Citizens' initiatives against mineral water companies: are the beverage multinationals drying up in Bavaria?

Created: 09/22/2022, 13:38

By: Carina Zimniok, Dirk Walter

Mineral water companies are allowed to pump out deep water in Bavaria for free – there is resistance to this.

© IMAGO / Shot Shop

More and more water is being pumped from Bavaria's depths to produce mineral water, and it's almost free of charge.

Citizens' groups are sounding the alarm.

Polling/Bergen – In Bavaria, a dispute about drinking water is raging in several places.

In Polling, in the district of Mühldorf, a company wants to pump up to 1.6 million cubic meters of drinking water from Tiefenbrunnen every year – in order to then sell it as mineral water.

For Frank Bremauer from the local citizens' initiative, this is a "license to print money" - because the water rights are available to the drinking water manufacturers free of charge.

But that is not the biggest concern of the citizens.

Business with the water: Bavaria is an exception when it comes to the water withdrawal fee

Frank Bremauer is suspicious.

He saw the film "Until the last drop" on ARD.

It's also about Coca-Cola - the group planned to pump out 700,000 cubic meters of water (brand name "Vio") annually in the Lüneburg Heath, twice as much as before.

Coca-Cola is also active in southern Germany - in Fürstenfeldbruck.

While the group in Lüneburg pays 18 cents per cubic meter of water, the water in Fürstenfeldbruck is free.

Anyone in Bavaria can dig wells and skim off water.

This makes Bavaria an exception - according to the BUND nature conservation association, it is only one of three federal states without rules for water abstraction fees.

On average, 10.32 cents per cubic meter are required in the other countries (as of 2019).

Innfood GmbH is already based in Weiding near Polling.

The company produces baby food for Alete.

Innfood founded an Innfood Mineral Waters GmbH in 2021.

The aim is to bottle drinking water.

"The water is sold as a brand in regional trade," explains a spokesman.

If the district office agrees, from 2024. There is no brand name yet.

The filling will take place in disposable PET bottles, but 100 percent recycled PET will be used “in the medium term”.

Citizens gave 3126 signatures to MP Steinberger (centre).

© Wagner

Mayor Lorenz Kronberger (UWG) doesn't let anything come to Innfood.

"For me, this is a well-run family business," he says.

"That's preferable to a public limited company." The citizens' initiative "Network Drinking Water" (BINT) sees it differently.

She has collected over 3000 signatures against the plans.

Last Wednesday they were handed over to the Greens MP Rosi Steinberger, who wants to present them in the state parliament.

The project was "completely out of date," says the MP.

Citizens' initiative deals with the business practices of Adelholzener

Sarina Kraft from Bergen (Traunstein district) knows the discussion.

Since April there has been a citizens' initiative in the Chiemgau that is examining the activities of Adelholzener GmbH.

Adelholzener has a good reputation in Bavaria - the company, which belongs to the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy, sells water and spritzer nationwide.

The water rights for the Bergener Moos nature reserve at the foot of the Hochfelln will soon have to be reapplied for, and they will expire in 2025.

The managing director of Adelholzener, Peter Lachenmeir, says: "We want to preserve our water rights - not expand them.

The withdrawal quantity approved today should remain the same.”

also read

Alpine drama about the missing climber on the Hochkalter: Reinhold Messner hopes for a "miracle"

Drama at the Hochkalter: Rescuers find the missing person's backpack – the search continues

According to information from the district office, Adelholzener has so far been producing from five wells, but a sixth is planned.

According to the citizens' initiative, the company is allowed to tap almost 1.6 million cubic meters of water a year - on average, only 1.1 million are currently being pumped.

If the approved amount is fully exhausted, this could affect the groundwater.

Sarina Kraft from the citizens' initiative "Unser Bergener Wasser".

© private

Sarina Kraft emphasizes that the citizens' initiative, which already has 800 supporters, is not about drying up Adelholzener.

But she calls for a time limit on the approval, independent reports and more transparency.

