Berlin must save water!

By Bjorn Trautwein

Here in the allotment garden colony “Grüner Grund” in the middle of Lichtenberg, you can see what will happen to Berlin in the coming years: a new way of dealing with our water.

At the entrance there is a note with tips on how to save water because of the drought. Conclusion: blast less, use water bags, switch to drip irrigation. His neighbor calls over the fence: “I already train my plants so that I only water them every other day. They have to get used to it.”

“The topic of water has been on our agenda for a long time,” says Wolfgang Beyer, who is also the chairman of Gartenfreunde Lichtenberg. He would also be ready to take drastic measures: “We are considering whether to allow more pools in allotments,” says Beyer, “in my opinion it doesn’t need to.”

A ban on splashing around in the allotment garden? Hardly conceivable just a few years ago, but perhaps an important step in times of climate change. Because Berlin has to save water.

And this does not only apply to the small colony with 36 plots. That applies to all of Berlin. On average, we consume around 130 liters per person every day. Ascending trend. But this essential commodity is becoming increasingly scarce.

The consequences of climate change are affecting the city. This year we were the driest state.

In Hönow, several ponds have already dried up, the level at the airport lake is falling, and a third of the ponds examined by the Bund for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) are in a critical condition.

The Berlin trees are also doing badly. “The lack of precipitation at the beginning of the vegetation period can lead to less leaf or needle formation and to drought stress, which makes the trees susceptible to fungi and insects very early in the year,” says Paul Harbauer (41), the forester at the Köpenick forest office.

The soil is too dry, its water content is only 27 percent down to a depth of 85 centimeters and is therefore in the critical range. A spokesman for the Environment Senate on the BZ: “An easing of the situation is currently not to be expected.”

The rivers also have too little water. The total inflow of the Spree is therefore only 8.83 cubic meters per second, which according to the Environmental Senate is half of what usually flows in May. The Havel also gets only half as much water inflow as usual at this time. The water level in Spandau is already three centimeters below the target level of 31.51 meters above sea level.

When it comes to water, Gloria Abel (54) makes no compromises. She is standing on the banks of the Havel in Grunewald and scrutinizing every car. “Do you have an oil pan?” she asks me and the BZ photographer, “we’re in a water protection area here, otherwise you can’t stay here.” She monitors the groundwater for the Berliner Wasserbetriebe. Instead, the thin, green pipes protrude from the ground.

Everything is fine here on the Havel. Because Berlin’s rivers can be dammed at low water, the groundwater also remains stable. “It’s like being in a bathtub,” says Gloria Abel. But that doesn’t apply to the whole of Berlin. “The last dry years have also had an impact on the groundwater. The plateaus in the south and north are particularly affected. The levels there are currently falling at least half a meter below the normal average.”

Verena Fehlenberg from the Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) therefore warns: “Even today, the groundwater reserves at all waterworks locations are overexploited by an average of two percent. In addition, the heavy sealing caused by built-up and asphalted areas in Berlin means that less and less rain can seep into the ground and enrich the groundwater.” Because: “The rain only runs off on the surface, ends up in the sewage system and leaves the city unused.”

The Senate is counteracting this with the “Sponge City” project. In new development areas in Johannisthal, Alt-Glienicke and Schöneberg, large basins and furrows were created through which rain seeps away.

In addition, the water companies are examining whether to reactivate two waterworks. Then 30 to 40 will be added to the 650 fountains in Berlin. geologist dr. Gesche Grützmacher (54) is in charge of a project at the Berlin water supplier that is intended to make the city fit for the future: “We plan that Berlin can continue to supply itself with water in the next ten to 20 years.”

Experts such as the spokeswoman for the Berlin Nature Conservation Union (Nabu), Alexandra Rigos (54), nevertheless believe that water withdrawal will also be limited in Berlin: “I am sure that water will also be rationed in Berlin. Maybe not this year, but in the years to come. This already exists in Brandenburg.”

Officially, this is not an issue in Berlin, but it could become one. A spokesman for the Environment Senate on the BZ: “Rationing is not planned – at least not yet. The challenges of the future cannot be solved by infrastructure measures alone, i.e. structural or technical.” The Senate is therefore working on a water-saving strategy in order to reduce the peak demand on hot summer days in particular.

“In principle, restrictions on withdrawals are not ruled out per se, should the situation change intensify in the years and decades to come. The legal requirements required for this are being examined,” said the spokesman.

Drought leads to many fires

Forest fires have been raging in Brandenburg for weeks. From Thursday to yesterday, 800 hectares on the border between Saxony and Brandenburg near Mühlberg (Elbe-Elster) were on fire. The fire now appears to be under control. Just last week there was a fire outside Berlin in Treuenbrietzen. There, 200 hectares fell victim to the flames. In the past week alone there were 12 forest fires in Bandenburg.

The reason: It is too hot and too dry: According to the German Weather Service (DWD), Berlin was the driest area in Germany with around 55 liters of precipitation per square meter from March to May. Brandenburg followed in second place. For comparison: the average rainfall during this time is 132 liters per square meter. With an average temperature of 9.9 degrees, it was also over a degree too warm (average: 8.7 degrees).