The groundwater is in the red zone at the Anzinger Sauschütt measuring point. The blue line points slightly upwards in May, but is well below the red line, which is the comparative value for "very low" levels. © Graphic: Low Water Information Service Bavaria/lfu
More rain, much more rain: Despite the wet past few weeks, there are actually still people in the district of Ebersberg who would like to see that. Those who take care of groundwater.
District – The fresh air lovers in the district of Ebersberg are stagnating in the permanent crisis. Since the beginning of April, the region has been ruled by continuous rain. "It's very important for nature!" – this sentence is often uttered behind rain-cloudy window panes at the moment for self-therapy against camp fever. That's right: lush greenery dominates the flora in forests and meadows "But at some point it's enough again" – another therapy sentence, not to mention the increasing risk of flooding.
Groundwater level dropped by 1.80 meters - recovery not in sight
The people who keep an eye on the groundwater in the region see it differently. "I'm glad it's raining. That's good weather," says Thilo Kopmann from the municipal company Vemo, which supplies around 86,000 people in the districts of Ebersberg, Munich and Erding with drinking water from its wells near Zorneding. Over the past two decades, groundwater levels have dropped by about 1.80 meters.
The district of Ebersberg is soaked by weeks of rainy weather. But only superficially – the groundwater recovers too slowly. © Sro
Even the abundant rainfall of the past few weeks has hardly changed anything. "It takes months to years for rainwater to reach the drinking water area," says Kopmann. He has observed with concern the past, low-precipitation winter months – in fact, the period of the year when the groundwater recovers best, fed by underground streams from the direction of the Alps. "The snow is missing," says the Vemo managing director.
Water Management Authority: It takes several wet years
One person who takes a close look at the groundwater in the Ebersberg district is Daniela Islinger, who is responsible for groundwater protection and drinking water supply at the Rosenheim Water Management Office. Their official assessment: "The current groundwater levels in the Munich gravel plain are still several meters below the level of the long-term mean water levels." This also means that in order to get back to normal levels, "a sequence of several wet years will probably be necessary".
A fortunate circumstance for the region: In the northwest of the district, the Munich gravel plain, where Vemo also mines, is home to "one of the most productive aquifers in southern Bavaria," explains the water expert from the office. In the southeast, older gravel deposits under the moraines of the Inn Glacier are being tapped, which are somewhat better protected from pollution.
This is how the state protects drinking water
The groundwater layers are meticulously monitored by the water management office. It interferes not only in the business of water suppliers through temporary withdrawal permits, but also in urban land use planning, for example. The most recent example: The railway will probably have to plan a longer tunnel near Grafing for its desired route to the Brenner Pass in order to protect the drinking water protection area there. Building owners and municipalities, for example, are encouraged to infiltrate rainwater in a decentralised manner because the groundwater layers benefit from this. "We have a holistic view of groundwater and drinking water protection," says Islinger.
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This is also necessary. The influx into the region continues – more people consume more water. "We have to think about it," warns Thilo Kopmann of Vemo. New concepts are already being promoted, such as using freshly purified water from sewage treatment plants for agricultural irrigation: practiced in southern Europe, still banned in Germany. A luxury that we should not afford for too long, Kopmann lets us know. In view of the ever more rapid retreat of glaciers and the lack of rainy years for decades, he fears that water shortages will occur in just over ten years, as has been observed so far in southern Europe and parts of northern Bavaria. "Something has changed," says the expert. "We're going to have a problem."
You can read even more news from the Ebersberg region here. By the way: Everything from the region can also be found in our regular Ebersberg newsletter.