Tap water in Austria: the figures behind its good reputation

The Austrian Drinking Water Report 2024 lists 26 chemical parameters, 16 indicator parameters and 2 microbiological parameters for large supply systems. The values themselves are set out in the Trinkwasserverordnung (Drinking Water Ordinance), BGBl. II Nr. 304/2001. It was amended twice in 2024, most recently by BGBl. II Nr. 122/2024, both times to transpose the European Drinking Water Directive 2020/2184.

The table shows the most important values together with the results of the official monitoring in 2024. The figures apply to large systems, i.e. those with a daily output of more than 1,000 cubic metres.

At 99.0%, uranium is the country's weakest chemical parameter. The reason lies in the rock: antimony, arsenic and uranium occur naturally in the Central Alps. In 2024, five tests from two systems exceeded the value of 15 micrograms per litre.

In Austria, water is only disinfected where the situation requires it. That is why you rarely taste chlorine. Where contamination recurs, operators are increasingly turning to ultraviolet radiation. The parametric values for chlorate and chlorite apply from 12 January 2026, and even then only to systems that use such a method.

For the indicator parameters, the compliance rate was 100.0% across the board, with one exception: iron reached 99.9%. These also include pH value, conductivity, manganese, odour, taste and turbidity. Odour was tested 8,999 times and taste 7,608 times, both times with zero non-compliant results.

Water hardness describes the content of dissolved calcium and magnesium and is usually given in degrees of German hardness, abbreviated to °dH. One millimole per litre corresponds to 5.6 °dH. The Austrian Drinking Water Ordinance leaves hardness unregulated.

Wiener Wasser (Vienna Water) uses three ranges: soft up to 10 °dH, medium from 10 to 16 and hard above 16. Calcium and magnesium are good for the body. Hard water is also considered to have a fuller taste.

The technical side is interesting. In pipes, hard water forms a thin layer of limescale. It protects against corrosion and can extend the service life of the pipe. Wiener Wasser therefore advises setting washing machines and dishwashers to a value below 10 °dH rather than softening the water. More on the deposits and their causes can be found in the guide on limescale in water.

The Austrian Drinking Water Report 2024 was published in September 2025 and covers the 2024 calendar year. It is issued by the Bundesministerium für Arbeit, Soziales, Gesundheit, Pflege und Konsumentenschutz (Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection), while the statistical analysis is carried out by the Agentur für Gesundheit und Ernährungssicherheit (AGES, Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety). Testing takes place in two ways: every operator carries out its own checks, and on top of that there is official monitoring by the state governors.

Four findings from the report are relevant to travellers and residents alike:

• The tests for radioactivity were 100% compliant.
• 64 exemptions were in force in 2024, ten of which were newly granted.
• At three large systems, a pesticide parametric value was exceeded, including glyphosate and a breakdown product of the herbicide dimethachlor.
• There were incidents caused by heavy rain and flooding, followed by boil-water notices.

A disruption only counts as an incident if it lasts at least ten days and affects at least 1,000 people. Austria has been reporting such cases to the European Commission since 2023.

The exemptions are concentrated in a few regions. Pesticide breakdown products top the list, especially in Lower Austria and Upper Austria. Added to this is arsenic in Tyrol and Carinthia. The herbicide atrazine has long been banned, but its breakdown products remain detectable because they persist in the soil for a long time.

Austria has 4,733 water supply systems with a daily output of more than 10 cubic metres. Only 295 of them are large systems, and they supply 69.4% of the population. The structure is therefore fragmented, with the weight resting on a few large operators.

The results are graded exactly according to system size:

• Large systems over 1,000 cubic metres: Escherichia coli 99.9%, enterococci 99.7%.
• Small systems between 100 and 1,000 cubic metres: Escherichia coli 98.8%, enterococci 98.4%.
• Smallest systems up to 100 cubic metres: 6 out of 207 samples non-compliant, which is 2.9%.

The figure for the smallest systems comes from a separate monitoring programme for geogenic substances. The non-compliant results involved nickel three times, arsenic twice and lead once. The six suppliers are spread across five federal states: two in Upper Austria and one each in Burgenland, Salzburg, Styria and Vorarlberg.

In practice, this means that in the city, the water comes from a large system. In a mountain hut, it may come from the smallest category, whose non-compliance rate is 2.9%.

A single large water supply system supplies 2,005,760 people in Vienna, which is 99.4% of the city's population. By comparison, Lower Austria operates 97 large systems and with them reaches only 55.6% of its inhabitants.

70 springs in the Alps of Lower Austria and Styria feed Vienna's water, together with 30 groundwater wells. Two mountain spring pipelines carry it into the city, by gravity alone.

