Status: 08/26/2021 10:19 a.m.
The new Tesla plant southeast of Berlin is pushing the region’s waterworks to the limit. The supplier warns of problems with the drinking water supply, but company boss Elon Musk does not want to know anything.
André Bähler has been warning for a long time and often feels that he is misunderstood by the Brandenburg state government. The head of the Strausberg-Erkner water association, southeast of Berlin, is responsible for supplying around 170,000 people with drinking water. If the first expansion stage of the new “Gigafactory” of the electric car manufacturer Tesla is added, this means additional industrial consumption that is estimated to correspond to that of 40,000 people.
For further expansion stages, the head of the water association therefore sees the supply at the limit. If nothing happens, according to Bähler, it could be that the drinking water supply has to be restricted on days with peak consumption.
State office warns of hurry
The state government is therefore hoping for groundwater resources in the nearby Hangelsberg. This is currently being investigated by the State Office for Mining, Geology and Raw Materials. First results are expected in two to three years at the earliest, said the geologist Dietmar Brose from the state office ARD magazine contrasts. The entire examination takes up to five years.
At the same time, the expert warns against politically motivated haste in the investigation: “Certainly the political pressure is enormous. You want to get this industrial settlement over the stage in a relatively short time.” But if it turns out in retrospect that things cannot be repaired, nothing is gained. “Hence the appeal or the message that we shouldn’t allow ourselves to be pulled to the bar politically here, but that we really have to do a very neat job,” says Brose.
“Does this look like a desert?”
Tesla boss Elon Musk, on the other hand, recently responded with amusement to the question about the water problem: “There is enough water here, take a look around!” And when asked by one Contrasts-Reporter, why the local water company says they don’t have the water they need for further expansion stages, Musk responded with a laugh: “That’s completely wrong! Does this look like a desert?”
When asked, Tesla pointed out that the “Gigafactory” consumed less water than other large industrial companies in Brandenburg. In addition, the planned peak consumption has already been reduced several times and is still working on an optimization.
Environment Minister puzzled over Musk
Brandenburg’s Environment Minister Axel Vogel is surprised in an interview with Contrasts still about Musk’s statements. There is a “fundamental misunderstanding” if one equates the abundance of lakes in Brandenburg with abundance of water, said the Green politician. Brandenburg has the lowest rainfall per square meter in all of Germany, and that naturally has an effect.
Therefore, Musk is subject to a “mirage” if he assumed that there was water in abundance in this region: “It doesn’t.” The minister denies that there is political pressure on employees of the state authority. With such new settlements as Tesla, he relies on the cooperation of several drinking water suppliers. However, it takes years to explore the possibilities.
Watch the documentary “Dry land – who owns the water?” On rbb television this evening at 9:15 p.m. in the series Contrasts – the reporters.