Berlin In the event of water shortages in Germany, the German Association of Towns and Municipalities is urging prioritization of water distribution. “Especially with a view to increasing heat and drought periods, the federal, state and local governments must jointly develop clear guidelines for dealing with water shortages,” said General Manager Gerd Landsberg of the Handelsblatt. Against this background, the “National Water Strategy” is to be welcomed.
From Landsberg’s point of view, possible conflicts of interest in the water supply “must be solved in the sense of a clear prioritization of water use”. He emphasized: “Where there is not enough water for all consumers such as agriculture or industry, the public water supply must always have priority.”
The federal government wants to get the water strategy off the ground in the cabinet this Wednesday. The main goals are to secure the drinking water supply and protect groundwater in the context of climate change. The first plans for this were already drafted in the last legislative period – with good reason.
The last drought summers in Germany had serious effects on forests, agriculture and biodiversity. The flood disaster in the Ahr Valley almost two years ago also alarmed politicians. “These extremes are threatening to become a new normal as a result of the climate crisis,” said Steffi Lemke (Greens) in the Federal Environment Ministry. At the same time, water management in Germany faces major challenges.
These are now to be addressed with the first national water strategy. Accordingly, water management should be adapted to changing climatic conditions by 2050 and a more natural water balance should be restored. The aim is “sustainable water management” with a mix of legal regulations, state funding, knowledge development and dialogue.
Economy and agriculture have to adapt to higher costs
Landsberg considers “active water management” to be necessary. This should include water saving, water retention, increased use of industrial water and also water-saving irrigation techniques in agriculture. “Agriculture in particular is required to use plants that get by with less water when they are cultivated,” said the head of the association of cities.
“Depending on the region, we will also need additional interconnected networks and long-distance pipelines to compensate for regional differences in water availability,” Landsberg continued. However, he pointed out that long-distance water pipes with a length of more than 100 kilometers, for example, could not be built in one or two years.
“We therefore also need an investment acceleration law for municipal water management,” says Landsberg. The “acceleration rules” created for the construction of liquid gas terminals should serve as a positive example here.
Environment Minister Lemke also aims to bring water from Germany’s wet regions to dry areas using interconnected networks and long-distance pipelines. The Greens politician told the dpa news agency that the past years of drought had left their mark on forests, lakes and rivers as well as on agriculture. Therefore, together with the countries, one will evaluate how regional differences in water availability can best be compensated.
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Referring to the flood disaster in the Ahr valley, Lemke announced that municipalities and federal states should be legally obliged to create hazard and risk maps for heavy rain and to take them into account in development planning.
According to the water strategy, the water infrastructure must be modernized to protect the population from extreme events such as droughts or floods. That requires “considerable investments”, not only in the pipeline network, but also in coastal protection and urban planning. In the medium term, the economy and agriculture are likely to face higher costs for protecting water resources.
Municipalities are demanding financial support from the federal and state governments
Landsberg attached importance to the statement that “adapting to the consequences of climate change” is not just a municipal task. “The federal and state governments are therefore required in the long term to provide financial support for municipal water management in these important infrastructure tasks,” he said.
Like Lemke, the head of the association of cities also believes that measures to prevent water pollution from pesticides, microplastics or drug residues are necessary. Instead of only imposing sewage fees on households, the strategy says that in future there will need to be a “fair distribution of costs”.
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In order to achieve this, the minister wants to support the planned EU regulation on extended producer responsibility and introduce it as quickly as possible. According to this, the following applies: anyone who manufactures water-polluting products or active ingredients or places them on the market must also do more to eliminate damage in water.
The German Association for Water Management, Wastewater and Waste (DWA) explained: “The principle of product-related environmental protection is established in European waste law, introducing extended manufacturer responsibility in water law is only logical.” This means that those who cause pollutant inputs would be made responsible for the first time .
Landsberg said that the principle of producer responsibility must be implemented “promptly” in both European and national water law. “Entries of water-polluting substances into the water bodies or into the waste water must be avoided at the source if possible.” Where this is not possible, the manufacturers of certain groups of substances such as microplastics “have to bear the full costs of the wastewater treatment for a fourth cleaning stage”.
The Federation of German Industries (BDI) rejects this. “Various sources are responsible for the entry of trace substances into water, such as manufacturers, trade, private and commercial consumers and agriculture,” the association explained when asked. “A unilateral financial burden only on the manufacturer to specify the polluter pays principle is not appropriate from the point of view of German industry.”
Although the waste water is already cleaned in modern sewage treatment plants, micro-pollutants remain in the cleaned water. That is why the EU Commission is calling for the expansion of sewage treatment plants with a so-called fourth cleaning stage in order to filter out as many of these pollutants as possible.
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