The Bavarian Administrative Court (VGH) in Munich has strengthened the protection of groundwater from pollution from agriculture in three rulings on the so-called red areas in Bavaria. The protection of groundwater is one of the highest-ranking public welfare tasks, said the presiding judge at the VGH, Renate Köhler-Rott, in her short oral justification for the judgment. The Free State is therefore allowed to impose restrictions on farmers in the cultivation of their land – an exemption or exceptions to this in individual cases or compensation are not necessary. In the oral justification for the second judgment, she explained that the farmers could not rely on the fact that the network of measuring points, which indicates possible contamination of the groundwater, was not dense enough and was to their detriment.
However, Köhler-Rott also made it clear that the location of the respective measuring points is crucial for the admissibility of a red area. In another case, it upheld the farmers’ lawsuit. The reason: The measuring point in question is located near a waste dump. This makes it unsuitable for the designation of the red area in the region. The contamination of the groundwater in the area could come from the landfill and not from agriculture. Yesterday’s VGH rulings point the way for more than 60 further lawsuits from more than a thousand farmers.
The vice president of the farmers’ association, Stephan Köhler, spoke of “a bitter setback”. The complaining farmers had invested “a lot of time, money and reports”. That’s why it’s “surprising” that their lawsuits for regulatory control “were completely rejected.” There was also disappointment among the farmers in the room. One plaintiff did not even want to say whether he would take the matter to the Federal Administrative Court. Because of the fundamental importance of the dispute, the VGH expressly permitted an appeal against the judgments. Farmer leader Köhler also did not want to comment, although the farmers’ association coordinated the lawsuits. The plaintiffs would have to decide that after the reasons for the judgment were presented in writing.
The designation of the red areas since 2018 was a huge step forward in protecting groundwater and thus drinking water in Bavaria. 85 percent of the drinking water in the Free State comes from groundwater. And in the red areas, farmers must pay particular attention to protecting groundwater and therefore drinking water. The fact is that in a number of regions the groundwater is contaminated with nitrates from manure and the many artificial fertilizers used in agriculture. In high concentrations, nitrate is a danger to flora and fauna. In addition, the groundwater is no longer suitable as drinking water. Because nitrate is dangerous for humans. It is suspected of causing cancer.
In the red areas, which currently cover 550,000 hectares or 17 percent of Bavaria’s agricultural land, farmers must comply with a whole series of requirements in order to protect the groundwater from further nitrate pollution. The most important thing: They are only allowed to apply 80 percent of the fertilizer that they have calculated as required by the crops on their fields. In addition, longer blocking periods in the cold season and other requirements apply. From the farmers’ point of view, the requirements are all an attack on their ownership of land and their freedom to work. On top of that, they fear financial losses if their fields no longer produce as high yields as before.