus also our water.
Before the drinking water leaves the waterworks, the water suppliers check that it complies with all legal regulations. Regular tests and inspections by the health authorities ensure that the drinking water that ends up in our drinking bottles is of impeccable quality. To that, let's take a big sip from the soulbottle - cheers!
From the waterworks to the faucet
The clean water is stored in containers by the water supply companies. From there, it is then transported by pumps through a wide network of pipes to every house and to every tap. And when you need to refill your soulbottle, you simply turn on the tap and cool, fresh drinking water flows into your bottle! Clean, right? Cheers to our water suppliers!
By the way …
Drinking water in Germany is not sewage treatment plant water! This is a widespread misconception . Wastewater is flushed into the sewer system, cleaned by sewage treatment plants and freed of pollutants and dirt. It is then channeled into surface waters such as rivers and lakes and thus returns to the natural water cycle!
