Energy crisis, inflation and now the next heat wave.

In Germany, too, climate change is leading to more and more hot days, which "sometimes pose a threat to us humans and to nature," said Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) on Wednesday in an interview with Deutschlandfunk.

Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) had previously tweeted: "This heat wave could kill many people." Everyone must help protect the elderly and sick.

Sufficient liquid and cooling are crucial.

Katja Gelinsky

Business correspondent in Berlin

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The Federal Statistical Office presents alarming numbers.

Last month there was a strikingly high number of deaths in connection with high summer temperatures.

"From June 13th to 26th, the deaths were up 10 percent and 14 percent, well above the comparative values," the office said.

A trend that has already been observed in previous years is continuing.

Almost 20,000 people in Germany died from heat between 2018 and 2020, write researchers from the Robert Koch Institute, the Federal Environment Agency and the German Weather Service in a recent article for the "Deutsches Ärzteblatt".

For the first time since the investigations began in 1992, excess mortality due to heat has been recorded in three consecutive years.

According to the Federal Ministry of Health, older people and people in need of care as well as people living alone have an increased risk of death.

It's not just heat during the day that's a problem

The increasing heat during the day is not the only threat.

People can no longer recover from it, because at the same time the number of so-called tropical nights is increasing.

"If the record values ​​that meteorologists are currently predicting for the next week really occur, we will have to reckon with a high number of heat-related hospital cases," predicts Gerald Gass, CEO of the German Hospital Association.

In an interview with the "Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland" he called for an investment program to adapt the clinic buildings to the heat.

The hospitals, whose staffing situation is already tense, do not only have to adapt to dehydrated patients.

The condition of people with cardiac arrhythmia or gastrointestinal infections can also be aggravated by heat.

Municipalities take very different measures to prevent heat, but overall they do so inadequately.

According to the German Association of Cities, cities like Cologne and Mannheim are "already very far away".

In a “Heat Knigge”, Cologne refers, among other things, to free drinking fountains and public facilities such as museums or libraries, where a visit promises to cool off.

As far as the Association of Cities is aware, however, German cities have not yet started to set up rooms specifically for cooling down, as is sometimes the case abroad.

According to the Federal Ministry for the Environment, municipal action plans to protect against health damage during heat waves are mostly still in the "development and establishment phase".

According to a ministry spokesman, no municipality has implemented a heat action plan so far

“No one has to go without a shower at the moment”

With rising temperatures, concerns are growing that water could become scarce.

Because of the energy crisis, restrictions on hot showers in winter are already being discussed.

Is there a risk of summer cold showers becoming a problem because of the heat and drought?

The water association Strausberg-Erkner in Brandenburg limits the water for new private households to 105 liters per person per day.

That's no longer enough to fill a bathtub.

The faucet is not turned off, but fines are threatened with the annual accounts, reports the Berlin-Brandenburg radio station.

"No one has to go without a shower at the moment," said Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens).

"The drinking water supply is currently secured with us," said the minister on the radio.

But everyone has to “behave sensibly”.

Watering the garden extensively on hot days is "definitely something you shouldn't do".

In order to secure the water supply in the long term, the Ministry of the Environment is working on a national water strategy.

Lemke announced that they would be ready by the end of the year.

The aim of the strategy is to secure Germany's natural water reserves, to take precautions against water shortages, to prevent conflicts of use and to improve the state of water bodies and water quality.

General rationing of water should not be the solution, a ministry spokesman said.

But you will need generally recognized rules that can be used to decide on the spot which uses should be restricted in the event of an acute water shortage.

The public drinking water supply should have priority.

The water consumption of private households in Germany is stagnating with slight fluctuations.

Industry has been able to continuously reduce its water consumption in recent years.

But there are already bottlenecks in some regions when it comes to settling or expanding companies because there is not enough water.