Water hardness and tap water in Hannover

Name: Water hardness and tap water in Hannover
Creator: Trinkwassermonitor
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Hannover, Niedersachsen · Postcode 30159, 30161, 30163, 30165, 30167, 30169 …

This page is a translation of the German version; the German page is authoritative. German version · Report a translation error

Short answer: The tap water in Hannover has a total hardness of 12 °dH, hardness range “medium” (as of 2025). All tested parameters with a legal limit (8) meet the limits set by the German Drinking Water Ordinance (TrinkwV). Source: test report by enercity. WaterScore: 100 out of 100 (data coverage: 4 of 7 core parameters).

Limits of the Drinking Water OrdinancemetAll tested parameters (8), at the waterworks
Water hardness12 °dH, mediumNo legal limit, only a range
Data coverageCore parameters: 4 of 7Score based on complete data

Verified drinking-water values

Parameter	Value	Limit (TrinkwV)	Sampling date	Source	Status
Nitrate	2.2 mg/L	50 mg/L	2025	enercity AG	verified
Lead	< 0.001 mg/L	0.01 mg/L from 12 January 2028: 0.005 mg/L	2025	enercity AG	verified
Uranium	< 0.0005 mg/L	0.01 mg/L	2025	enercity AG	verified
Copper	0.003 mg/L	2 mg/L	2025	enercity AG	verified
Chloride	48 mg/L 19 % of the limit	250 mg/L	2025	enercity AG	verified
Sulphate	91 mg/L 36 % of the limit	250 mg/L	2025	enercity AG	verified
Sodium	25 mg/L 13 % of the limit	200 mg/L	2025	enercity AG	verified
Calcium	76 mg/L	–	2025	enercity AG	verified
Magnesium	5.8 mg/L	–	2025	enercity AG	verified
pH	7.8	6.5–9.5	2025	enercity AG	verified
Total hardness	12 °dH (medium)	no legal limit	2025	enercity AG	verified
Electrical conductivity	561 µS/cm	–	2025	enercity AG	verified

Note from the test report (in the German original): enercity AG · Jahreswerte 2025 (Minimum/Mittelwert/Maximum über alle Messstellen), erstellt Februar 2026. Summe PFAS wird von enercity nicht als eigener Parameter veröffentlicht.

Is a value wrong or out of date? Report an error – we check every report against the original source.

Water at your own tap: The values describe the water the supplier delivers – not automatically the water at your tap. The water supplier is responsible up to the service connection (Hausanschluss); the building owner is responsible for the pipes beyond it. Lead can dissolve from lead pipes, leaded solder joints or old brass fittings, especially when water has stood in the pipes for a long time (stagnant water); this mainly affects buildings constructed before about 1973. If water has stood in the pipes for several hours, let it run until it comes out cool. If you suspect lead pipes, a lead analysis of the stagnant water by an accredited laboratory will help.

Background on household plumbing, not a measurement: in Hannover, 61 % of buildings with living space were built before 1970, and a further 10 % between 1970 and 1979 (Zensus 2022, Statistisches Bundesamt, dl-de/by-2-0). (Zensus 2022) According to the German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt), lead pipes exist at most in houses built before 1973 – and by no means in all of them. Whether there are any in your house is known to the owner or a plumber. (UBA)

What the values mean for Hannover

Nitrate 2.2 mg/L – about 4 % of the limit of 50 mg/L and in the unremarkable range. Boiling does not reduce nitrate.
Lead – not detectable at the waterworks. Lead gets into the water almost only through old lead pipes in household plumbing, not via the supplier.
Uranium – not detectable at the waterworks (limit 10 µg/L).
pH 7.8 – within the range of the Drinking Water Ordinance (6.5 to 9.5). The pH determines how corrosive the water is in household plumbing.

Water hardness in Hannover in everyday life

At 12 °dH, Hannover is in the hardness range “medium” (soft: below 8.4 °dH, medium: 8.4–14 °dH, hard: above 14 °dH).

Dose detergent for the hardness range “medium”.
As a rule of thumb, descale the kettle about every four to six weeks and the coffee machine as the manufacturer recommends.
A limescale protection device is not a must at medium hardness; regular descaling is often enough.

