Laboratory technology is key to ensuring the safety of drinking water

While we take drinking water for granted, 2.2 billion people worldwide do not have access to clean water. The average German uses 121 liters per day, four percent of which—or about five liters—is used for drinking and food preparation. Consumer confidence is high—83 percent of consumers rate the quality of the water as very good or good.

Little do we realize that behind the water coming out of the tap stands a perfectly coordinated team of nearly 6,000 water supply companies, 16,000 water extraction facilities, 553 drinking water laboratories, and a “guardian” technology that hardly anyone knows about: 5.2 billion cubic meters of water are monitored annually in Germany so that people can safely enjoy their number one food source. Under European-harmonized drinking water legislation, we have achieved an unprecedented standard with strict limits and a set of technical regulations that guarantees worry-free, lifelong consumption of drinking water.

And it’s not just in the area of drinking water; Germany also holds a leading position in Europe and internationally in all other areas of food analysis. Research is already underway on new solutions, such as “food profiling”—an analytical method that generates data patterns for verifying the authenticity of food with a level of precision comparable to that of a human fingerprint in terms of uniqueness.

With this publication, we would like to showcase the enormous potential of modern analytical, biological, and laboratory technologies and take you on an exciting journey into a world that works behind the scenes every day to ensure the safety of us all.

Mathis Kuchejda, Chair of the Analysis, Biotechnology, and Laboratory Technology Division at the German Industry Association SPECTARIS
 

New study lists facts and achievements in drinking water analysis in Germany / FromOctober 19 to 23,the industry will showcase its innovations at analytica, the world’s leading trade fair, which will be held entirely online this year and is free for visitors

After three consecutive dry summers, the value of water in Germany has increased significantly. Nevertheless, many people take clean drinking water from the tap for granted. Only a few realize the effort and advanced technology required to ensure such high-quality drinking water. Thanks to state-of-the-art analytical methods, it is possible to detect a wide variety of chemical substances in Lake Constance in quantities as small as a teaspoon or even a sugar cube. For example, analysts today would be able to detect as little as a small cup of X-ray contrast agent in the 48.5 km³ lake. “This example shows just how efficient and sensitive German analytical and laboratory technology has become. It is these technologies that make the high level of supply security and outstanding drinking water quality in Germany possible,” emphasizes Jörg Mayer, Managing Director of the industry association SPECTARIS, on the occasion of a new publication on drinking water that the association produced in collaboration with Messe München for this year’s analytica—the world’s leading trade fair, which is taking place virtuallyfrom October 19–23, 2020.

Only 4 percent of drinking water is actually consumed or used for cooking 

The study, conducted in cooperation with the IWW Center for Water, demonstrates the importance of analytical testing for today’s drinking water supply. It tells the success story of drinking water analysis in Germany. And it presents impressive facts and figures: 553 laboratories in Germany monitor the quality of drinking water, undertaking a major task in the process. This is because more than 16,000 water treatment plants extract approximately 5.2 billion cubic meters of water per year, of which just under 3.7 billion cubic meters are supplied to households and small businesses. Four percent of the per capita consumption of 121 liters of drinking water per day—that is, about five liters—is used for drinking and food preparation.

The report also makes it clear that the requirements for drinking water and food analysis have steadily increased in recent years—and that, thanks to high-tech solutions, researchers, developers, and manufacturers are able to provide ever more precise measurement methods. The innovation primarily concerns organic trace analysis. Detection limits have improved by a factor of approximately 1,000 over the past 30 years. Dr. Borchers, authorized signatory and head of the Water Quality Division at the Rhineland-Westphalian Institute for Water (IWW), illustrates this development: “The first Drinking Water Ordinance of 1975 contained only twelve limit values for chemical substances such as mercury and nitrate. Today, the number of chemical, microbiological, and other parameters stands at 108—nine times as many.” The analytical range of environmentally relevant substances is inevitably expanding. SPECTARIS Managing Director Jörg Mayer explains: “Today, there are analytical methods capable of detecting 150 substances in a single test. When these instruments and analytical methods are digitally networked, the generated knowledge becomes available even faster. For our association and at the analytica trade show, this is one of the most important industry trends.”

Digitalization: A Hot Topic in Analytics

Dr. Reinhard Pfeiffer, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of Messe München, adds: “Every two years, analytica showcases the most important developments in the field of food and drinking water analysis. Even in this year’s fully virtual format, the world’s leading trade fair showcases the state of the art and offers the opportunity to connect with top experts from the field. The accompanying analytica conference bridges the gap to science. And for those who want to follow the trend toward digitalization—which is becoming increasingly important in analytics—analytica offers practical applications that are unique worldwide.”