For example, there was the thing with the water meter, which strangely enough was running backwards. On a Monday it showed 1.8 million liters less consumption than the previous Friday. A huge amount of water must have flowed back into the well over the weekend. In the middle of the hot summer of 2022 and in what was then the driest area in Bavaria, the Bergtheimer Mulde near Würzburg. The well and the water meter belong to a farmer who excused himself from a technical “mistake”; Some controller has regulated incorrectly.
Water protectors, however, suspected manipulation. Official inspectors found a total difference of around 2,000 cubic meters between the actual removal and the display on the clock. Investigators later found a second water meter running backwards on the farmer. However, the authorities also had to admit that they never checked how much water the farmer took from the well and whether he adhered to the approved maximum quantities.
That’s how it is everywhere in the Free State. As if groundwater levels and concerns about future water supplies weren’t growing, private and commercial well owners continue to pull common groundwater out of the ground and use it for business purposes. Nobody knows exactly who takes out how much in Bavaria. “The water administrative regulation allows a well owner to freely withdraw up to 50 cubic meters per day,” says Juliane Thimet, deputy managing director and water expert at the Bavarian Municipal Association. “I think that’s a scandalous amount when, on the other hand, you ask the population to build cisterns to collect rainwater.”
In general, Thimet takes a hard line against Bavaria’s water policy. She criticizes serious oversights and calls on the state government and state parliament to act quickly. Because the floods these days give a distorted picture. Only part of it seeps into groundwater. However, because the soil cannot process the water masses in one fell swoop, most of it flows into the sea above ground and is lost to the drinking water supply. However, nothing changes in the trend, which is not more or less dependent on flooding: Bavaria is slowly but surely heading towards a water emergency. Overall, the Free State has lost around a fifth of its water supplies since the turn of the millennium, estimates expert Thimet.
In order to stop this trend, “we shouldn’t always just measure the groundwater levels underground, but we have to take a much closer and more critical look at who is taking how much water,” says Thimet. The Free State is already a paradise for large consumers such as mineral water manufacturers or others who need a lot of water for their businesses. Because it does not charge any water extraction fee, commonly known as a “water penny”. This means: Companies or farmers with their own wells pay nothing for their water.
Bavaria is one of only three federal states that does not charge a cent for water. The CSU and FW had already promised its introduction in their coalition agreement in 2018, but nothing happened. This should now be done by 2028. Immediately before the state elections, Environment Minister Thorsten Glauber (FW) presented a strategy concept for future water supply. Accordingly, dry parts of the country, especially in the north, are to be supplied via a network of new long-distance water pipes from Lake Constance and dams that do not yet exist in some cases. It will cost a billion euros, at least.
Community council expert Thimet doubts the effectiveness of this strategy. “Drawing huge long-distance water supply lines through the country may be honorable plans. But it all takes far too long and costs immense amounts of money,” she said in an interview with the South German newspaper. “We have to solve the issue of stable and reliable water supply permanently today and not in 30 years.” Given the “dramatic groundwater loss of 20 percent since 2000, it is essential that we record all withdrawals, including in the agricultural sector.” The Free State could tackle this immediately, says Thimet. “In view of agriculture, which is reacting very sensitively at the moment, that would be a bold statement of power towards resource protection.”
The expansion of water protection areas must be significantly accelerated, it was said at the community meeting
Bavaria is also lagging behind in protecting water supplies in other areas, according to the municipal council. Among other things, he demands that “in principle, anyone who drills a well must also obtain a permit under water law.” Juliane Thimet also criticizes the fact that the expansion of water protection areas is stalling. “This is a huge public construction site. We currently have 400 open procedures and they have already dragged on for between eight and 24 years. This needs to be accelerated significantly.” The municipal council “recently addressed concrete suggestions to the legislature”. The expert also sees a need for action to protect streams, rivers, ponds and lakes. “We finally have to achieve effective water protection in Bavaria. We are a long way from that at the moment.”
Thimet also advocates for stricter treatment of large consumers such as beverage companies when it comes to the exploitation of deep groundwater that is sometimes thousands of years old and very pure. “It cannot be the case that in the future public utilities will have to search for laborious and expensive alternatives to deep groundwater extraction in higher groundwater levels, while mineral water manufacturers continue to have access to deep groundwater because their products are supposed to be particularly clean according to the Mineral Water Ordinance,” says Thimet. “This unequal treatment is extremely disruptive and is to the detriment of the general public and to the benefit of private sector interests.”
It is no coincidence that a municipal umbrella association is promoting the issue of water with the community conference. Almost half of the 6,000 public utilities nationwide are based in Bavaria. They are usually special-purpose associations of several neighboring municipalities or municipal utilities. Their experts have been warning about dwindling resources for a long time and are calling for more courageous water management. But not only in politics, but also in consumers, they have not really penetrated. The latter have also “not yet recognized the quality of our drinking water from the tap,” says Juliane Thimet. “Instead of just drinking it, it’s better to bring expensive mineral water home.”
The case of the farmer with the water meter running backwards also shows how laxly the authorities are dealing with the issue. The Würzburg district office generously waived sanctions. The local public prosecutor’s office is different. She brought charges for “counterfeiting technical equipment.” During the course of the investigation, an expert ruled out a technical defect.