Where Is Water Scarce? Where Water Is Scarce in Germany Natural Water Flows Artificial Water Flows Virtual Water Flows

Everything Flows 190 km³ 307 km³ Evaporation Precipitation A GERMAN WATER BALANCE

Flensburg

28 Baltic Sea Volumes of water, Where water is Kiel inflows that flow across the Stralsund scarce in Germany borders and the coast Rostock 13 Elbe Greifswald Many regions in Germany use a lot via large rivers more water than they are able to (km³/year) Warnow Weser Lübeck obtain themselves within their territory (the yellow and orange areas on the map). The reasons for this include highly concentrated 5 Bremerhaven economic and settlement structures, features of Wilhelmshaven Hamburg Schwerin Neubrandenburg the natural landscape and contamination of the groundwater. That is why Stuttgart and the Emden surrounding area, for example, takes its water 4 Elbe from sources such as Lake Constance, which is Ems Weser Lüneburg over 100km away. Ems Oldenburg Bremen Oder

Havel Aller Natural Havel Elbe water ﬂows Ems Berlin Havel Hanover Germany is a country rich in water Frankfurt (Oder) Weser Wolfsburg Potsdam resources. While it is true that three-fifths Braunschweig of rainwater evaporates again, 117 km3 is Osnabrück Hildesheim left over and a further 71 km3 flows in from Magdeburg Spree neighbouring countries. This means that – 75 Rhine Münster in theory – 188 km3 of water is availa- Bielefeld 4 ble, which would be enough to fill a two- Elbe Ems metre-deep swimming pool covering the area Paderborn Dessau Cottbus Weser between Cologne, Hamburg, Berlin and Hamm Lippe Dresden. However, the natural water supply Gelsenkirchen is not distributed equally across the country: in Essen Herne Dortmund Göttingen the mountainous regions of southern Germany Halle/Saale Duisburg Ruhr Elbe between 10 and 20 times more water is Kassel Mulde Wuppertal Leipzig available than in Brandenburg. Krefeld Düsseldorf Görlitz

Werra Spree Saale Dresden Fulda Gotha Erfurt Weimar Cologne Gera Marburg Jena Pipe diameter of Siegen Chemnitz Artiﬁcial the long-distance Aachen Elbe Bonn Zwickau pipelines: water ﬂows Rhine Gießen > 4m 10 Almost one-fifth of the water that is 1 to 4m available in Germany is used and < 1m flows through technical infrastructures Koblenz Hof Where is – through cooling water pipes, pipes for Coburg industrial and domestic water and drinking Frankfurt (Main) water scarce? water; through sewers, dams and ship canals. Wiesbaden Main Moselle Rhine Water abstraction minus water More than one in four households is supplied Offenbach consumption in the administrative with water via long-distance pipelines, since Mainz Bayreuth Darmstadt Bamberg districts and cities with district status water is not available in sufficient quantity or Main (mm and l/m²) quality regionally. Climate change and popula- Würzburg Trier tion development pose new challenges for Düren + 356 infrastructure operators. The biggest consumers Erlangen of water are power stations, followed by Saar Ludwigshafen Mannheim

industry and households. Until now the direct Neckar Moselle Nuremberg Kaiserslautern + 300 use of water for agriculture in Germany has Heidelberg been almost negligible (0.3 km³ per year). 5 Saarbrücken Water consumption in Germany Heilbronn + 250

(km³/year) Karlsruhe Spree-Neiße Regensburg + 201 21 Pforzheim Lake +192 4 7 Danube Constance Stuttgart Esslingen Ingolstadt District Households Industry Power stations +150

