Tap water during pregnancy: quantity, carbonation, lead

The table shows 2 things. Compared with a woman aged between 25 and 51, the extra amount during pregnancy is 60 ml a day. That is less than half a glass. While breastfeeding, the same comparison value rises by 300 ml.

This mathematically disproves the saying about drinking for two. During pregnancy, the body builds up more blood, produces amniotic fluid and supplies the placenta. Together, this costs a few hundred millilitres a day.

A note on context is in order. The reference values were derived in 2000. The guideline value of 1.5 l from 2026 is more recent and the more practical one in everyday life.

Pregnant women need more fluid in 4 situations: in hot weather, during exercise, with fever or diarrhoea and with constipation. The last point occurs more often during pregnancy, because progesterone relaxes the smooth muscles of the intestine. For the general calculation, see the guide How much water should I drink.

Two cups of filter coffee add up to 180 mg, which is almost the daily limit. If you also drink tea or cola, you will quickly exceed the 200 mg.

3 groups of drinks call for restraint. Alcohol is off the table for the entire pregnancy. Sweetened drinks should remain a rare exception in small amounts. The third point is new and little known. Quinine is found in bitter lemon and tonic water. The 2026 version clearly advises avoiding them.

Herbal teas deserve a note of their own. The advice is to drink them alternately with other drinks, above all with water. The reason is plant compounds that build up in the body if you only drink one type of tea.

Compared with control groups, the odds ratio was 8.37. Frequently quoted figures of 80% and more exceed what the pooled data support. In the third trimester, it affects just over one in two pregnant women.

The mechanism behind this has 2 parts. Progesterone relaxes smooth muscle, including the sphincter between the oesophagus and the stomach. At the same time, the uterus grows and increases the pressure from below. As a result, stomach acid rises more easily.

Carbonation amplifies the effect. The dissolved gas is released again in the stomach, increases the volume and leads to belching. If you remain free of symptoms, you can keep drinking sparkling water. With reflux, still water is the more comfortable choice, and tap water is naturally still.

3 everyday rules help against heartburn. At the first sign, it is worth switching from sparkling to medium and then to still. Large amounts with a meal are more of a burden than small amounts between meals. Staying upright after eating relieves the sphincter for 1 to 2 hours.

The deadline under § 17(1) of the Trinkwasserverordnung (German Drinking Water Ordinance) expired on 12 January 2026. By then, operators had to remove lead pipes or take them out of service. After that, they must submit proof of this to the public health office on their own initiative. Since 13 January 2026, operators have also been obliged to provide affected consumers with a declaration in text form.

For pregnant women, the most important sentence is in paragraph 3. More time, until 2036, is only granted for owner-occupied systems serving one household. The operator must notify the public health office immediately if the group of users changes. The ordinance explicitly names one case: when minors, pregnant women or women of childbearing age join it. A pregnant woman moving into a flat with an extended deadline therefore triggers a notification obligation.

Tenants find their lever in paragraph 5. If the landlord fails to act, the public health office is the responsible body. The Verbraucherzentrale (German consumer advice centre) states the penalty, as of 2 February 2026. Violations of the lead ban can result in fines of up to 50,000 euros.

The two prices also show why a general cost figure for water analyses is of little use. The same lead analysis costs 2.5 times the Berlin price in Hamburg.

Getting the result takes 3 steps. First, ask your own water supplier about a lead analysis or a baby water analysis. You can do this via the hotline or a form. Then take the sample according to the supplier's instructions, usually in a clean bottle and after 4 hours of standing time. Finally, drop off the sample at the designated laboratory and request the result in writing.

There is one limitation. So far, there is no nationwide right to a free analysis. The offer is based on voluntary programmes run by individual suppliers, and there is no complete overview of the participants either. It is still worth asking, because in the best case it saves you the entire cost.

Sampling is what matters. According to the Umweltbundesamt, the water must have stood for at least 4 hours for a reliable lead sample. Otherwise, freshly run water shows the lowest values. Approved laboratories are those accredited under the Trinkwasserverordnung, and the public health office can name the ones in your area.

A cost table is deliberately left out here. In Germany, there is no official fee schedule for private water analyses, and the market prices of laboratories vary widely. How widely is shown in the next section, using the example of the same lead analysis in 2 cities.

The limit value for nitrate is 50 mg/l and is met almost everywhere in the public network. Water from a private household well, by contrast, lies outside official monitoring. For pregnant women and infants, an analysis is a prerequisite there.

For comparison: the Trinkwasserverordnung allows 50 mg/l of nitrate and 1.5 mg/l of fluoride. A water for baby food keeps to a fifth of that for nitrate. For fluoride, it is just over half.

The fluoride content deserves a closer look as soon as fluoride prophylaxis is being considered. From 0.3 mg/l in the water used, the Netzwerk Gesund ins Leben advises a supplement with vitamin D alone. Fluoride is then left out. The value for your own water can be found in your supplier's report.