Baby food and low sodium: tap water in Hannover next to the bottled-water thresholds

Bottled water may only be labelled “suitable for preparing infant food” („geeignet für die Zubereitung von Säuglingsnahrung“) if it keeps to the maximum levels of the German Mineral and Table Water Ordinance (Mineral- und Tafelwasser-Verordnung, Annex 6). Here the published values for Hannover are shown next to them, each substance on its own. This is a comparison with labelling thresholds for bottled water, not a statement on whether your tap water is suitable for baby food. (Min/TafelWV, Anlage 6)

Values at the waterworks next to the maximum levels for bottled water “suitable for infant food”
Substance	Maximum level	Value in Hannover
Sodium	20 mg/l	25 mg/l – above
Nitrate	10 mg/l	2.2 mg/l – not above
Nitrite	0.02 mg/l	not in the report
Sulphate	240 mg/l	91 mg/l – not above
Fluoride	0.7 mg/l	not in the report
Manganese	0.05 mg/l	not in the report
Arsenic	0.005 mg/l	not in the report
Uranium	0.002 mg/l	below the detection limit (0.0005 mg/l) – not above

For context: the German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt) considers preparing baby food with bottled water carrying this label necessary only in rare cases, for example when tap water is temporarily allowed to contain more than 50 mg/l nitrate. (UBA 2016, p. 59) Water from lead pipes in the house is always unsuitable for infants. (UBA 2020, p. 16) The values apply at the waterworks. Questions about baby food are answered by your midwife, your paediatrician and the health office (Gesundheitsamt).

Frequently asked questions about tap water in Hannover

Can you drink the tap water in Hannover?

According to the verified values, yes: All tested parameters with a legal limit (8) meet the limits set by the German Drinking Water Ordinance (TrinkwV). WaterScore: 100 out of 100 (data coverage: 4 of 7 core parameters). This applies to the water from the waterworks – restrictions can only arise from old household plumbing.

How hard is the water in Hannover?

The total hardness is 12 °dH – hardness range “medium”. Dose detergent for the hardness range “medium”.

Is there PFAS in the tap water in Hannover?

The published analysis by enercity that we evaluated gives no PFAS value. This does not mean there is no PFAS in the water; there is simply no figure for it. Since 12 January 2026, a limit of 0.1 µg/l has applied to the sum of PFAS-20. The supplier can tell you whether PFAS was measured and with what result.

Do I need to filter my tap water in Hannover?

Based on the verified supplier values, a filter is not necessary. It can make sense if you do not like the taste. If you suspect lead pipes in an old building, a filter does not help; a laboratory analysis at the tap does – that is a question of the household plumbing, not of the water leaving the works.

WaterScore

Total100 / 100
Chemical safety100 / 100
Heavy metals100 / 100
Nutrients100 / 100
General parameters100 / 100
Data timeliness100 / 100
Data quality100 / 100

Data coverage: 4 of 7 core parameters. Not in the test report: Nitrite, Arsenic and PFAS (sum). Missing parameters are neither estimated nor counted as harmless: the score is based only on the values available. It is not a health assessment and says nothing about the water beyond the service connection. Methodology v3: how we calculate the WaterScore.

Evidence: cite and check

Trinkwasseranalyse enercity Hannover, Untersuchungen Januar–Dezember 2025 (erstellt Februar 2026) (enercity AG) · SHA-256 of the evaluated file: 4dac1f67aee712ce…, checked on 3 October 2026

Suggested citation: Trinkwassermonitor (2025): Tap water in Hannover. Values according to the water supplier’s test report, sampling date 2025; at the waterworks, not household plumbing. https://trinkwassermonitor.ink/en/tap-water/hannover/

JSON: /api/v1/evidence?city=hannover

Data as of: 2025 · verified: 12 of 12 evaluated parameters.

This page shows only verified test data with sources, or states explicitly where data is missing (no estimated values). Cite as: “Trinkwassermonitor (2026). Tap water in Hannover. Retrieved from https://trinkwassermonitor.ink/en/tap-water/hannover/.”