What bothers the 41-year-old the most: For the earlier approval notices, only expert opinions were submitted by Adelholzener itself - the company replies that this was done in coordination with the specialist authorities by officially sworn experts.

The amount of funding is too small for a mandatory environmental impact assessment.

Adelholzener emphasizes that the district office will examine whether an environmental impact assessment is necessary in the water law process.

However, Kraft points out that the district office has refrained from such an examination in the past decisions.

Is bottled water or tap water healthier?

(Video)

Drought as a threat to the groundwater table

Sarina Kraft is also about the basics.

The drought " scares me," she says.

This summer, the water on an alpine pasture dried up after just two weeks without rain, she reports.

Water was pumped up for the cows in containers.

"They haven't seen anything like that in 40 years."

Adelholzener asserts that the company takes water from a different groundwater layer than the community for its drinking water supply, between the floors there is an impermeable layer of sea clay, there is "no dependency between these two uses".

The district office argues like the company - and that arouses the ire of the citizens' initiative.

“This lake clay layer is of no use whatsoever for groundwater recharge,” says Kraft, adding that there is sufficient evidence for this.

A leaflet that Adelholzener distributed to local residents reads: “All of our drinking water is safe.

Today and also in the future.” Is that true?

The drought in Bavaria was a big issue in the summer.

Not anymore, after all it's raining again.

But the Bavarian State Office for the Environment is not giving the all-clear.

According to the latest low water situation report, 75 percent of the groundwater measuring points are currently low or very low.

That is more than 2020 (67 percent) and 2021 (52 percent).

Another figure: Groundwater recharge in Bavaria has been declining year after year since 2003, i.e. for almost 20 years.

There is an “average annual deficit of around 16 percent”.

Protests force mineral water producers to react

Water is also a top issue in Treuchtlingen/Middle Franconia.

Altmühltaler Mineralbrunnen GmbH produces millions of liters of water and sells it to discounters.

Like many manufacturers, Altmühltaler uses deep groundwater.

After a report by BR and protests, the company reacted – it is now being investigated whether two wells that are more than 200 meters deep can be replaced.

On the outskirts of the city, extraction from a rock layer located further up would be possible.

Innfood Mineral Waters GmbH also wants to use deep groundwater.

"The wells have different depths of up to 165 meters," says the company spokesman.

Bremauer from the citizens' initiative sees this critically.

Deep water is a "drinking water reserve", it "should only be touched in emergencies".

Many citizens fail to see why corporate profits should take precedence over the public interest.

Because the community does not get a cent for the precious commodity: "There is no water rate in Bavaria," says the office manager of the municipality of Bergen, Andreas Schultes.

He sees no problem with that.

The municipality does get some trade tax from Adelholzener.

The majority goes to Siegsdorf because the GmbH is based there.

The Mayor of Polling, Kronberger, points out

(By the way: Our Bayern newsletter informs you about all the important stories from Bavaria. Register here.)

Citizens' initiative advocates drinking tap water

The mineral water market is competitive.

According to the trade journal "Inside", Altmühltaler is ranked 3rd on the list of the largest mineral water suppliers in Germany.

Adelholzener is in 11th place, with MEG in first place – that is the Schwarz Group with the discounter Lidl (“Saskia” water).

Coca-Cola has now given up its expansion plans in Lüneburg because its water "Vio" has lost market share - the beverage multinational no longer appears on the list of the 15 largest mineral water producers.

If Innfood gets through with its plans, it should only be a small fish on the water market.

At least at the beginning.

But managing director Pascal Jankowski also sits on the executive floor of Roxane GmbH, which sparked protests in Saarland with plans to increase production volumes.

Roxane is a French company that wanted to use water for the "Christaline" brand in Saarland.

The Pollinger citizens' initiative appeals to consumers to simply drink tap water.

For one liter of water in the store, you get 500 liters from the tap, says Bremauer.

Mayor Kronberger, however, considers the excitement to be hopelessly exaggerated.

"There's a lot of sparrow shot."

All news and stories from Bavaria can now also be found on our brand new Facebook page Merkur Bayern.