Rhine Tübingen Isar Passau Neckar Miesbach +105 Reutlingen Ulm Augsburg

Danube 46 + 50 Inn Munich

Salzach Danube Freiburg balanced Virtual Memmingen water ﬂows Virtual Water (km³/year) Rosenheim Water transfer Kempten Lech – 50 Manufacturing goods requires water. Constance evaporated polluted water via long-distance Lake Constance This water can be attributed to the rainwater Rhine pipelines products as virtual water content. groundwater and surface –100 A distinction is made here between evapo- water rated groundwater and surface water (blue), 28 41 evaporated rainwater (green) and the volume Export Stuttgart – 140 19 Oberhausen – 153 of polluted water (grey). Thus trade flows 2 Rhine can also be considered to be virtual water southern 30 Isar, Inn, inflows Salzach flows. Viewed in this way, Germany 6 – 200 Import imports approximately 120 km3 of Herne – 220 virtual water per year from around 57 58 the world – almost twice as much as 100 km Munich – 248 it exports. Scale: approx. 1:1.5 million (with deviations caused by the perspective) Gelsenkirchen – 283

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German Federal Institute This poster was developed in 2014 as part of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building of Hydrology project “Water Flows in Germany” (FKZ 033L056). and Nuclear Safety (ed.): Hydrological Atlas of Germany, 2003

Authors: Jesko Hirschfeld (IÖW), Statistical Offices of the German Länder: Umweltökonomische Gesamt- INSTITUTE FOR ECOLOGICAL Enno Nilson (BfG), Florian Keil (kib) rechnung der Länder, Wassernutzung und Abwassereinleitung, 2010 Design: Golden Section Graphics GmbH Statistisches Bundesamt [Federal Statistical Office]: ECONOMY RESEARCH Fachserie 19, Reihe 2.1 and 2.2, 2013 Project Management: Project Management Resources and Sustainability / Project Management Jülich Further information on Water Flows in Germany is available via the project website: www.bmbf.wasserfluesse.de Germany is rich in But what will the water resources future bring?

What remains of the rain Precipitation minus evaporation (l/m2/year)

< 50 < 100 even drier < 200 < 300 drier < 400 < 500 < 600 < 1000 < 1500 > 1500

The water availability is not distributed equally wetter

There is a lot of water in drier Germany but it is distributed unevenly between the different regions. While a lot of rain and snow falls in the Alps and Central Uplands, there is so little precipitation in other areas that almost all of it evaporates again. Without influxes of water Recent past 1961-1990 Scenarios 2050 Scenarios 2100 via natural rivers or expensive long-distance water pipelines, households, industry and groundwater or it flows away in Wetter in the medium term? lower map in the centre is based Drier in the long term the end of the century. A decline in agriculture in these areas would surface waters and is known as on a scenario, in which some the availability of water could pose have to manage with very little “regional runoff depth” (referring Climate scenarios are no regions become even wetter In the second half of the century, a great challenge to agriculture and water. Climate change could to the administrative districts and weather forecasts. Since the by the middle of the century. above all, researchers expect water forestry as well as water manage- cause these regional shortages cities with district status). The climate system is so complex Other scenarios suggest that availability to decrease in almost all ment. In order to avoid temporary to intensify in the future. values range from below 50 l/m2 and the uncertainties concern- there could be a decrease in parts of Germany, but at different shutdowns, the technologies and Shown on the left are the an- in some parts of Brandenburg, ing the socioeconomic develop- the availability of water by 2050 rates. In particular, the increase in practices currently used for cool- nual volumes of water from Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and ments in the 21st century are (depicted on the top map in the evaporation means that even in ing and supplying power stations precipitation that were left over Rhineland-Palatinate to above considerable, the scenarios centre). Large areas in Branden- moderate scenarios, the regional and industries along the rivers after subtracting the evaporated 1500 l/m2 in some Alpine areas. In represent different versions of burg and Saxony-Anhalt would runoff in large parts of eastern Ger- would have to be reviewed to precipitation in recent years. the 1961-1990 period the national how future water flows could then have regular droughts many, which is already very small, see whether they would work if This water either adds to the average was just over 300 l/m2. vary from those of today. The within just a few decades. could decrease by 40% to 60% by water levels were frequently low. Nothing works without water

