BBA drinking water workshop on June 16, 2026 – with new recommendations from the Federal Environment Agency
At the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of the Real Estate Industry (BBA), our board member and lawyer Marcus Pikarek and his co-lecturer and drinking water expert Claudia Wagner will provide information for the 7th time on innovations from technical standardization, legislation and administrative practice relating to the so-called legionella test, according to which all owners of large-scale systems for heating drinking water must have their drinking water regularly tested for legionella. The workshop will take place on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. at the BBA premises in the Roxypalast in Berlin. The target group are specialists and managers who have to take care of the system safety of existing drinking water installations. The updated recommendations of the Federal Environment Agency on legionella testing and risk assessment in the event of legionella contamination, which were published at the end of 2025, will be discussed in detail. The workshop repeats and deepens for all "newcomers" the changes relevant to the real estate industry that have been introduced by the amendment to the Drinking Water Ordinance in June 2023, such as New structure, new terms, new obligations Measures again from 100 colony forming units(CFU) Hazard analysis becomes risk assessment Removal requirement for lead pipes [...]
Random sampling for lead (Z samples) with anniversary discount
On January 12 of this year, the deadline under the German Drinking Water Ordinance expired for removing or decommissioning lead drinking water pipes from existing buildings.Since then, we have been flooded with inquiries from private homeowners and amateur landlords asking whether we can quickly carry out lead testing. With a heavy heart, we often have to refer them to our cooperating partner laboratories, as our business model does not allow us to process individual orders involving travel time.Nevertheless, we have taken this “flood of requests” as an opportunity to launch a product for our existing customers: random sampling for lead (Z samples) with an anniversary discount. Under Section 17 (1) of the Drinking Water Ordinance, which entered into force in June 2023, the operator of a water supply system in which drinking water pipes or sections of drinking water pipes made of lead are present must remove or decommission these pipes or sections by the end of January 12, 2026, in accordance with the generally accepted rules of technology. For non-concealed pipes, a scratch test is a suitable option, as lead is a very soft material. However, pipes are often concealed, meaning that this kind of simple inspection is not possible. [...]
Property safety obligations – from regulations to responsible practice – on April 16, 2026 in Bielefeld
Fulfilling legal duties to ensure safety on residential premises — often referred to in German law as Verkehrssicherungspflichten — has been a concern for the housing industry for many decades. At the latest since the so-called Hanover List of 1999, systematic and rule-based approaches have existed to proactively increase the property safety within managed portfolios. True to the principle “danger recognized, danger averted,” the real estate industry must continuously take new developments and changing framework conditions into account. This two-day event is aimed at specialists and managers from the real estate sector who need to be familiar with and implement numerous traffic safety obligations in their day-to-day operations. Experienced experts from the fields of law and technology will provide valuable guidance and inspiration on how to confidently master traffic safety in changing times. The conference begins with a retrospective synopsis by two leading authorities in their respective fields. The direct comparison between the technical-professional perspective and the legal perspective is intended to help participants better assess the content, scope, and limits of safety obligations concerning premises. Danach referieren anerkannte Praktiker zu den Dauerbrennern Asbest und Legionellen. Der Praxis-Workshop am zweiten Tag geht auf die schleichende Gefahr durch Kohlenmonoxid sowie auf neue Anforderungen [...]
Off to the South: WATERcontrol relocates its headquarters from Hanover to Stuttgart.
On April 1, 2025, WATERcontrol officially "launched" its new headquarters in Stuttgart. Kevin Salzer, Head of Sampling, conducted the first audit in the new facilities that day, integrating Stuttgart’s new sample collectors into the company’s internal quality assurance system. Almost simultaneously, colleagues at Alten Flughafen 16b removed WATERcontrol signs from the entrance, main entrance, and parking areas. The relocation is in full swing. "The relocation is driven by strategic expansion considerations," explains CEO Marc Vincenz. "Our business has been moving south for many years—10 of our last 12 major clients are located south of Kassel. 60% of our existing customers are in the Southern Hemisphere, and 68% of all facilities requiring inspection are under contract." Additionally, several mid-sized environmental laboratories in the south have recently gone out of business, while competition and the density of accredited drinking water testing facilities remain relatively high in the north. The prospects for organic growth are significantly better in the south—a view shared by Dr. Ingfried Hobert, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of WATERcontrol AG and a native of Hesse. "We have built capacity for 90,000 water samples. Our goal is to fully utilize this capacity in the medium term, and that can only be [...]
Drinking Water Seminar on the New Drinking Water Ordinance at VdW Niedersachsen-Bremen on December 2, 2024
The use of drinking water should be free of risks. Drinking water supplied by the water provider is generally potable and pure, but it can undergo adverse changes within domestic plumbing systems. Therefore, drinking water in central hot water installations should be regularly tested for Legionella.On Monday, December 2, 2024, a full-day seminar on Legionella testing under the new Drinking Water Ordinance will take place at the VdW Niedersachsen-Bremen e.V. association headquarters in Hanover. During the seminar, you will learn about the (new) legal requirements that must be adhered to, as well as how to analyze drinking water for Legionella, identify hygiene problem areas, prevent them, and, if necessary, eliminate them.The seminar will be conducted by our experienced team: Marcus Pikarek, attorney and long-standing head of the "Water Analysis" working group of the Gas and Water Industry Association (figawa), and Claudia Wagner, a publicly appointed and sworn expert in drinking water hygiene and former head of a microbiological laboratory. Contents: Legal regime according to the new Drinking Water Ordinance New structure, new terms, new obligations Measures from 100 colony forming units (CFU) Hazard analysis becomes risk assessment Removal or decommissioning requirement for lead pipes "Basics" on legionella (occurrence & living conditions) [...]
3rd RKI Bulletin: Did Lowering Drinking Water Temperatures in 2022 Affect Legionella Incidence?
The 33rd Epidemiological Bulletin of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), published on August 15, 2024, presents the TESLI study (Temperature Reduction and Legionella Incidence), which investigates whether the inflation-driven lowering of operating temperatures in domestic hot water storage systems in 2022 led to an increase in the incidence of reported cases of Legionnaires' disease. The study also illustrates the trends in average drinking water temperatures over time and the proportion of households that lowered their water temperature. These data were correlated with the incidence of Legionnaires' disease cases at the state level. WATERcontrol was one of the six laboratories approached that provided the RKI with anonymized large-scale drinking water datasets from commercially used drinking water installations for analysis purposes. Legionnaires' disease is the most common form of legionellosis, which manifests as pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria. Legionella are environmental microorganisms found in water that thrive particularly well at temperatures between 25 and 45°C and can also colonize technical drinking water installations (TWI), which are relevant to human health. Above 55°C, their growth is inhibited. During the energy crisis in 2022, there was a significant increase in energy prices, which also made the heating of drinking water more expensive. The RKI investigated [...]
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