In the middle
Status: 07.09.2022 3:46 p.m
The Edersee in Hesse is Germany’s second largest reservoir – and almost empty. Below the dam this affects shipping, above it tourism. The argument about the lack of water can hardly be settled.
200 steps – that’s how far Thomas Hennig has to descend if he wants to get to his jetty. Hennig runs a sailing school in Rehbach. But the water is gone. The Eder reservoir in northern Hesse is just 18 percent full. The water level is 15 meters below the average level for this time of year – and even 25 meters below the level the lake reaches when it is full to the brim.
Hardly any water – hardly any tourists
Down at the edge of the water, green slime spills onto the shore, covered with a white layer of mold. Not only does it look disgusting, it stinks to high heaven. Because the little water in the lake gets too warm, cyanobacteria thrive, they form the slime carpet that makes bathing impossible.
It will also be difficult for water sports. “We are in the middle of the high season, but we had to cancel all sailing courses,” says Hennig. A lake without water is the most likely loss event for the Edersee tourist region. The region counts about two million tourists per year. Hennig estimates that ten percent of them are water sports enthusiasts. “But the remaining 90 percent come because of the water, want to swim or take the ferry across on their bike ride.”
Hennig’s sailing school is on dry land.
Image: Mr
“Drought is worse than Corona”
The ferry had to stop operating in the middle of the holidays. And the excursion boat also draws ever narrower circles on the shrinking lake. Tourism here normally turns over 550 million euros a year. This year it will be significantly less.
Day tourists in particular stay away, and many restaurants have already restricted their opening hours. And sailing school owner Thomas Hennig also wrote off the season: “The drought is worse for us than Corona.”
#right in the middle of Hesse: Fatal economic and ecological consequences for the Edersee
T. Ranft / P. Gerhardt, daily topics 10:15 p.m., September 7, 2022
Water for the Weser and Mittelland Canal
A few kilometers to the east, the mighty dam towers high over the lake. Here you can see particularly well how low the level is. And here is another reason why the Edersee has so little water. Up until two weeks ago, Jörg Böhner, head of the dam, drained thousands of cubic meters of water every day.
The mighty dam was built more than 100 years ago to supply the Weser and Mittelland Canal with water so that they remain navigable. It is therefore quite normal that the Edersee has less water in summer than in winter.
Because the water is warm, blue-green algae and bacteria thrive – a disaster for tourism.
Image: Mr
In four out of five summers too little for shipping
But in times of climate change, so little water flows in the summer months that the lake almost runs empty. It’s like someone pulling the plug on the bathtub. “Edersee was still full to the brim at the end of April,” says Böhner. But for two weeks he has only been able to deliver a small minimum amount to the Weser.
Not enough for shipping there. She too had to be discontinued. That’s happened in four of the last five summers. Such an accumulation had never existed before.
“Tourism is now a huge factor”
The business people at the Edersee don’t want to put up with it. They are angry that the responsible federal authority’s water management gives greater priority to the economic interests of the Weser than to tourism on the Edersee. “Shipping on the Upper Weser is no longer as important economically as it was 100 years ago,” complains sailing school owner Hennig. “They should also consider that tourism has become a huge factor.”
Scientists from the University of Kassel have tried to find a solution to the water dispute. Water economist Stephan Theobald has developed a tool with which the water discharge from the Edersee can be better controlled. He was also able to convince the Weser residents that even a lower water level there is still sufficient for shipping.
Professor Theobald conducts research at the Edersee – and at the Sea of Galilee, where the problem arises in a much more dramatic way.
Image: Mr
Learning from the Edersee for the Sea of Galilee
Without these measures, the Edersee would have drained much earlier this summer, Stephan Theobald is certain. “But in the end, that’s only a postponement,” he says. He cannot solve the basic conflict: it is raining too little to serve both sides adequately.
After all: The insights that Theobald gained at the Edersee are helping him with a new project. He takes care of the water distribution at the Sea of Galilee in Israel. In this region, water is a matter of war and peace. Luckily things aren’t quite that far on the Edersee yet.