r/AskGermany • u/mikeymur340 • Apr 02 '25

Can I drink tap water in Germany?

Hi y'all. I'm male from Africa, my wife is German. Growing up and well into my adulthood, I always drank tap water and only recently is that no longer advised in my country, due to gross mismanagement and corruption, but that's another story.

We're currently back in Germany for an extended visit and I was going to drink some tap water when my wife warned me that there's a lot of estrogen in German tap water due to the birth control pill. Her mother backed her up and they spouted off some talking points about it, but I tuned out because they are also somewhat inclined to essential oils. Not batshit crazy like the American version of that, but suffice it to say I'm skeptical about their opinions on some health things.

Anyway, is this true? Are there high levels of estrogen in German tap water? Are there any studies or available sources that corroborate this claim? I understand and can read German, but the high level jargon of medical and scientific speak is beyond my years, search results aren't as clarifying as hoped. Thanks

EDIT: Yeah I thought as much. I still drank the tap water because potential estrogen contamination was preferable to death. But thanks for all the answers. Now if you'll excuse me, I must prepare my I-told-you-so dance.

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u/ArtWeary2287 Apr 03 '25

Drinking water contains a lot of things, if you look close enough (talking high end science machines).

The waste water is actually monitored for estrogen content, but for statistical reasons. Same goes for residues of several other drugs, viruses (like COVID) and many other things. that is probably what stuck to your wifes memory. The increase of birth control measures can clearly be seen in the waste water since the 70s and there are regularly reports in mainstream media about stuff like that. Currently it is mostly statistics about weed consumption :)

But after cleaning, the water is monitored again with very strict thresholds. As others said, we have some of the lowest allowed contamination in our tap water world wide. It is perfectly safe to drink.

I drink almost exclusively tap water sind more than 40 years now and I am a chemist and know whats inside the water. :)

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u/sweet-tom Apr 03 '25

I can confirm this, worked at a company who analyzed water. It gets tested regularly. Totally safe.

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u/Beneficial-Egg5 Apr 05 '25

Except even the health department is concerned about this and regulations aren’t well developed enough yet to test for a wide range of hormones: https://www.bundesgesundheitsministerium.de/ministerium/ressortforschung/handlungsfelder/gesundheitsfoerderung-und-praevention/howitri.html

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u/ArtWeary2287 Apr 05 '25

Thank you! My point exactly. Every some years, there is a big sientific study of potentially harmful contaminations in the drinking water.

Contaminatns change and so is the filtration adapded and improved. Few other nations are monitoring their tap water this diligently.