Apartment owners have to accept that their water supplier installs a wireless water meter in their house and therefore grants their staff access. This has now been decided by the Bavarian Administrative Court (VGH). With this decision, the VGH rejected the complaint of a couple from the district of Bamberg, who wanted to prevent the installation of such a water meter with an urgent application. There is no legal remedy against the decision, the couple must now allow a representative of their water supplier access to their house so that he can install the wireless water meter.
Unlike conventional water meters, wireless water meters do not measure water consumption mechanically, but rather using ultrasound or a magnetic-inductive method. In addition, the devices have a data memory in which the respective meter readings are saved at specific time intervals. The meter can be read from outside the apartment via a radio module. People who claim that electromagnetic radiation poses health risks repeatedly oppose the installation of such devices in their houses or apartments. In addition, the critics raise data protection concerns. So did the couple from the district of Bamberg in their urgent application.
In its decision, the VGH now states that neither data protection nor health reasons stand in the way of the installation. Even if such a wireless water meter allows conclusions to be drawn about the water consumption of individuals, the processing of this personal data is justified. The supply of drinking water and the measurement of consumption is a mandatory task of the municipalities, it is part of the general public service and serves the public interest.
With regard to the fundamental right to the inviolability of the home, such a radio meter is even a particularly gentle form of data collection because it makes entering the home through a reader superfluous. The VGH also rejected the health concerns of the couple. The radiation output of a radio meter is many times lower than that of a mobile phone. In addition, the devices are usually not installed in the immediate vicinity of the residents, but in the basement of the property on the central house water supply line. (Az 4CS21.2254)