"In the period from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., watering and sprinkling of properties, public green spaces and park areas and filling of water basins with water from the public water supply system is prohibited," says the communication from the municipality of Panketal in Brandenburg.

The regulation has been in effect since the beginning of August.

Because the Panke located there, a small river that flows into the Spree in Berlin, has dried up.

Drought and low water in lakes and rivers are plaguing more and more communities in Germany.

And more and more frequently, citizens are being asked to save water, sometimes resulting from heat regulations like in Panketal.

Stefanie Diemand

Editor in Business.

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Stephen Finsterbusch

Editor in Business.

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For millions of people around the world, for the entire industry and agriculture, the ever-increasing lack of water is not just a daily challenge, it is downright a political issue.

In northern Italy, the government recently declared a state of emergency, and a French village has banned brushing your teeth with tap water.

Not to mention regions in the Middle East, Latin America, Asia or Africa, where water scarcity is no longer a state of emergency – but everyday hardship.

The earth actually has enough water, after all it is two-thirds covered with the precious liquid.

But 97 percent of it is salty and all in all only 3 percent of the occurrences are edible for humans.

However, about two thirds of the fresh water lies frozen at the poles.

For example, only a third of the global fresh water supply of around 35 million cubic kilometers is available to people for their daily needs.

“Avoid water shortages and struggles over distribution”

This amount is considered sufficient to make ends meet between seven and nine billion people every day.

But these reserves are unevenly distributed around the world.

According to UNICEF, around 2.2 billion people in the world do not have regular access to clean water, around 785 million people lack a basic supply of drinking water - and the need is growing.

Because the world population is increasing almost every year, and thanks to industrialization around the world, general prosperity is also increasing.

And that has a downside.

According to the United Nations, the world's population has quadrupled within a hundred years, but water consumption has increased almost tenfold.

Then as now, agriculture swallows 70 percent of the available fresh water.

Industry needs around 20 percent.

So far the situation in the world.

Germany is one of the most water-rich countries in the world.

But the Federal Republic is already plagued by crop failures in agriculture, low water levels in lakes and rivers and damage to the forests.

This does not apply to all regions in the same way, because the water is also distributed unequally in Germany: many towns and villages in eastern Germany are among the arid regions.