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Agricultural technology is constantly being optimized: manure is now applied to the roots in fine doses via nozzles at the beginning of the vegetation phase, so that nitrate becomes directly available to the plants and does not reach the groundwater in deeper soil layers. © Lower Saxony Chamber of Agriculture/nh
Kurhessen Regional Farmers’ Association: Our farmers fertilize responsibly and ensure that plants can absorb the nitrogen quickly
Hofgeismar/Grebenstein/Immenhausen – The Kurhessen Regional Farmers’ Association resolutely opposes the impression that agriculture could be the cause of high nitrate levels in private wells. The non-profit association VSR–Wasserschutz suggested such a assumption by publishing analysis results.
At the beginning of September, the VSR water protection agency received samples from privately used water wells in its “laboratory mobile” at the Hofgeismar market square and then had them analyzed. The association recently announced that the values of the well water were sometimes “shocking”. For example, a value of 110 milligrams of nitrate per liter (mg/l) was detected in Immenhausen, 90 mg/l in Grebenstein and 61 mg/l in Hofgeismar. The limit value according to the Drinking Water Ordinance is 50 mg/l. The association therefore sees a need for action.
In an interview with our newspaper, Ralf Desel, managing director of the regional farmers’ association, questioned the validity of the VSR’s well water analyzes. It is not known in which area the private wells are located, whether DIN regulations for taking samples were adhered to and whether the water conservationists’ laboratory is even technically suitable to make scientifically valid statements. Desel, who lives in Immenhausen himself, points out that “six drinking water fountains in Immenhausen have completely unremarkable nitrate values.”
Eberhard Cramer, an employee of the Hesse Plant Protection Service, believes it is inadmissible to “conflate the values of well water with those of the strictly controlled drinking water network”. “The drinking water provided by the municipalities is well below the legally set limit of 50 mg/l in all measuring points.” The employee of the Gießen regional council attributes the high nitrate values in the private wells to the fact that allotment gardeners often over-fertilize their gardens. The excess nitrate is then found in the surface wells.
District farmer Jörg Kramm also states that the nitrate values of the generally shallow wells should not be associated with the public deep wells. The nitrate values of the drinking water from the Grebenstein wells are between 8 and 26 mg/l – well in the unremarkable range.
For the district farmer, the cause of the high laboratory values of VSR water protection lies “in the area of private wells and not in agriculture.” Kramm points out that even wells on agricultural farms that are 40 to 60 meters deep do not have values of more than this than 25 mg/l. Kramm: “There has been no noticeable change over the years.”
Unremarkable nitrate levels in drinking water
Nitrate levels in drinking water wells in the region are well below the limit of 50 milligrams per liter.
Grebenstein: Kressebrunnen 21 mg/l; Heidberg 26 mg/l; Erlenborn 8,3 mg/l
Hofgeismar: Beberbeck 7 mg/l; Röddenhof 8.4 mg/l; Warthübel 6.6 mg/l
Immenhausen: Tiefenbrunnen I to III 12mg/l
The values come from the period December 2023 (Grebenstein) to April 2024 (Hofgeismar). go
If values of 37.5 mg/l nitrate and more are found in drinking water wells, it is classified as a so-called “red area” contaminated with nitrate. For agriculture, this classification means that fertilization with nitrogen-containing fertilizers such as nitrate and manure must be restricted. Fertilizer measures are then monitored by control bodies.
“We don’t have any ‘red areas’,” says Wolfgang Rüdiger, farmer and city councilor in Immenhausen. He also strongly opposes the assumption that agriculture is responsible for high nitrate levels in private wells. “We do a lot to bind nitrogen in the soil.” Ultimately, too much fertilization causes unnecessary costs for the farmer.
“We always try to optimize things,” says Ralf Desel. The aim is to adapt the fertilizer quantities to the consumption of the crops. However, a small residual amount of nitrogen in the soil after the harvest is unavoidable. (By Gerd Henke)
