The Hindu Business Line : Water management in Europe — Germany’s wellspring of resources

Access to safe water and adequate sanitation in Germany is a common given. Responsibility for policy-setting in public water supply and sanitation in Germany is shared between the EU, the federal government and the state governments. When it comes to management of water resources, distribution and recycling, India can learn a few lessons from Germany.

Water of the River Rhine is drawn by seven German cities and recycled until it reaches the Atlantic Ocean. — M. Ramesh

Mohan Murti

The European Parliament recognises beer from Germany as being a “habitual foodstuff”, a label only awarded to very few forms of sustenance.

This is credit to the famous 100 year-old German “Purity Law” that only allows the use of certain natural ingredients in beer.

This means that even today the basics of all German beers are hops, malt, water and yeast. In addition to large breweries, smaller traditional regional breweries have a place in the hearts of beer drinkers. They can chose between 5,000 different brands produced by 1,270 breweries — truly, a world record!

Nonetheless, beer consumption in Germany is declining all the time, from 140 litres a year in 1995 to just 115 litres per person today.

On the other hand, the wellness boom has triggered a bubble in, among other things, mineral water. Over the last 30 years, the Germans have increased the amount of mineral water they drink by a factor of ten to 130 litres each, putting them in the top group worldwide. More than 500 types of mineral water gush from 239 sources.

Europeans have always consumed bottled water, since most knew that their tap water was recycled a number of times.

It is said that the water of the Rhine River is drawn by seven German cities and recycled until it reaches the Atlantic Ocean after flowing through the Netherlands.

Water resources and public water supply

While demand for bottled water is growing, clean tap water is available in plenty in Germany. Public water utilities abstract only 3 per cent of total renewable water resources in Germany, or 5.4 billion cubic metres out of 182 billion cubic metres annually.

The sources of public water supply are as follows:

65 per cent from groundwater;

9 per cent from springs;

5 per cent from wells close to rivers and lakes, drawing essentially surface water;

21 per cent directly from surface water.

Access to safe water and adequate sanitation in Germany is a common given. Over 99 per cent of users are connected to a public water supply system.

The remaining are served by private wells. 93 per cent of users are connected to sewers. The rest are connected to various types of on-site sanitation systems.

Service quality

Public water supply in Germany is continuous, at good pressure, and drinking water quality is excellent, as evidenced by the universal compliance with the EU drinking water directive.

Over 94 per cent of municipal wastewater is treated according to the highest EU standards including nutrient elimination, a much higher percentage than in France (35 per cent) or in England and Wales (40 per cent).

Supply Responsibility

Public water supply and sanitation in Germany is a responsibility of municipalities. Municipalities in turn can delegate this responsibility to municipal companies, private companies, public-private partnerships or municipal associations.

There are more than 6,000 public water service providers and about 6,000 sanitation service providers in Germany, most of them departments of small municipalities.

Sanitation

While in some cases the same utility provides water and sanitation services, they are usually provided by different utilities in the same locality. Unlike public water supply, sanitation is considered a sovereign core responsibility of municipalities in Germany.

This implies that, unlike water supply, it is exempt from VAT and corporate taxes. It also implies that companies under private law cannot directly provide sanitation services.

The great majority of municipalities thus provide sanitation directly through a municipal sanitation department.

Policy and regulation

Responsibility for policy-setting in public water supply and sanitation in Germany is shared between the EU, the federal government and the state governments

The EU sets the framework legislation for water quality and water resources management. The organisation of public water supply and sanitation, however, remains a prerogative of EU member states.

The German states play a key role in the sector by setting, among other things, the legal framework for tariff approvals. Municipalities, legally entrusted with service provision, play an indirect role in influencing policy positions related to water and sanitation through their influential municipal associations.

Industry associations and professional associations also play an important role in self-regulating the water and sanitation sector. There are currently six associations in the sector playing an important role assisting in the development of technical norms and, more recently, in performance benchmarking.

There are no autonomous regulatory agencies for water and sanitation in Germany at the state or federal level.

In the case of some private utilities, tariffs are set by a mutually-agreed arbitrator based on the professional opinion of an auditor.

Drinking water quality is monitored by the public health departments of municipalities and counties.

Environmental monitoring is largely based on self-monitoring, which has proven to be reliable, and occasional samples by environmental Ministries of the states.

Legal framework

By law, tariffs cover the full costs of water supply and sanitation, including capital replacement and the remuneration of equity. The various state laws do not foresee a review of the level of the efficiency of investments and operations as part of the tariff approval procedure.

Some states also levy a resource charge for groundwater abstractions which is passed on by utilities to the consumers.

Utilities also pay a wastewater discharge fee which depends on the degree of pollution of the discharged treated wastewater.

The discharge fee is supposed to provide an incentive to treat water beyond what is legally required. It accounts for about 3 per cent of total sanitation costs.

When it comes to management of water resources, distribution and recycling, India can learn a few lessons from Germany.

(The author is former Europe Director, CII, and lives in Cologne, Germany. Feedback may be sent to mohan.murti@t-online.de)