Munich gets 80 per cent of its water from the Mangfall valley and 20 per cent from the Loisach valley, both spring water and groundwater from the limestone Alps. It is not treated, only occasionally given a precautionary UV treatment, and is regarded as one of the best city waters in Europe.
Water hardness
15.5 °dHhardA lot of calcium and magnesium: good for the body, a nuisance for appliances. Descale regularly and use more detergent. Descale: every 4 weeks.
Aquaviana’s advice
- Drink it as it comes: the water has mineral water quality and costs 0.2 cents per litre.
- It is hard because of the limestone, so descale regularly.
- The municipal utility (Stadtwerke) protects the catchment areas with organic farming, which is why nitrate is low.
Where the water comes from
Since 1883, water has flowed from the Mangfall valley south-east of Munich through tunnels and pipes into the city by gravity. It is supplemented from the Loisach valley near Garmisch and from wells in the Munich gravel plain. The water has spent years moving through limestone and gravel and needs no treatment. The municipal utility (Stadtwerke) has leased around 3,000 hectares of the catchment area to organic farmers to keep nitrate and pesticides out of the water.
Hardness and taste
Munich water is hard, 14 to 17 °dH (about 250 to 300 mg/l CaCO3), because it comes from the limestone Alps and gravel. It comes out of the tap cold all year round at 8 to 12 °C and tastes fresh and mineral. Calcium is around 80 mg/l, magnesium 20, nitrate about 6 mg/l and sodium under 5. That makes it almost sodium-free and well suited to infant food.
What that means day to day
Water that other cities buy bottles for. The only drawback is limescale: descale the kettle every four weeks and the fully automatic coffee machine when it tells you to. For espresso and tea the water becomes a little softer with a filter; for everything else it is just right as it is. No chlorine, no tap-water taste.
Try it out
Hardness converterConvert °dH, °fH, °e, mmol/l and ppm into one another and read off the hardness range and descaling interval.Tap water checkEight questions about your home, pipes and region, an assessment with a traffic light and next steps.Share
