Connection of a property to the public drinking water supply system

If you are the owner of a property on which drinking water is required, you must have the property connected to the supply system of the responsible municipality (municipality or special-purpose association). This is associated with costs.

Public water supply is a compulsory task that is basically incumbent on the municipalities as part of their self-administration. They have to supply the population and commercial and other facilities in their area with sufficient drinking and service water, but can also transfer these tasks to other public corporations (e.g. to special-purpose associations). The municipalities often also have their own operations or companies to perform these tasks (e.g. municipal utilities).

The municipalities do not have a supply obligation

1. if the supply is technically impossible or impossible due to disproportionately high costs, and
2. for the supply of service water, if it is reasonable for the consumer to limit this demand or to cover it otherwise.

If the water supply to the property is provided by public water supply systems, you must contact the municipality or the responsible water supply company if you have any questions.

Contact details for the responsible contact person can be found on the website of the water supply company. For the service described here, this is the office in the company responsible for connections. Their e-mail address and telephone number are usually easy to find on the home page.

see competent body

You must ask the respective municipality or the responsible special-purpose association which documents are required for the specific occasion. Often, they have published the relevant water supply statutes and information on application documents on their homepage.

• Forms: on the website of the respective special-purpose association / water supply association or the responsible municipality.
• Online procedure possible, if applicable: depending on the responsible water supply company
• Written form required: yes
• Personal appearance required: no

Prerequisites for connection to the public water supply system and the purchase of water / drinking water are regulated in the water supply statutes of the respective municipality or the responsible special-purpose association. The technical prerequisites must exist or be producible with reasonable effort.

As a rule, you must

• be the owner of the property to be connected; as a rule, heritable building rights or condominium owners are equivalent to the owner, and
• the property must be located in the vicinity of an operational public supply system.

Find out from your municipality or your special-purpose association / water supply association whether your property is located close to an operational public water supply line. If so, you can submit an application for the establishment of a drinking water connection. As a rule, the municipality has posted a corresponding application form on its website. Here you will be informed about the most important information and documents that have to be submitted for the application. You can also obtain paper forms from the municipal, district or special-purpose association administration. Often, an informal written application is also sufficient. A plumbing company approved for your domestic water supply system must usually be involved in the application process.
The municipality or the special-purpose association will inform you about the further procedure after the application has been submitted.

No deadlines
The application must be submitted in good time (usually at least 8 weeks) before the planned connection. The water supply statutes of your municipality or your responsible special-purpose association provide further details.

individual

The municipalities charge fees for the public water supply. The amount of the fees is determined by each municipality or each special-purpose association/water supply association on the basis of a cost calculation under its own responsibility.

Detailed information on water supply fees can be found in the statutes of the respective municipality or the responsible water supply association.

In addition to the volume charge, a basic charge is usually levied irrespective of the volume purchased. Under certain circumstances, a connection fee may also be due. More detailed information on this can also be found in the respective municipalities or the responsible water supply association and in the corresponding contribution and fee statutes. Depending on the financing model chosen by your local authority, property and house connection costs may also be incurred.