German drinking water prices rose an average of 1 percent last year, below the inflation rate, as total living costs increased 2.3 percent in 2011, the country’s utility lobby BDEW said today in an e-mailed statement.

Germany’s water consumption last year dropped to its lowest in at least two decades even as investments from utilities increased, BDEW said in September.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stefan Nicola in Berlin at snicola2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net