German env minister urges industry to save water amidst increasing heat and drought

Germany’s environment minister Steffi Lemke has called for industry to save water as drought and water shortages continue to hit in the country. “The climate crisis is changing our lives and our economies,” the Green Party politician said. “The large water consumers in industry must also focus even more on the economical use of water,” she added. Heat and drought in Germany are increasing as a result of climate change, so the government is setting up plans to secure water supply, Lemke told newspaper Rheinische Post. The government recently presented a national water strategy to establish guidelines on who gets priority in cases of water scarcity, and how to secure drinking water in the long term. German companies use around 85 percent of their water to cool production and power plants, according to statistical office Destatis. Water used for production purposes accounts for 11 percent of the overall amount, followed by irrigation (2.5%), manufacturing (1.4%), and staff purposes (0.6%).

Germany as a whole recorded below long-term average precipitation in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022. This caused, among other things, significant losses to crop yields, a reduction in the number of hours power plants could properly function, swathes of forest dying away, and water levels in major rivers plunging below those needed to allow unhindered inland navigation. Winters have become noticeably shorter in recent years, and groundwater reservoirs can’t recover fully year on year because of less snowfall and rain. Heat and drought are set to increase in time and severity due to climate change, negatively impacting water availability, biodiversity, agriculture, forestry, lakes and rivers, freight transport, and human health. On average, Germany’s water supply is not in a critical state, but there are stark regional differences, for example, in average rainfall, says the country’s environment agency (UBA). Eastern states, such as Brandenburg or Saxony-Anhalt, are particularly low in precipitation, while other regions, for example in southern Germany in the foothills of the Alps, see a lot of rain.