Establish water protection areas and medicinal spring protection areas

Water is not a common commodity, but the basis of life for humans, animals and plants and must therefore be specially protected.

In order to safeguard the public drinking water supply, the designation of water protection areas is a cornerstone of preventive, area-based groundwater protection. Within the water protection areas, rules for land use are defined following a hydrogeological assessment. These go beyond the general requirements for groundwater protection and include regulations on the handling of substances hazardous to water, prohibit interventions in the subsoil and can also restrict agricultural use if the drinking water is contaminated.

Water protection areas are divided into protection zones:

Zone III (further protection zone):
Zone III is intended to ensure protection against far-reaching impairments, in particular against chemical and radioactive contamination that cannot be removed or is difficult to remove. As a rule, Zone III should cover the entire catchment area. A subdivision into Zones IIIA and IIIB is possible for very extensive catchment areas (shown in yellow in the detailed maps, or in the case of subdivision: A = yellow and B = brown).

Zone II (narrower protection zone):
Zone II is intended to ensure protection against contamination by pathogenic microorganisms (e.g. bacteria, viruses, etc.) and other impairments that are dangerous if the flow duration and flow distance to the drinking water production plant are short. It should therefore cover the area around the well in which the groundwater takes 50 days or less to reach the wells (shown in blue on the detailed maps).

Zone I (catchment area):
Zone I covers the immediate area around the water extraction plant. It is intended to ensure protection against any contamination and impairment. It is therefore also protected by fencing to prevent unauthorized access or access by grazing animals and wildlife (shown in red on the detailed maps).

The body responsible for the public water supply (associations, municipalities, etc.) submits the application for the designation of a water protection area (WSG) to the higher water authority of the responsible regional council.

The water protection area is established by means of a statutory order.

The application with explanations (e.g. granted water rights, withdrawal quantities, water analysis and map) must be submitted by the public water supply authority in consultation with the higher water authority. Furthermore, a hydrogeological report will be commissioned at the expense of the public water supply authority, which will include a proposal for the delimitation of the water protection area and the individual protection zones.

No fees are charged for issuing the ordinance. The costs for the necessary plans and expert opinions are to be borne by the applicant. In the case of nitrate contamination in raw water of more than 25 mg/l, further costs are incurred for the assessment of the risk of nitrate discharge from agricultural land. Among other things, regulations that go beyond proper agricultural use may trigger compensation payments that must be borne by the applicant.

The same applies to the designation of medicinal spring protection areas for state-recognized medicinal springs, whereby in addition to the qualitative protection described above, quantitative protection zones are also designated in order to avoid any quantitative impairment of the medicinal springs.

Further, detailed information and data on the water and medicinal spring protection areas can be accessed via the Hesse Groundwater and Drinking Water Protection Information System (GruSchu).