The First Vienna Mountain Spring Pipeline delivers 220 million litres a day via 30 aqueducts. Its most distant spring is 150 kilometres away, and the water takes 24 hours to reach Vienna. Its springs lie in the Schneeberg, Rax and Schneealpe area. The Second Vienna Mountain Spring Pipeline handles up to 217 million litres a day over 180 kilometres, taking 36 hours and crossing 100 aqueducts. It overcomes a difference in height of 360 metres and comes from the Hochschwab.

The protected area around the springs measures 675 square kilometres. Vienna itself covers 415 square kilometres. The Wiener Wasser department looks after 330 kilometres of mountain spring pipelines, 3,100 kilometres of pipe network in the city and 102,900 house connections.

Wiener Wasser publishes the analyses for each supply line. On 27 April 2026, the First Mountain Spring Pipeline measured 6.1 milligrams of nitrate per litre and the Second 3.1 milligrams. The limit value is 50 milligrams per litre. Lead was below 0.001 milligrams per litre in all four supply lines tested, against a limit value of 0.01. Since 2007, the city has replaced all lead pipes in the house connection lines.

Vienna's drinking water usually measures 6 to 12 °dH. In districts 2, 3, 11, 20, 21 and 22, the value can rise to as much as 20 °dH. The reason is groundwater being fed into the network, and the measured values show exactly where the jump comes from:

There are 11 °dH between the Second Mountain Spring Pipeline and the Moosbrunn waterworks, and both feed the same city network. Anyone living in the 22nd district therefore sometimes has harder water than someone in the 7th district. You can find out your own value from the Wiener Wasser department's recorded information line.

In normal operation, Innsbruck meets 100% of its water demand from spring water. The most important spring is the Mühlau spring on the Nordkette, whose water has a temperature of around 5 degrees Celsius. Rain and meltwater take years to pass through the rock strata.

A long residence time and low temperature slow down the growth of germs. Complex treatment steps are therefore unnecessary. Innsbrucker Kommunalbetriebe is one of the eight water suppliers in Austria certified by the Österreichische Vereinigung für das Gas- und Wasserfach (Austrian Association for Gas and Water).

In Innsbruck, too, hardness varies considerably. In the city area it is 6.2 °dH, while in the Sieglanger district it is 21.2 °dH, putting it in the highest hardness range. Sulphate there also reaches 245 milligrams per litre, just below the indicator value of 250. Pesticides remained below the detection limit in all districts listed.

In 2024, Austria tested 343 drinking water samples, each for 20 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). All 343 were compliant. In 79% of the samples, the result was below the detection limit.

The trend over four years is clear:

In 2024, a single sample reached 0.13 micrograms per litre. Measured against the minimum performance characteristic, i.e. the accuracy of the analytical method, this did not constitute a clear exceedance. The parametric value for the sum of PFAS is 0.10 micrograms per litre and was added to the ordinance in February 2024. Operators must comply with it from 12 January 2026. Background information on this group of substances can be found in the guide on PFAS in drinking water.

At the same time, Austria tested 168 samples for endocrine-active substances. In one sample, bisphenol A exceeded the limit of quantification at 66 nanograms per litre, against a parametric value of 2.5 micrograms. Oestradiol and nonylphenol remained below the detection limit everywhere.

Every operator must inform its customers about the current measured values at least once a year. That is what the Drinking Water Ordinance states, which is why a laboratory test of your own is usually unnecessary. If a value is exceeded, a warning is issued immediately, together with advice on precautionary measures.

There are three ways to obtain the values. The first is the supplier's website: Wiener Wasser and Innsbrucker Kommunalbetriebe publish their analyses online, including the date. The second is the annual information, often enclosed with the bill. The third is a direct enquiry, as the operator is obliged to provide the information.

A laboratory test is worthwhile if you suspect that the domestic plumbing is altering the water. The supplier's report ends at the point of delivery; the stretch up to the kitchen tap is not covered. The methods for this are explained in the guide How do you measure water quality.

The City of Vienna manages around 1,800 drinking fountains, plus 55 monumental and memorial fountains. From April to September, 75 mobile fountains called Brunnhilde are added, set up at places such as Rathausplatz and Mariahilfer Strasse.

A note for travellers: at the monumental and memorial fountains, pictograms warn against drinking, as most of them run on recirculated water. Drinking fountains, on the other hand, carry fresh water and are cleaned in spring.

If you are staying overnight in a holiday flat or a hut, let the water run before your first glass. If it sits in the pipes for a long time, it absorbs metals from the plumbing. Such stagnant water is suitable for watering plants. Similar cases in other travel destinations are covered in the guides on Italy and Croatia.