Flussbad Berlin Annual Review No. 3 2018 Imprint Publisher Flussbad Berlin e.V. Falckensteinstraße 48 10997 Berlin Phone +49 30 5557445-0 [email protected] www.flussbad.berlin Concept: Barbara Schindler, Jan Edler, Hans Georg Hiller von Gaertringen, Katrin Hiller von Gaertringen Editors: Barbara Schindler, Hans Georg Hiller von Gaertringen, Katrin Hiller von Gaertringen Design: NODE Berlin Oslo Translation: Julie Hagedorn Group As of June 2018 Cover: cc Marc Beckmann 2016 / OSTKREUZ © all rights reserved by the copyright holders cc: all rights reserved by the copyright holders under CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 Flussbad Berlin team: Susanne Bernstein / Office manager; Lisa Blum / Events & Planning; Kai Dolata / Treasurer; Jan Edler / Chairman; Tim Edler / Project author & Planning; Elena Erickson / Planning; Charlotte Hopf / Deputy chairman; Barbara Schindler / Press & Public Relations; Ana Shalin Stoeckermann / Education & Participation Flussbad Berlin e.V. receives funding from the “National Urban Development Projects” programme operated by the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community as well as from the Berlin Senate Department for Urban Development and Housing. Table of Contents 4 Editorial 40 Plants, wastewater and us. On the scientist Käthe Seidel 7 Official greeting Charlotte Hopf Katrin Lompscher 42 A pioneering test filter – the 8 A work in progress path to a transparent river – Site plan Kai Dolata 10 When is the Flussbad going 46 Welcome to the to become a reality? Flussbad garden! A conversation with Jan Edler 48 A more vibrant environment 15 Getting the Flussbad flowing. along the canal The November 2017 political A talk with Jörg Rocholl debate in Berlin’s state parliament 52 Journal 2017 22 Swimming. No more and 56 Best of … no less press commentaries 2017 Sylvia Metz 58 A great reason to 28 “The spark that triggers step out of the house other initiatives” New insights on A conversation with Hubert Flussbad Berlin Weiger, Olaf Zimmermann and Tim Edler 60 Volunteers voices 32 Spree residents 63 Get involved and make Stefan Marx Berlin even better! 34 Singing in lieu of swimming 3th Berlin Flussbad Cup 38 Planned weak points in the system. A brief history of wastewater disposal in Berlin Editorial All parties were in agreement! Well, almost all of them. To this day, many Berliners are still unaware of exactly On 30 November 2017, the various members of Berlin’s how polluted the river gets after every downpour – and House of Representatives – the parties known as the how complicated it is to clean it. For this reason, we SPD, CDU, die Linke, die Grünen and FDP – voted in decided to explain as best we could the historical events supporting the Flussbad project under the title “Das that led to Berlin’s so-called “overflow sewerage” sys- Flussbad zum Fließen bringen or “Getting the Flussbad tem. We also take a look at the groundbreaking scientist flowing”. The AfD, a right-wing party, abstained. The Käthe Seidel, who came up with the plant-based treat- Berlin Senate was thus given the task of advancing the ment technique we’re thinking to use in the Flussbad. implementation of the Flussbad and creating the condi- We also provide an overview of the current filter systems tions for the project to receive all the permits it re- being tested under real-life conditions at the future site quires to begin operation. Thanks to this motion, we of the Flussbad; indeed, this pioneering undertaking are now one major step closer to achieving our goal of marks the first time ever in the world that such a system generating a clean Spree Canal open to all. is being attempted in a river. In our third Flussbad annual review, we are under- We are delighted at how many new members joined standably eager to show how this political decision re- our association in 2017, and we owe a large number of flects an overall shift in consciousness – one that has our activities to their voluntary commitment. These ac- come about as a result of our efforts over the past tivities include our regular on-site walking tours as well years. In turn, our work would not have been possible as all the presentations and discussions we organised without the funding we received from the German fed- and participated at from Berlin to Paris. It also includes eral government and the state government of Berlin. the organisation of our annual Berlin Flussbad Swimming Besides, over the past several years, administrators and Cup and the refitting of the “Hans-Wilhelm” barge to people in general have become much more conscious house our prototype test filter. As you might already of the ecological importance of downtown waterways, know, we had to cancel our annual swimming cup in July their tangible social force and the crucial role they play 2017 due to record-breaking rainfall and the resulting in growing urban communities. pollution