According to Bavaria’s Minister for the Environment, Thorsten Faithr (free voters), the current rainfall is “enabling a recovery in the ground and surface water”. The rain helps nature and the landscape, Glauber said on Wednesday in Munich. In view of the recently increased river levels and the associated risk of flooding in southern Bavaria, he said: “We are keeping a close eye on the situation throughout Bavaria.” The authorities worked closely together to identify imminent flood situations.
The Bavarian flood news service reported on Wednesday about “slight overflows in the Mangfall catchment area and on the Loisach, the Sur and the Zusam”. Official flood and flood warnings there were in the morning for the districts of Landsberg, Starnberg, Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen, Miesbach, Rosenheim and Passau. “Declining water levels” are to be expected in the coming days as the rain pulls away.
The consequences of climate change are challenging despite the temporary recovery of groundwater reserves, said Glauber. The topic of water supply has top priority in Bavaria. “Our goal is water security in all parts of the country in the future.” The state government is working specifically to ensure the water supply throughout the Free State on a permanent basis. “The public water supply always has priority over other uses,” said the minister. Recently there had been repeated debates in Bavaria about the commercial use of natural deposits.
According to Glauber, normal to wet conditions were observed at the end of the so-called hydrological winter half-year. The groundwater levels fill up in the months of November to April. Because of the low temperatures, significantly less precipitation evaporates than in the summer months, and most plants also need less water or no water at all. Accordingly, more precipitation arrives at the groundwater.
In Northern Bavaria, the precipitation of the hydrological winter half-year totaled 381 millimeters per square meter, in Southern Bavaria it was 403 millimeters per square meter. According to the Ministry of the Environment, 22 percent of the near-surface groundwater measuring points and sources in Bavaria currently have low or very low groundwater levels – compared to around 65 percent in March. In the lower groundwater levels, 55 percent of the measuring points show low water situations – compared to around 70 percent in March. In northern Bavaria in particular, the low-water situation in the groundwater has eased to some extent after heavy rainfall in March and April.