To protect resources: Hesse is considering introducing the water cent

The state government is examining whether to introduce a water withdrawal fee.

Environment Minister Priska Hinz (The Greens) announced this in the state parliament on Wednesday.

This fee, also known as a water cent, was abolished in 2003, but has been levied by most federal states for years.

The fee must be paid by anyone who abstracts ground or surface water.

The reason for Hinz's announcement was the debate about a joint motion by the Greens and the CDU on how to deal with the raw material water.

The opposition criticized the application for not being very specific and presented its own demands for more sustainable use of the precious resource.

"The groundwater level has always been below average for a number of years, even if we have a summer in which it rains more," Hinz outlined one of the problems and warned that there are increasing conflicts of use between the water consumption of cities and that of agriculture and industry and settlement areas.

"Water is taken from the Vogelsberg, the Burgwald and the Hessian Ried and fed to the conurbation so that the people there have enough good drinking water and companies can produce," said Hinz.

The ministers therefore described it as important to find solutions to minimize the conflict of use.

The model for sustainable water developed by the state government is a milestone in dealing with the precious resource and should be decided in the summer after a hearing.

"We are also examining future financing through a water withdrawal fee," announced Hinz, and the Ministry of the Environment confirmed the plans on request.

Hessen also supports the cities and municipalities in the creation of municipal water concepts.

15 concepts with 49 participating municipalities have been funded with almost 1.3 million euros since 2021, the minister said.

Water consumption will continue to increase

The state is also supporting a study with 400,000 euros to clarify how the additional treatment of Rhine water can be successful.

Because water consumption in the Rhine-Main area will continue to rise.

It is a question of knowing today how the water requirements in southern Hesse can be satisfied over the next 30 years.

The Darmstadt West Forest will be rehabilitated and the Pfungstädter Moor will be waterlogged again, she described measures.

In seven sewage treatment plants, fourth cleaning stages are either under construction or in the approval process.

"There are rural regions where I don't need to work with a fourth cleaning stage at the moment," she said, however, rejecting the nationwide use of the technology.

The plans don't go far enough for the opposition.

“The state government has criminally neglected the protection of our water resources.

The implementation of the Water Framework Directive is a decade behind,” complained the environmental policy spokeswoman for the left, Heidemarie Scheuch-Paschkewitz.

She accused the coalition of being too hesitant to modernize the sewage treatment plants and not stopping the nitrate pollution in the groundwater.

She described the application by the CDU and the Greens as cynical, admonishing people to use water carefully, but not committing the state government to anything.

"No more drinking water for the toilet"

The left had submitted its own application, which provided for a bundle of concrete measures.

According to this, among other things, drinking water should no longer be used in public toilets from 2035 onwards, all Hessian municipalities should create a register for surface sealing and Hesse should reintroduce the water cent.

In addition, the left is calling for the obligation to use service water to be made mandatory for new buildings during this legislative period.

"No more drinking water for the toilet," Scheuch-Paschkewitz clarified and even found the approval of FDP MP Wiebke Knell, who attested to the arbitrariness of the government factions' motion.

Florian Schneider from the SPD accused the state government of not taking the issue seriously.

For example, streams had too high nitrate levels.

"It doesn't help to sing the praises of 100 renatured streams with a great image project, it takes a large-scale initiative," said Schneider.

"We need a ban on manure imports, because over-fertilization leads to rising nitrate levels." Schneider also called for the introduction of a water cent.

However, the state government has so far vehemently rejected this.

Klaus Gagel, environmental policy spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group, approved of the redevelopment of the western forest and described it as the right way to distribute the sufficient available groundwater from Weiterstadt and Griesheim in dry forest areas with the help of wells and infiltration ditches.

"Hesse needs alternative sources for drinking water production," said Gagel and called for service water systems to be introduced quickly.

Michael Ruhl (CDU) was of the opinion that it should first be checked where service water systems are used.

The use of the systems across the board does not make sense, but it is appropriate for the Rhine-Main area, where only about 20 percent of drinking water consumption can be covered.