Water protection zone in Miesbach: Petition successful

Created: 03/31/2022, 21:17

Source of Munich's drinking water: the Reisach moated castle.

The expansion of the protection zone is met with considerable resistance.

© Thomas Plettenberg

Dispute about the water protection area in Miesbach: On Thursday, the environmental committee of the state parliament accepted a petition from affected farmers and mayors.

+++ Update, 9:13 p.m. +++

In the dispute over the expansion of a water protection zone in the district of Miesbach, local farmers and mayors have won a stage.

On Thursday, the state parliament's environment committee accepted a petition from affected farmers and mayors.

They had resisted the government of Upper Bavaria withdrawing the procedure from the district office and ordering a ban on grazing in the water protection zone in the Mangfalltal.

The dispute over the water protection area, in which the Munich municipal utilities pump around 80 percent of the drinking water for the state capital, has been smoldering for decades.

The Ministry of the Environment calls for the water protection area to be expanded quickly.

The previous cut dates from the 1960s and no longer corresponds to the applicable rules.

Farmers, on the other hand, do not see sufficient evidence that their grazing animals are responsible for bacterial contamination in the water.

The mayors, on the other hand, fear limited development opportunities for their communities if the water protection area is expanded.

In the environment committee, all factions, with the exception of the SPD, voted to consider the petition.

Committee chairwoman Rosi Steinberger (Greens) made it clear that the process in the Miesbach district office had long been shelved and was now finally being tackled.

However, she sees no serious reasons why the government should snatch the procedure from the district office.

"District administrator Olaf von Löwis has credibly assured that the procedure will now be carried out properly," she said.

It sounded similar with the factions of the CSU and the Free Voters.

"We want a process that doesn't leave a stale aftertaste," stressed Benno Zierer (FW).

The Miesbach constituency deputy and state parliament president Ilse Aigner (CSU) also spoke up and warned of proportionality.

Florian von Brunn (SPD), on the other hand, emphasized that

the process has been delayed since the 1970s.

It's about protecting drinking water for 1.2 million people in Munich, so the well-being of individuals must take precedence over the well-being of many - especially since the farmers affected are extensively compensated by the public utilities.

The Ministry of the Environment announced that the decision of the state parliament should be respected.

The ministry must now draw the necessary conclusions from the decision.

This includes the Miesbach district office continuing the water rights process quickly.

The members of the committee were also in favor of this.

You will be informed about the progress of the process in the autumn.

+++ Update, 3.30 p.m. +++

From outside the plenary session, the Bund Naturschutz also said: "Even if the BUND Naturschutz is in favor of designating a zone III in the water protection area and for a ban on fertilizers and grazing in protection zone IIa, we vehemently reject the government of Upper Bavaria's self-imposed ban on grazing away.

This 'Lex Schuirer', which was created during the WAA period, does not correspond to our understanding of democracy.” District Administrator Olaf von Löwis is now required to resume the expulsion procedure quickly and bring it to a conclusion.

Also read the current report

on the decision of the environmental committee

+++ Original report, 12 p.m. +++

The environmental committee of the Bavarian state parliament puts the environment ministry and the government of Upper Bavaria in their place.

The procedure for redesignating the Thalham-Reisach-Gotzing water protection zone remains in the hands of the Miesbach district office.

The immediate ban on grazing and fertilizing in protection zone IIa - as demanded by the government of Upper Bavaria - is off the table for the time being.

However, the district office did not receive a free pass.

In the autumn, the committee wants to see progress.

Arguments for an immediate ban on grazing do not work

The committee had dealt with the subject unusually intensively.

It started with both chairmen taking on the matter as rapporteurs and continued with an on-site visit.

There, some committee members listened to the views of the petitioners.

Ultimately, they came to the conclusion that, firstly, District Administrator Olaf von Löwis (CSU) was by no means delaying the process and, secondly, there was no recognizable reason for an immediate ban on grazing and fertilizing.

The pollution of the water in 2020 cited by the Munich authorities was not a good argument for such a ban, and several committee members were also bothered by the fact that the ministry does not believe an expert report just because the result does not suit them.

Only the SPD parliamentary group voted against the decision.

Ilse Aigner: "Solution only together with the actors on site"

Ilse Aigner was a member of the Miesbach constituency at the meeting and says: "I hope that the Environment Ministry's vote will finally recognize that a solution can only be found together with the local actors.

And this also requires a comprehensive procedure and not individual, early measures.

Especially since a grazing ban would be disproportionate, because no proof has ever been provided that the contamination came from the cattle.

With the vote of the Environment Committee we are going in the right direction”.

As is well known, the city of Munich obtains its drinking water mainly from the Mangfalltal.

In order to prevent any pollutants from getting into the groundwater, the public utilities have long wanted to expand the water protection zone.