In theory, Germany has 188 km³ of water available per year. Around one-fifth of it is Major water users used by humans: as a coolant for power in Germany (km³/year) stations and in industry, for household use 20 and for the irrigation of agricultural crops. Cooling Other purposes 15 Over 60% of the water we use goes into power stations, where it is pumped into 10 cooling systems and then, for the most part,

fed back into rivers when it is still warm. plants Power Chemical industry Mining industryMetal industry Paper processing Food Agriculture Private households 5 22% is used by other industries for cooling and production. Households are only the 0 third-largest consumers of water, with 16% of the share. Just 0.4% of water is actually used for drinking and for preparing meals. Water use in private households (111 litres per person per day) However, water requirements are very 1-10 > 10 different in individual regions. Places with 5 7 7 > 20 15 a high concentration of inhabitants and > 50 industry use significantly more water than > 100 33 44 > 500 sparsely populated, rural areas. The biggest > 1,000 consumers of water – power stations – are > 5,000 usually located right next to rivers, where > 10,000 > 15,000 water for cooling is directly available. Thus Drinking, cooking the water shortages depicted on this poster’s Personal hygiene main map (see overleaf) are not necessarily Toilet caused by natural conditions, but rather Laundry by the interplay between the natural water Dishes supply and society’s demand for water. Cleaning Annual water requirements in the administrative districts (litres per square metre)

Over-fertilisation leads to a scarcity of clean water

Direct use of water for agriculture in drinking water are 50 mg of nitrate Germany is almost negligible (just per litre in Germany, a stricter limit of 0.3 km³ per year nationwide). At 25 mg/l is in place in Switzerland. the moment intensive irrigation only takes places in a few regions. In fact, In order to dilute the nutrient content indirect water use has much more to a level that is not harmful to humans of an impact on the water balance: or the environment, some regions, current fertilisation practises pollute if they were to observe the German the natural water cycle with nutrients. limit, would need more than twice as much water as they have available The map shows the concentration of naturally. The real consequence of nitrate in water percolating through the agriculture sector’s grey water the soil below the root zone. In many footprint is that clean groundwater administrative districts it is higher is becoming scarce at regional level. than 50 mg of nitrate per litre. In a As a result, drinking water must be number of districts it is higher than either processed locally, which is < 5 5-10 75 mg/l, while in some districts it costly, or obtained from other regions 10-25 even exceeds 100 mg/l. The limits for via long-distance water pipelines. 25-50 50-75 75-100 100-125 125-150 >150

Nitrate concentration (mg/l ) in water percolating through the soil (average values in the administrative districts) Water does not just flow in streams and Water also flows rivers outside our own door; there are also invisible water flows known as virtual water flows. They represent the water that is used virtually for the manufacture of goods – water that evaporates or is polluted during the production process. It is possible to calculate this consumption for many products and assign them a virtual water content. Thus we do not just use and consume water in this country, in households, agriculture, industry and power stations – we also use considerable quantities of water in lots of other countries around the world with which we have trade relations. > 0.5 > 0.3 > 0.1 > 0.05 Blue, grey and green water – > 0.01 > 0.001 the example of agriculture < 0.00 no values km3 Every year Germany imports over 35 million tonnes of agricultural products – and thus over 65 km³ of virtual water from all around the world. In contrast, virtual water exports via agricultural exports only come to 33 km³ per year. While the volume of evaporated groundwater and surface water (blue water) can be determined quite accurately, methods for logging the production-related evaporation of rainwater (green water) and water pollution > 0.5 > 0.25 (grey water) still require further improvement. > 0.1 The world maps to the right show the countries > 0.05 > 0.01 in which we use or pollute water by importing > 0.005 agricultural products. < 0.005 no values km3

