Water is increasingly becoming a scarce commodity. In southern France, regions have declared a state of crisis due to drought. How do the German federal states protect the precious commodity?
In view of more frequent droughts, more and more federal states want to ask farmers to pay for their water consumption. In this way, farmers should be encouraged to use water more sparingly in times of climate change. Most recently, the traffic light government in Rhineland-Palatinate announced that it would collect money for the removal of groundwater and surface water in agriculture and forestry.
In other federal states, there are already corresponding regulations or they are being discussed, as a survey by the German Press Agency has shown. So far, farmers have usually been exempt from the fees for water abstraction or even received part of the money as compensation for a low use of fertilizers.
“Due to climate change, droughts in Europe have become much more likely and more intense,” said climate researcher Fred Hattermann from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research of the German Press Agency. It has simply gotten warmer – by an average of two degrees in Germany – and as a result the winters are shorter, in which groundwater, lakes and soil are refilled. In addition, there are increasingly long-lasting weather conditions – such as high pressure areas without rainfall.
According to the drought monitor of the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research, there was an exceptional drought in several federal states in the deeper soil layers at the weekend. This corresponds to the fifth of five levels on the drought monitor. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt as well as Brandenburg and Berlin were particularly affected. Many plants draw their water from the deeper layers of the soil down to a depth of 1.8 meters.
Water withdrawal for agriculture subject to a charge
In several of these countries – namely Saarland, Saxony-Anhalt or Lower Saxony – water abstraction for agriculture is already subject to a fee, in some cases for decades. There are differences in the prices, which are sometimes 0.7 cents in Saarland and 2 cents per cubic meter in Saxony-Anhalt. According to the information, the same amount is not charged for all water resources.
In Saxony-Anhalt there is also discussion about increasing the price, while in Bavaria a levy is to be introduced after the elections next year. The introduction in the Free State has been announced since 2018. Water abstraction fees for agriculture are also being considered in other federal states such as Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg or Hesse.
In Rhineland-Palatinate, the planned law should come into force at the beginning of 2024. Six cents are due for one cubic meter of groundwater and 2.4 cents for one cubic meter of surface water. In North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg there have so far been exceptions to such fees for farmers, which should remain in place for the time being.
The consequences of the drought in Germany can be seen in the Harz Mountains, for example. More than 80 percent of the spruce forest there has been destroyed in recent years – mainly because the trees are susceptible to the pest beetle due to a lack of water.
State of crisis due to drought in southern France
In France, regions in the south of the country on the border with Spain recently declared a state of crisis due to persistent drought. Accordingly, farmers there are only rarely allowed to water their plants. Even private individuals have to limit themselves and there are failures in the water supply. In North Rhine-Westphalia, too, there have already been local bans on the use of water in certain areas, such as garden irrigation.
In addition to water withdrawal fees, the federal states are also trying other ways to secure their future water supply. Among other things, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania would like to keep more water in the area by restoring moors or broader edge strips on fields. The Lower Saxony Ministry of the Environment recently supported projects that want to adapt water management to climate change with 8.2 million euros.
Source: Stern
