water filter systems
disclaimer: please read the following as a discussion protocol from our meeting on jan 13th. we first wanted to actually implement a water filter system in a private flat in kreuzberg/berlin but skipped that activity after weighing out the advantages/disadvantages of a integrating a water filtering system into a private household here. The water quality all over the city and in germany is so good that one really doesn't need to filter - on the contrary, the exchange of filters on a regular basis is not only costly but also bears the disadvantage to unwillingly grow bacteria-ecosystems within your filter system over time.
subtopic: is it possible to supply yourself with groundwater in berlin? how do you dig a well
Groundwater lies at about 5m below ground level in berlin (within the green part on this map "Warschau-Berliner Urstromtal" http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/umwelt/umweltatlas/karten/pdf/02_12_2012.pdf)
in principle a hole can be dug and tapped, you must not dig to the groundwater stream but stop in the sand layer above and pump(?)
there are public pumping stations in the city (often used for dogs) - question: where do they tap the water? is it groundwater or regular water infrastructure?
Berliner Straßenbrunnen are fed directly from groundwater and were, until the creation of the Wassernetz in 1853, the only source of drinking water. They continued to be maintained after the netz was installed, and during the war became vital for keeping people in the city alive: https://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/AufgabenundAusstattung/Wassersicherstellung/Brunnen/BerlStrBrun_einstieg.html. A kleine anfrage from the SPD to the AGH end 2019 to determine the current state of these wells https://kleineanfragen.de/berlin/18/21334-kritische-infrastruktur-trinkwasser-ii-was-tun-die-verwaltungen-gegen-zu-wenig-strassenbrunnen-fuer-den-notfall.txt. There are currently 2.070 working Straßenbrunnen in Berlin (1.169 Landesbrunnen, 901 Bundesbrunnen).
Bundesbrunnen (901 Stück, Stand 2019, Quelle: Bundesnotbrunnenbank), regulated by the Wassersicherstellungsgesetzes (WasSG), managed by the Bundesamt für Bevölkerungsschutz und Katastrophenhilfe (BBK), financed by the Senat.
Landesbrunnen (1.169 Stück, Stand 2019, Quelle: FIS-Broker), regulated under the Landesgesetzgebung zum Katastrophenschutz, responsibility of the relevant Bezirksämter of Berlin who fit repair costs within their general budgets.
They admit a shortfall of over 1000 wells to adequately serve the drinking water needs of the Berlin population should there be some kind of catastrophe. Also, the number of those existing functioning wells that actually pump drinkable water is low (eg only 62 of 213 wells in Neukölln) - figures are given by bezirk for the number of wells that are clean v.s. with bacterial or chemical contamination (also evident that there are many "functioning" wells that nonetheless don't deliver drinkable water due to other reasons). No information about WHICH wells are clean v.s. dirty.
There are also Trinkbrunnen, managed by the Berlin Wasserbetrieb, all linked to the Wassernetz: https://www.bwb.de/de/trinkbrunnen.php
it is basically permitted to drill and to draw water directly from the groundwater but you have to register it at the "Wasserbehörde".If you drill more than 15m you need permission to do so. You can find the document here: - https://www.berlin.de/special/immobilien-und-wohnen/balkon-und-garten/5615565-739650-brunnen-bohren-kosten-anleitung-tiefe.html
subtopic: is it possible to drink rainwater?
yes (?)
is polluted mainly by fine dust and air pollution
has few minerals and is more like distilled water
could be simply run over a sand/gravel filter mixture for cleaning and also mineralization
subtopic: pollution of groundwater
there are many drugs in the groundwater
but in DE very low concentration and therefore harmless
in germany: a monitoring network comprises about 180 monitoring sites at which the nitrate concentration in groundwater is normally measured two to four times a year, so-called "EU-Nitratmessnetz" (source p49 (pdf-link): https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/sites/default/files/medien/publikation/long/3642.pdf)
subtopic: water tests
tests are available and can be ordered for around 15EUR/metal/content/test
for households in which pregnant women or infants up to the age of twelve months, "Berliner Wasserbetriebe" offers the lead analysis free of charge on presentation of the maternity passport or birth certificate! https://www.bwb.de/de/1616.php
subtopic: what kind of filter systems are available?
activated carbon filter, sand, UV (usually as last stage)
what do these filter systems look like and is there any advice on the sequence in which they should be used, in which environment?
Links that we stumbled upon, while discussing:
https://faircap.org open source water bottle filter
Japanese binchotan Charcoal (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binch%C5%8Dtan) as water filter (e.g. https://www.remodelista.com/posts/japanese-charcoal-roundup/) - no idea if this really makes sense as a sustainable option... certainly not if you ship it from Japan. But, subjectively, it does seem to improve tap water.
jarrah wood makes a good water filter, actually wood is meant for delivering clean water to the leafs
link to our protocol pad:
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