Water supply system; notification of construction, commissioning, modification, transfer of ownership or decommissioning

The operator must notify the public health department of the construction, commissioning, decommissioning, structural and operational changes or the transfer of ownership or right of use of the water supply system to another person.

The operator of a central water supply system, a decentralized water supply system, an own water supply system or, if the drinking water is provided as part of a public activity, a building water supply system must notify the public health department in writing or electronically of the following (§ 11 TrinkwV):

• the installation of the water supply system,
• the commissioning and recommissioning of the water supply system,
• structural or operational changes to parts of the water supply system that carry drinking water, if these changes may have a significant impact on the quality of the drinking water,
• the transfer of ownership or the right of use of the water supply system to another person and
• the decommissioning of the water supply system or parts of the water supply system.

Non-drinking water systems (e.g. service water systems for rainwater utilization) that are installed in the household in addition to the drinking water system must also be notified (§ 12 TrinkwV).

A water supply system is constructed, commissioned, decommissioned, structurally and structurally modified or the ownership or right of use is transferred.

• for construction, commissioning and structural and operational changes: no later than four weeks before the start of the measure.
• in the event of transfer of ownership or the right of use of the water supply system to another person: no later than four weeks before the transfer of ownership or the right of use.
• in the event of decommissioning: within three days of decommissioning.

If the notification is made after the above-mentioned deadlines have expired, the notification must be made immediately after becoming aware of the circumstances requiring notification.

The aim of the Drinking Water Ordinance (TrinkwV) is to ensure that the water supplied to consumers is of high quality in microbiological, chemical and physical terms. This is intended to protect human health from adverse effects that may result from the contamination of drinking water.

Quality assurance

The operators of water supply systems are responsible for the impeccable quality of the drinking water they supply.

They must ensure this by carrying out their own tests on the drinking water. The scope of testing covers microbiological, chemical and physical parameters. The tests may only be carried out by test centers approved for drinking water testing, which are approved following an inspection by the competent body under state law. In Bavaria, the State Office for Health and Food Safety is designated as the competent body under state law in accordance with Section 69a of the Competence Ordinance. This office publishes the current list of approved drinking water testing laboratories on its website.

Irrespective of this, the water supply systems are officially monitored by the health authorities.

Consumer information

The Drinking Water Ordinance stipulates that consumers must be informed about the quality of drinking water at least once a year by the operator of the water supply system by means of suitable and up-to-date information material. Individual results of the drinking water tests must be made available to the affected consumers on request in accordance with Section 45 (3) sentence 4 TrinkwV. In the case of water treatment, the obligation to provide information also includes the treatment substances and disinfection processes used. Furthermore, consumers must be informed of any exceptionally permitted deviations from the requirements of the Drinking Water Ordinance or restrictions on use.