If you don’t want to absorb microplastics from tap water, you can simply filter them out with a kettle and filter – this trick is circulating on the Internet. But is it really that easy and even necessary in Germany? Utopia asked.
You often come across a tip online: If you are concerned about microplastics in tap water, you simply have to boil it and run it through a standard water filter or coffee filter. In this way, a large part of the existing microplastics can be removed. Is that correct?
Study recommends filtering microplastics from water
The source is a study from China that was published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters in 2024. Researchers from Guangzhou University and Jinan University concluded, among other things, that boiling hard water removes at least 80 percent of nano and microplastics with a size between 0.1 and 150 μm. For soft water it was at least 25 percent.
The researchers recommend using kettles or gas stoves to boil the water. These options would have low energy consumption. They also recommend, for example, stainless steel filters to skim off the microplastics before drinking the water. Both the kettle and the filter should be free of plastic – presumably so that the water cannot be re-contaminated with plastic particles via the containers. However, a commercially available water filter is often made of plastic and – contrary to what is often claimed online – would therefore not be suitable.
Tap water from Guangzhou, China was used for the study. The study also provides data on the concentrations in which microplastics occur in Europe and Asia. The value for Asia is therefore 5.6 times higher than for Europe.
The initial situation in both regions is therefore very different. Does it even make sense to filter microplastics from tap water in Germany?
How heavily is drinking water contaminated with microplastics?
Microplastics refer to tiny plastic particles between 1 micrometer and 5 millimeters in size that are widespread in the environment. Even smaller particles are called nanoplastics. These particles are either created by the decay of larger plastic objects (secondary microplastics) or are specifically manufactured for products such as cosmetics (primary microplastics).
According to the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), people can come into contact with microplastics in various ways, including breathing air, food and drinking water. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded in 2019 that there was no reliable information to suggest that microplastics in drinking water pose a human health problem. However, she also called for more detailed research into the risks.
And what about tap water in Germany?
In Germany, tap water is considered one of the most strictly controlled foods and has a consistently high quality. The Drinking Water Ordinance was last amended in June 2023 in order to implement new European requirements and further improve the protection of drinking water. However, there is currently no limit value for microplastics in drinking water. However, in March 2024, the European Commission decided on standardized measurement methods to more reliably record the presence of microplastics in drinking water and to enable comparable data within the EU.
The TZW: DVGW Water Technology Center is currently conducting a research project that aims to find out to what extent microplastics occur in drinking water distribution networks. The project started at the beginning of 2025 and will run until the end of 2027. Utopia asked for current findings.
Doreen Richter from TZW gives the all-clear: “Based on information from the literature and all of our own measurement results, the contamination of drinking water in Germany with microplastics is extremely low, generally undetectable, and in any case significantly lower than the contamination with microplastics to which we are exposed from other sources.” She assumes that microplastics in drinking water are not a real problem. However, reliable statements are only possible when reliable measurement results are available.
Filtering microplastics from tap water: Does that make sense in Germany?
In Germany, tap water is only slightly contaminated with microplastics. Should you still filter it to be on the safe side?
“The drinking water in Germany is strictly controlled and meets the highest requirements. In our opinion, further treatment of the water in the household is not necessary,” judges Richter.
If you want, you can of course still use a kettle or stainless steel filter. According to Richter, filtration processes are in principle well suited to removing all types of particles from the water, including microplastics.
According to the study, this is not 100 percent successful anyway. And: Boiling water requires energy. Since there is no real evidence of harmful exposure to health, it is better to save electricity.
Note: This article was first published in 2025 and has since been updated in consultation with quoted experts.
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