Warning of bottlenecks in drinking water

• fromJutta Rippegather

  –

  shut down

–

Water suppliers and environmentalists are calling for new concepts for dealing with drinking water. For example, it should no longer be used carelessly for watering.

Corona changes water consumption: Those who work in the home office use more at home and shower a little later. “The consumption peaks have shifted over time and have become wider,” reports Bernd Petermann, managing director of the water supply association for the city and district of Offenbach and board member of the Association of Municipal Enterprises (VkU).

The utilities have coped well with the challenges of the pandemic. What worries them is the growing thirst of cities and climate change. The Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation Germany (BUND) also warns of supply bottlenecks on the occasion of the Water Day on March 22nd. “The climate crisis is also a water crisis. Without decisive action, water shortages will become the rule in Hesse in the future, ”warns state chairman Jörg Nitsch.

Consumption in Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, Darmstadt and Offenbach has increased by up to 20 percent in the past three years. “Our water rights are almost fully utilized,” says Petermann. Legislators give priority to the public drinking water supply, and politicians must act accordingly, with requirements for new residential areas, “rethinking” in urban development, financial aid for suppliers and accelerating the allocation of new water rights. Quite a few applications have not yet been decided even after ten years. In addition, there would be competition from agriculture and trade.

If it doesn’t rain for weeks, a lot of drinking water is wasted, says Petermann. In fields, in private gardens, in pools. “Politicians have to react.” He thinks less of bans than of raising awareness. “First and foremost, it is a food item. You should drink it instead of dumping it on the meadow. ”The seepage of rainwater or the holding back, the use of service water must become a requirement for new buildings. “The state shouldn’t leave the municipalities on their own.” The utilities themselves would like financial support for investments in technical answers to climate change. “We have to build containers to cover capacities at peak times.”

The BUND calls for “a climate adaptation strategy”. He supports the demands of the Schutzgemeinschaft Vogelsberg to strengthen self-sufficiency in the regions, especially in the Rhine-Main area.

Nitsch considers the expansion of the Rhine water treatment to be “absolutely necessary”. The existing system in Biebesheim had already worked at its absolute limit in the past dry years. “With the additional capacities, drinking water production could also be ended at the expense of forest health.”

–