SSince the beginning of the year, the city of Offenbach has been financially supporting the unsealing of soil and its greening on private property. This can be areas in the front garden or in the courtyard, parking spaces for cars and driveways. The first funded and now completed project is the backyard of an apartment building. With the subsidy of up to 50 euros per square meter, grass pavers have been set there and pure planting areas have been created where the ground was previously sealed and valuable precipitation was fed directly into the sewage system. The city grants up to 5,000 euros for each individual project. The city now says there is still funding in the pot and they are looking forward to applications.
“The unsealing guideline is a building block to make Offenbach a sponge city. We are currently seeing and feeling very clearly how important it is that we deal with rainwater differently,” says Mayor Sabine Groß (Die Grünen) and head of the environmental department. The aim of the unsealing guideline is to motivate citizens to unseal areas so that rainwater can seep away on site and not run off through the sewage system. For example, it can enrich groundwater and trees are available, which urgently need it due to the little rain and give it off again through evaporation, thus lowering the temperature in the area. With the unsealing, valuable drinking water can also be saved, which is currently still very often used to supply plants in the city area.
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