ration water? This is how Lemke wants to ensure global justice

It starts with a show. Dozens of black limousines pulled up on Wednesday morning (local time) at the United Nations Plaza, located directly on the East River in Manhattan. It is a coincidence that the headquarters of the United Nations towers directly on the banks of the river, which is notorious for being dirty. And yet it is fitting. High-ranking politicians from all over the world will take part in a clean water conference here in New York until Friday.

Environment Minister Steffi Lemke climbs out of one of the vehicles. On the world stage in New York, the federal government is again on a high mission. She wants to save the water. "Pollution, overexploitation, droughts and floods endanger the entire global development," says Lemke.

A UN Sustainable Development Goal, according to which everyone should have access to clean water by 2030, already exists. But the worldwide implementation is not fast enough for the Germans. The Green politician finds it too fragmented and too poorly coordinated. "That has to change," she warns.

Current numbers confirm it. One in four people worldwide does not have adequate access to water, i.e. around two billion people, according to the latest UN report. And around 3.4 billion people live without sanitation. In poorer countries there is above all an existential risk due to poor water quality, in industrialized countries the high consumption by agriculture is problematic.

In New York, the minister called for international agreements on cross-border water management. And also its own UN special envoy for water. The current UN meeting is the first since 1977 to focus exclusively on water. No major agreement will be negotiated at the conference, but a non-binding action paper is to be voted on.

Germany now sees itself in a pioneering role. Because last week, Lemke brought her “National Water Strategy” through the federal cabinet. She announces that she also wants to advertise their content on the international stage. The aim is for water to be available “sufficiently and permanently in good quality” for both people and ecosystems.

This includes, for example, "water-sensitive urban development": more green and less sealed areas should ensure that water is better stored in the metropolises. In the future, states and municipalities will also be legally obliged to create risk maps for heavy rain - and to take the results into account in the construction planning.

However, most citizens are likely to be interested in one question that the strategy still does not answer: How should the water be distributed in the future? In any case, Lemke wants to work out a concept together with the federal states as to how politics can secure the supply in the event of a shortage. The minister made it clear that people have priority. And yet there has to be a balance between industry, agriculture and consumers - a so-called water use hierarchy.

The popular Lake Garda in northern Italy is currently suffering from a prolonged period of drought. On top of that, floodgates had to be opened to keep the rest of the country from drying out.

Source: WELT/ Jonas Feldt

The name of a company keeps coming up as an example of conflict: Tesla. "We are observing that many local people are interested in the topic of water because there are also conflicts of use," a ministry spokesman recently explained. What is meant is the Giga-Factory of the US car manufacturer in Grünheide, Brandenburg. Environmental activists, corporations and authorities have been exchanging blows since the Giga-Factory was founded.

The activists repeatedly accuse Tesla of using too much water. There is already a water shortage in the East Brandenburg region. In the summer, the Strausberg-Erkner water association even began to ration water for new customers in its association area. Tesla boss Musk had recently regularly rejected water problems. And authorities also emphasized that local citizens need not worry.

It is more than questionable whether such problems will no longer exist in the future. Minister Lemke emphasizes that the national water strategy is an overarching strategy. A nationwide guideline is being developed that will be applied in the event of regional water shortages. However, this is only intended to help the responsible local authorities in deciding who may primarily use water. "The federal government regulates the overarching strategy, and the states and municipalities then take care of individual companies," says the ministry.

While Lemke warns of the big picture in New York, she also receives criticism for her national plans – and that from her own camp. Environmental activists accuse the minister of having seriously weakened the strategy adopted for previous drafts. "In all drafts it was always said: The drinking water supply must have top priority," writes activist Luise Neumann-Cosel in the short message service Twitter.

The current version now says: It must be ensured that sufficient resources are available "for the drinking water supply and other priority uses for the good of the general public". "Which can be anything," complains Neumann-Cosel. For example, for food and feed production.

The Federal Environment Ministry disagrees: "Drinking water supply is still the top priority in Germany," said a spokesman recently. The Water Resources Act clearly stipulates that supplying the population with clean drinking water has priority over other uses. And the minister herself emphasized again in New York: "Drinking water first" is her credo. In addition, the strategy adopted is now one of the entire federal government, while previous drafts only came from the Ministry of the Environment.

The strategy also includes one thing: saving water. There should be incentives in industry and agriculture in particular. "We will examine whether instruments such as the further development of water withdrawal fees and smart water tariffs can contribute to this," the paper says. But the Minister of the Environment does not exclude consumers. For them, too, careful use of water is important, says the minister in New York.

And so the question arises as to whether, for example, swimming pools should still be filled during periods of drought. Consumers should soon be taught exactly how to save money: The Ministry of the Environment wants to commission a communication strategy on the subject of water before the end of this year.

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