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Water is the most important food.

The requirements for the around 5,900 water supply companies are correspondingly high.

But why are there such big price differences?

If a Berlin household pays an average of 156 euros a year for its tap water, Saarlanders have to spend 310 euros for it.

“The reason is the different effort for the provision of water and local structural differences,” says Martin Weyand, general manager for the areas of water and wastewater at the Federal Association of Energy and Water Management (BDEW).

Treating surface water from rivers or reservoirs can be more expensive than extracting groundwater.

"And if rocks have to be blasted for the new water pipe, for example, it costs more than laying the pipes in the flat sandy soil," he explains.

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The utilities allocate the higher investments to the fixed costs, which make up around 80 percent of the water bill.

Consumers therefore have little room for maneuver to reduce costs by saving.

The need for investment will increase, says Weyand.

This is also due to the fact that infrastructure such as wells or treatment plants have been shut down because water consumption has decreased.

The daily consumption per capita is currently around 120 liters of tap water.

In the 1990s it was around 145 liters.

But the increasing drought and changes in usage behavior made it necessary to put disused wells back into operation or to drill new ones, says Weyand.

In addition, the increasing nitrate and pesticide pollution of the groundwater in many catchment areas resulted in increasing investments by the suppliers concerned.

Weyand warns: If nitrate pollution is not significantly reduced in future, the costs for consumers could rise by up to 40 to 60 percent.

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The costs for the necessary infrastructure investments - denitrification systems, new wells, network systems, new dams - could even become so high that they can no longer be financed through higher consumer prices.

It is therefore the task of the federal states to provide financial support for the measures, said Weyand.

"In addition, we would also need to speed up the approval process, for example for new long-distance water pipes, so that the necessary water supply can be available at short notice and not just in 20 years."

However, the costs for drinking water are only part of it.

The other is the wastewater charges, which are priced one-to-one based on the amount of tap water used.

According to the Federal Statistical Office, a cubic meter of water costs around two euros nationwide on average.

The wastewater costs two to four euros.

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Virtual water consumption is an even bigger shadow in the German water balance.

Because water that is used for the production of food or for the production of goods - and also for all imports - has to be added in order to recognize the water footprint of the Germans, so the opinion of the organization Water Footprint.

That is 198 billion cubic meters of water per year.

Public water supplies accounted for just over five billion of this.

The water footprint corresponds to a daily consumption of more than 3900 liters per inhabitant.

That is even 100 liters more than the global average.

This text is from WELT AM SONNTAG.

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Source: WELT AM SONNTAG