While "dextrorotatory" (along with Kim's other suggestions) seems OK as a translation for "rechtsdrehend", I should issue the following warning:

"Dextrorotatory" is a chemical term with a specific meaning. Some complex models exist in two isomeric forms which are mirror images of one another. This is called "optical isomerism". It is conventional to distinguish optical isomers by the way they affect the polarization of polarized light: anti-clockwise or to the left (laevorotatory) or the right (dextrorotatory). Often the obvious one-letter abbreviations are used: l-amphetamine or d-amphetamine, for example.

The trouble with applying all this to water is that it is a simple, symmetrical molecule, and therefore does not display optical isomerism. So it is an abuse of scientific terminology to talk about "dextrorotatory" or "laevorotatory" water. But it would seem almost as much of an abuse to call it "rechtsdrehend" in German.

Note: in "laevorotatory", it is the "a", not the "e", which may be omitted in US usage.

On a lighter note, I just put some water in my handbasin and let it out, and it rotated clockwise. Is this what it's supposed to do in Australia? I can't remember. Certainly cyclones and anticyclones rotate the opposite way in the Southern Hemisphere to that in the Northern Hemisphere. This is said to be caused by "Coriolis forces". The only trouble with this explanation is that "Coriolis forces" aren't really forces. A more sophisticated explanation is that this effect is caused by our adopting a rotating reference frame (the Earth).

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Note added at 14 hrs 37 mins (2004-09-12 13:16:18 GMT)
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PS On the alleged health effects of water rotating one way or the other, I would invite you to compare the number of medals won by Australia in the recent Olympic Games with Britain\'s effort, bearing in mind our much smaller population. The majority of Australians are of British ancestry, and so it\'s not likely to be in the genes. Maybe it\'s in the way our water goes down the gurgler? You never know!

is the standard word.

When flushing a toilet, the water north of the equator turns clockwise, south of the equator counterclockwise. (not a joke)