of the Spree Canal. However, we were thrilled But when is the Flussbad actually going to become to see how many people nevertheless joined us at the a reality? This is the question we posed to Jan Edler, one Monbijoubrücke that day, where we sang Barbara Mor- of the co-initiators of the project and the current asso- genstern’s new Flussbad song with the Chor der ciation chairman. We invite you to read his answers in Kulturen der Welt; this impromptu sing-along was a won- the interview we carried out for this review. Just like derful substitute for the event we had been planning for Jan, we never get tired of pointing out that the Flussbad months. is about much more than just being able to swim in the We hope you enjoy reading this year’s annual review. Spree. Indeed, as Sylvia Metz argues in her essay, swim- If you find yourself feeling inspired and enthusiastic ming is so important it should probably accepted as about the Flussbad idea and all the work we do, then we a basic human right. In fact, the contemporary debate encourage you to join us and become a member! about “environmental justice” demonstrates that uni- There’s no better way to make sure the Flussbad Berlin versal access to clean and swimmable water continues becomes a reality. to be a pivotal social issue. We were also interested in finding out what cultural Sincerely, and environmental leaders think about the Flussbad. Barbara Schindler, Is it possible to reconcile the ecological aspirations of Katrin and Hans Georg Hiller von Gaertringen a clean and sustainable public swimming area with the Editors of the Flussbad Annual Review protection of longstanding cultural values and monu- ments? In a conversation on the pages of this year’s re- view, Hubert Weiger from Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) and Olaf Zimmermann from the German Cultural Council (Deutscher Kulturrat) agree that the future Flussbad public swimming area is located in precisely the right spot in the historic “cultural district” of Berlin’s Museum Island and Humboldt Forum. Both emphasise the opportunities provided by the Flussbad at the cen- tre of the city to raise awareness among the general public with regard to urgent ecological and social tasks. 4 Flussbad Berlin The “Hans-Wilhelm” barge containing our test filter makes its way to the Spree Canal in May 2017 cc 2017 Axel Schmidt cc 2017 5 cc 2016 Espen Eichhöfer / OSTKREUZ Eichhöfer Espen cc 2016 Swimmers wait in the crystal clear Spree Canal for the start of the 2nd Berlin Flussbad Cup, July 2016 6 Flussbad Berlin Official Greeting cc 2017 Stefanie Loos Stefanie cc 2017 Since the end of 2014, Germany’s federal government I consider the Flussbad Berlin to be a truly valuable un- and the federal state of Berlin have been jointly support- dertaking. It is an important urban development project ing the Flussbad Berlin Association in its efforts to drive with a high international profile, tremendous innovation forward the innovative “Flussbad Berlin” project. Our potential and an above-average level of public support comes in the form of a nationwide programme participation. known as the National Urban Development Projects. Our In the past three years, the Flussbad Berlin Associa- decision to support the Flussbad followed on a tremen- tion has achieved a great deal. It has worked tirelessly to dous level of cross-party political support and advocacy publicise the project idea, to promote its multiple goals for the project on the part of civil society actors. and to raise the level of enthusiasm for a Spree Canal Why are Germany’s federal government and the that is clean, accessible and open to the general public. state of Berlin supporting such a project? At first glance, At the end of 2016, Berlin’s governing coalition agreed to it might appear that the Flussbad is only about making it enable swimming in the Spree and also to foster the re- possible for people to swim in the Spree Canal. In fact, alisation of projects such as the Flussbad Berlin. Since however, the creative and enterprising team at the then, with the help of funding and support from impor- Flussbad Association has set its sights on something tant partners, the Flussbad Association was able to open much bigger; their goal is to bring new life to the histori- an information platform depicting the project in the cal centre of Berlin. courtyard of the European School of Management and Until 1920, it was commonplace for Berliners to Technology (ESMT Berlin), which is now housed in the bathe in the Spree. Indeed, there were roughly 30 bath- former GDR’s State Council Building (Staatsratsgebäude). ing facilities well into the 20th century, all of which were The Flussbad team also anchored a pilot facility designed forced to close as a result of industrialisation and the to test the various possible water-filter processes in the related problems with sanitation and hygiene.