Deep Read: Drought in Germany: The Fight for Water Has Long Since Begun
Not only the Rhine is falling to historic lows. Municipalities are checking water restrictions. Industry is threatened with damage of almost one billion euros, an exclusive analysis shows.
Bonn. Düsseldorf. Steffen Bilger, the new Bundesverkehrsminister (CDU), warned on Thursday that the situation remains challenging even in August, due to alarmingly low river levels. The minister had convened a high-stakes discussion in Bonn regarding shipping, ports, and industry. While industry had prepared better compared to previous years, Bilger emphasized that they would now address necessary areas.
The Bundesverkehrsministerium intends to implement measures, including redirecting urgent transports to roads with exemptions from the vehicle ban on Sundays and holidays, as well as encouraging DB Cargo to transport more goods via rail. Bilger noted that such extreme low-water events will become more frequent in the future.
The low level of the Rhine clearly illustrates Germany's economy's dependence on water. According to an exclusive prognosis model calculation, the low Rhine threatens to cause production losses of approximately 913 million euros alone this summer. However, the falling river levels are just the beginning. Companies, municipalities, and agriculture are already fighting over who will be able to use and for how much water in the future, and which areas will have reliable access to groundwater.
Experts anticipate a distribution fight over water, not just on the Rhine, but also regarding water rights allocation and industrial investment plans.
Written by urgent.news from Handelsblatt's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
