What to do if it rains less often? Cities and districts are thinking about a long-term water strategy. Water consumption is already restricted in some municipalities.
Dried up lawn, empty pools: Those who live in Bad Oeynhausen in North Rhine-Westphalia have been told to save drinking water for a few days. The regional water procurement association “Am Wiehen” has switched its drinking water traffic light for Bad Oeynhausen and the towns of Hille, Hüllhorst and Löhne to yellow because on hot, dry days people have used more water than the association pumps out from wells or buys in from other waterworks can.
The drinking water traffic light is a means of raising public awareness. You can just look it up on the internet.
There is no precipitation
“The temperatures remain high and there is no precipitation. We monitor the filling levels of our elevated tank, in which we collect drinking water reserves, every hour,” says association chairman Bernd Poggemöller. “If we continue to deliver more water than we can pump, we will have to take further steps so that we still have enough fire-fighting water, for example.”
It’s a scenario they’re already familiar with in the region. Last summer, the drinking water light was even red at times, which meant that watering and filling the pool was completely forbidden.
No watering during the day
In other regions of Germany, cities and municipalities have already restricted water consumption due to the ongoing drought. In the Altmark district of Salzwedel in Saxony-Anhalt, no water may be pumped out of open bodies of water such as rivers. Residents are not allowed to water their gardens with groundwater from private wells between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.
The office of the district administrator states that the groundwater levels in the entire district have currently fallen by up to one meter compared to the normal level. Some streams have already dried up. That is why measures have now been taken: “As the lower water authority, we have received the mandate from the legislator to protect the waters. The strategy of the district is to keep the man-made influence on a further lowering of the groundwater levels as low as possible, in order to also to prevent a further reduction in groundwater recharge.”
More droughts expected
According to the Association of Towns and Municipalities, there were restrictions on water withdrawal in 30 towns and districts last year, not only for private individuals but also for industry and agriculture. Association of Towns and Municipalities Managing Director Gerd Landsberg expects further periods of drought, also in the coming years.
“That’s why we need long-term strategies, for example more lines between different waterworks so that they can help out with water in an emergency,” says Landsberg. Agriculture must also adapt to water scarcity in the long term. “That means farmers have to grow other products.”
In March, the federal government passed a “National Water Strategy”. Many cities are looking for structural options to better store water in urban areas.
Drill new wells
The water procurement association “Am Wiehen” in East Westphalia also wants to be better prepared for further droughts and has built a new, huge elevated tank to store water. Drinking water for 100,000 people can be provided here. A kilometer-long transport pipeline for additional drinking water from the city of Lübbecke was put into operation last year. New wells are also to be drilled.
But they also encounter resistance here, says association chairman Poggemöller. “When former arable land is converted into a new water catchment area, this can go hand in hand with restrictions that less organic fertilizer can be applied. And many owners react rather reservedly.”
But the measures are necessary. Because the water procurement association “Am Wiehen” also assumes that the situation can worsen due to climate change. However, Poggemöller is confident that the current water shortage will soon ease again, also thanks to the savings measures.