By Claudia Lord
Germany is already groaning about the heat and drought in June. The capital Berlin is threatened with water shortages in the future. The problem should be solved with diverted water from the Elbe!
This is the result of a 266-page study commissioned by the Federal Environment Agency, which deals with the “water management consequences of the lignite phase-out in Lusatia”. Result: If coal mining stops after 2038, this will result in a serious water problem.
Because in 120 years of lignite mining, 58 billion cubic meters of groundwater were drained and diverted into the Spree, which is the main supplier of drinking water in Berlin, in the course of the extraction of 8.4 billion tons of lignite. So the level remains artificially high.
However, after the coal phase-out, that is over. According to the study, “due to the expected increase in population in the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan region and new industries, an increase in demand” can be expected. Plus the backfilling of the empty coal mines with water, there would be an “additional water requirement of around 6 billion cubic meters”.
The neighboring rivers should help out in the future. Water discharge scenarios from the Oder, Neisse and Elbe were examined. Is the capital of Saxony digging up the water? Similar considerations already existed in 2009 and 2011.
The latest favorite of the variants examined: 3000 liters of Elbe water per second could be branched off at the Prossen port (near Bad Schandau) if there was enough water in the Elbe, routed through a 40-kilometer underground pipeline to the Bautzen dam and then fed into the Spree.
The aim according to the study: “The coverage of the water requirements of the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan region and the Spreewald far beyond the coal phase-out.”
A pipe tunnel would have to be pulled right through the national park. Despite all the impassability and millions in costs, “the tunnel solution from the upper Elbe to the Spree above the Bautzen dam is favored for hydrological reasons,” according to the study.
Saxon Switzerland District Administrator Michael Geisler (63, CDU) is at a loss for words: “The Elbe has had low water for years. The new chip factories in Dresden want to take 20 percent of the water from the Elbe in front of Dresden – that doesn’t add up at all.”
Member of the state parliament Ivo Teichmann (55, Alliance Germany) and head of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains Tourist Association: “We will not dig the water! By pumping out the pollutants in the Elbe would be more concentrated again. All the alarm bells are going off for me because the water is needed in Berlin and the decision is also made there. Saxon politics must take countermeasures now!” He is also concerned about the “tourist consequences for our region”.
Because the Elbe steamship would also be potentially affected. Managing Director Victor Straubhaar (30) to BILD: “There is still a lot to be done in the future as to how and when the pumping should take place. We can drive regularly up to an Elbe level of 60 centimeters. I trust politicians not to take away water from one area that harms another.”
It is unclear when the project is to be implemented. However, the study urges “timely necessary fundamental decisions” and “approvability of the proposed solutions”. After all, an Elbe water transfer must also be clarified with the national and international Elbe residents.
Saxony’s Ministry of the Environment is keeping a low profile on the study – the data basis of which other experts consider technically vulnerable – and is working on groundwater monitoring for Saxony and Brandenburg. The city of Dresden does not feel “responsible” when it comes to the Elbe and hopes for “talks between the Free State and Brandenburg,” according to a spokesman.