Water Supply Master Plan
How Baden-Württemberg is preparing its drinking water supply for climate change.
Climate change is already having a noticeable effect on the water supply, and these effects will become even stronger in the coming years and decades. The Ministry of the Environment (Umweltministerium) and the Ministry of Food, Rural Areas and Consumer Protection (Ministerium für Ernährung, Ländlichen Raum und Verbraucherschutz) of Baden-Württemberg are therefore jointly drawing up a "Water Supply Master Plan" that examines supply structures across the state on a uniform basis.
What the master plan does
The master plan forecasts the development of water resources and drinking water demand up to the year 2050 and gives local authorities and water suppliers concrete recommendations for action to prevent future water shortages.
After a year of data collection, results are now available for the first rural and urban districts. The surveys show that, because of climate change, many local authorities and water suppliers need to act. Some are even advised to take a closer look at their water supply in the near future.
The starting position in figures
The effects of climate change on the water supply, after a year of statewide data collection.
Up to this year, the master plan forecasts the development of water resources and drinking water demand.
In some regions, rainfall is expected to decrease and groundwater recharge is expected to fall by up to 20 %.
After a year of data collection, the first results are available for rural and urban districts.
Voices from politics
Minister of the Environment Thekla Walker MdL (Member of the Landtag, the state parliament of Baden-Württemberg) stressed the importance of the project when handing over the results to local authorities and water suppliers on 2 May 2023: "The Water Supply Master Plan gives our local authorities and water suppliers the best possible basis for setting up their water supply so that it can withstand long periods of heat and drought."
Minister Peter Hauk added: "High-quality drinking water is a basic need for our citizens. People in Baden-Württemberg are used to having an adequate supply of perfect drinking water available at all times. With the Water Supply Master Plan, we are laying the foundation for this to remain the case in future."
What this means for water hygiene
Less groundwater recharge, longer periods of heat and drought, and strained supply structures raise the demands on a safe drinking water supply, from the public mains to the tank in small installations and mobile supplies. This is exactly where biostream® has come in since 2001: with chlorine dioxide solutions for reliably disinfecting drinking water, the same kind used in waterworks for decades.
All statements about efficacy are based on biostream® GmbH's many years of experience as well as information from technical literature, laws, regulations and positive customer references.