The municipality of Nordhalben is rich in water, but cannot benefit from it. Instead, most of the valuable commodity flows to Erlangen and enables growth there. Now the town is demanding compensation.
Only a handful of small businesses remain, and the pharmacy will also close in 2023. Many homes and businesses in Nordhalben are empty, tax revenues are collapsing and debts are rising. The community has shrunk from 3,000 to 1,700 inhabitants, and the fact that the trend was recently stopped is entirely thanks to war refugees from Ukraine who were stranded here. It is certainly not the case that Mayor Michael Pöhnlein and his local councilors have no ideas and are doing nothing. The town hall boss personally brokers vacant properties to interested parties for a quart of beer fee, he says with a wink. They even offer trial living in Nordhalben, in this green, quiet community in the Franconian Forest. Nevertheless, there is a lack of money for urgently needed renovations of the event hall, roads, drinking and sewage pipes, but also for investments that would pour money into the municipal coffers. The only thing that Nordhalben has in abundance is water. However, others benefit from this.