0.35 Cotton Coffee 0.26 Pistachio 11.8 0.23 Almonds

> 5 0.22 Rice > 2.5 > 1 > 0.5 0.14 Maize Soya > 0.1 10.9 > 0.01 0.12 Soya < 0.01 no values 0.12 Castor oil km3

0.10 Coffee Cocoa Germany’s imports of blue, grey and green virtual water with agricultural products, arrows depicting the most prominent flows 0.09 Hazelnuts 4.1

0.08 Oranges

Palm oil Coffee 3.6 0.48 The real consequences of virtual water flows Maize 0.35 Maize 1.8 It is difficult to directly connect virtual water 0.32 Almonds flows with environmental and social conse- Coconut quences. In-depth analyses must be carried 1.2 oil 0.17 Wheat out locally, where the water is actually used. However, an example from the province of 0.15 Palm oil Wheat 0.8 Almeria in southern Spain shows what imports 0.13 Tobacco Natural of virtual blue water can mean in reality: every Sunflower 0.8 rubber year three billion litres of water are used there 0.10 seeds for irrigation to produce 80,000 tonnes of 0.10 Gerste 0.6 Castor oil tomatoes for the German market. In particularly 0.09 Barley Sunflower dry years that can comprise almost 15% of 0.06 Wine 0.5 seeds the amount of water available to the region as a whole. The environmental consequences Crops with the largest contributions to Germany’s can be seen in the progressive lowering virtual water imports, amounts of blue, grey and of the groundwater level and in increasing green virtual water in km³ per year salinization due to inflowing sea water. Did you know that one in four households in How does climate change Germany is reliant on long- affect the availability of distance water pipelines? water in Germany? Where is water scarce in Germany? How much water does Germany Without Lake consume in Spain? Constance Stuttgart would be left high Why do we import and dry. Why? grey water with almonds and green Which of Germany’s water with soya? regions is the driest?

Imprint References This poster was developed in 2014 as part of the research project Physical Water Data: Federal Ministry for the Environment, “Water Flows in Germany” (FKZ 033L056). Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (ed.): Funding: The German Federal Ministry of Education and Hydrological Atlas of Germany, 2003 Research (BMBF), Framework Programme Research for Climate Change: Nilson, E. & Krahe, P.: Zur Berechnung von Sustainable Development (FONA), Funding Priority: Sustainable Wasserbilanzen in Mitteleuropa im Zeichen des Klimawandels, Water Management (NaWaM) BfG-Bericht, 2014. Project Management: Project Management Resources and Water Uses: Statistische Ämter der Länder, Umweltökonomische Sustainability / Project Management Jülich Gesamtrechnung der Länder, 2010; Statistisches Bundesamt: Authors: Jesko Hirschfeld (Institute for Ecological Economy Fachserie 19, Reihe 2.1 und 2.2, 2013; Umweltbundesamt: Research), Enno Nilson (German Federal Institute of Hydrology), Daten zur Umwelt, 2009; Bundesverband der Energie- und Florian Keil (keep it balanced) Wasserwirtschaft e.V.: Die öffentliche Wasserversorgung in Scientific Support: Sabine Fritz, Christian Dietsche (IÖW) Deutschland, 2013 Editor: Richard Harnisch (Institute for Ecological Economy Nitrate in Percolating Water: Keller, L. & Wendland, F.: Research) | www.ioew.de/en Berechnung der potenziellen Nitratkonzentrationen im Sickerwasser Poster Design: Golden Section Graphics GmbH auf Kreisebene für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Arbeitspapier Poster Back Side Design: Marcus Lazzari | roeske+lazzari des FZ Jülich (IBG-3), 2013, (DENUZ-Modelling results based on Print: Oktoberdruck AG, Berlin N-surpluses analysed by Thünen Institute, reference year 2007) Distribution: German Association for Water, Wastewater and Virtual Water Flows: Water Footprint Network; FAO; Statistisches Waste (DWA) Bundesamt; United Nations; reference year: 2007. Berlin, March 2014 All data referring to 2010 (unless stated otherwise)

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