Consumption "objectively dispensable": Berlin's Greens want to ban lawn sprinkling in water shortages

Municipalities rack their brains about what to do if water, a precious resource, runs out.

Consumption "objectively dispensable": Berlin's Greens want to ban lawn sprinkling in water shortages

Municipalities rack their brains about what to do if water, a precious resource, runs out. In contrast to other cities, Berlin has not yet had any legal means of rationing the residents' water consumption. The Greens want to change that.

According to the assessment of the local Greens faction, the state of Berlin also needs more powers to be able to take action against waste in the event of a water shortage. "In emergency situations, we have to be able to ban things like sprinkling the lawn, washing cars or filling a pool," said the environmental policy spokesman for the parliamentary group, Benedikt Lux, of the "Zeitung" (taz). At the moment, Berlin can only appeal to consumers.

In contrast to other federal states, the state of Berlin does not have a legal authority to order rationing, for example. According to Lux, the aim is to curb "water consumption that is objectively dispensable". Until a few years ago, Berlin did not have to worry about water shortages, the politician continued. In the meantime, however, one sees falling water levels in the long term. In addition, water consumption in Berlin has been increasing again for several years.

It is therefore important to cooperate more with the other Spree riparian states of Brandenburg and Saxony. "Cooperation must be intensified, also with Saxony, by the way - although Brandenburg is already doing a lot to keep the Spree clean." Lux also called for more commitment at state level in the fight against water poverty: "We can still do a lot ourselves: unseal areas, create cycles in which, for example, shower water is used again to flush toilets, green facades and roofs."

Weeks ago, the general manager of the Association of Towns and Municipalities, Gerd Landsberg, described the drastic increase in water requirements in industry, agriculture and private households as "problematic". Garden irrigation and the filling of large pools with tap water in the summer months could become a "real problem", he told the "Handelsblatt". Lawn sprinklers distributed up to 800 liters of drinking water in one hour. "That can push the supply infrastructure to its limits in some regions," warned the head of the association.