Hans Weinzierl has been fighting for clean groundwater for years. Because Weinzierl knows the dire consequences only too well when more and more nitrates and other pollutants from agriculture pollute the groundwater. Weinzierl is the head of the Rottenburger Group. The small water association supplies 40,000 people in the Landshut region with drinking water. He has already had to close four drinking water wells because the groundwater has exceeded the load limit, and he will have to close two more soon. Weinzierl now fears that the Rottenburger Group may no longer pump unpolluted groundwater. “Instead, we should treat polluted groundwater in the future and offer it as drinking water,” says Weinzierl. “But that can’t be it.”
The reason for Weinzierl’s annoyance is the new leaflet No. 1.4 / 6 of the State Office for the Environment (LfU), or its draft. The paper with the title “Protection and Management of Slowly Regenerating Groundwater Systems – Deep Groundwater”, which the LfU treats as classified information, is as bulky as the subject matter. You have to know that the LfU people differentiate between so-called floors when it comes to groundwater. By this they mean the different layers of groundwater in the ground, which are separated from each other by water-impermeable rock.
So far, the near-surface groundwater has been decisive for the drinking water supply, most of the drinking water is obtained from it. It extends to the first waterproof layer. How deep it is differs from area to area, so it is not possible to give more precise information. On the other hand, the deep groundwater in the lower floors, which is regenerated very slowly and is usually many centuries old, should be conserved – as a reserve for future generations. Not only in the Landshut region, but also elsewhere in Lower Bavaria, North Swabia and Franconia, the near-surface groundwater is now so contaminated with residues from agriculture that the utilities have to drill deeper and deeper in order to find groundwater of drinking water quality.
According to the new leaflet, this should only be possible in the future if there are no alternatives. An alternative is expressly the treatment of polluted groundwater with filter systems. “That turns the drinking water development of the last 50 years on its head,” complains Weinzierl. “This shows the inevitable path to groundwater treatment.”
Green politician accuses the state government of “total failure of groundwater protection”
The consequences from his point of view: The many millions of euros that suppliers like his have spent on new wells were bad investments, the water treatment, which is now required in many places, leads to new, “significantly higher costs”, the quality of the drinking water is falling, “Because a lot of minerals are removed from it with the processing”, and sooner or later the future is endangered by smaller suppliers in particular. In fact, according to the Ministry of the Environment, around 30 percent of the groundwater bodies in the Free State are already so contaminated with residues from agriculture that they do not meet the purity requirements.
That is why the new leaflet not only alarms Weinzierl. But also the President of the Bavarian Municipal Assembly, the Abensberg Mayor Uwe Brandl (CSU), and the Green politician and head of the Environment Committee in the State Parliament, Rosi Steinberger. “If the Free State wants drinking water from near-surface groundwater, then it must finally ensure that it is properly protected,” says Brandl. “And for that he has to start with agriculture. It is the main cause of the pollution.”
The Green politician Steinberger even accuses the state government of “total failure in groundwater protection”. From their point of view, “the municipal water suppliers should pay for what the CSU government has screwed up over the past 30 years”. The state government has known for a long time that action must be taken urgently when it comes to groundwater protection. “But she obviously does not dare to hold the main cause of the pollution accountable,” says Steinberger. “That’s intensive farming.”
In fact, the problem should have been resolved for a good year. After years of dispute, the federal and state governments agreed on so-called red areas, in which the groundwater pollution from agriculture is too high, and a new fertilizer ordinance. According to her, the farmers in the red areas have to make significant cuts in fertilization, they have to observe stricter blocking periods and more. In Bavaria, the red areas add up to ten percent of the agricultural area. According to experts, however, the new regulations are too lax to have any real impact. The EU Commission, which had already successfully sued Germany for the dispute over clean groundwater, recently initiated a new procedure because, in their view, the federal and state governments continue to do too little for groundwater.
Environment Minister Thorsten Glauber (FW) meanwhile keeps the ball as flat as possible. “The deep groundwater is an iron reserve,” he says. “It may only be used in exceptional cases and under tight conditions. That has always been the clear line and will stay that way.” He also stressed that the legal framework for the protection of deep groundwater would not be changed. Likewise, the priority of the public water supply is not shaken. Steinberger announced nonetheless that the state parliament will deal with the matter.