Water supply and sanitation in Germany

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Public water supply and sanitation in Germany is universal and of good quality. Some salient features of the sector compared to other developed countries are its very low per capita water use, the high share of advanced wastewater treatment and very low distribution losses. Responsibility for water supply and sanitation provision lies with municipalities, which are regulated by the states. Professional associations and utility associations play an important role in the sector. As in other EU countries, most of the standards applicable to the sector are set in Brussels (see EU water policy). Recent developments include a trend to create commercial public utilities under private law and an effort to modernize the sector, including through more systematic benchmarking.

This article is part of a series of articles describing water and sanitation in various countries around the world using the same categories to facilitate comparison. For more details see the links to articles on other countries in the section "see also".

Contents 1 Access to water and sanitation 2 Water use 3 Water resources and public water supply 4 Service quality 5 Responsibility for water supply and sanitation 5.1 Service provision 5.1.1 Water supply 5.1.2 Sanitation 5.1.3 Examples of large water and sanitation service providers 5.2 Policy and regulation 5.3 Recent developments: debate on liberalization and modernization 6 Efficiency 6.1 Water losses 6.2 Benchmarking 7 Tariffs 8 Investments and Financing 9 See also 10 Notes 11 External links

[edit] Access to water and sanitation

Access to safe water and adequate sanitation in Germany is universal. More than 99 percent of users are connected to a public water supply system. The remainder is served by private wells. 93 percent of users are connected to sewers. The remainder is connected to various types of on-site sanitation systems.^[1]

[edit] Water use

About 80 percent of public water use is accounted for by residential and small commercial users. The remainder is accounted for by industries supplied from public water systems (14 percent) and other users (6 percent). ^[2]

Residential and small commercial water use is the second lowest among 14 European countries ^[3] and only a fraction of what it is in North America. Despite forecasts about increasing per capita water use, use actually declined from 145 liter/capita/day in 1990 to only 126 liter/capita/day in 2004.

Low water consumption has had some negative operational, health and even environmental impacts. On the operational side, sewers have to be flushed occasionally with injected drinking water in order to prevent stagnation of raw sewage. On the health side, there are concerns about drinking water contamination due to low flows. On the environmental side, in some cities such as Berlin water tables are rising and cause damage to the foundations of buildings because of decreased pumping of groundwater by utilities. ^[4]

[edit] Water resources and public water supply

Water is not scarce in Germany, except for occasional localized droughts. Public water utilities abstract only 3 percent of total renewable water resources in Germany, or 5.4 billion cubic meters out of 182 billion cubic meters annually.^[5]

The sources of public water supply are as follows:

• 65% from groundwater
• 9% from springs
• 5% from wells close to rivers and lakes, drawing essentially surface water
• 21% directly from surface water ^{[6] [7]}

[edit] Service quality

Water supply in Germany is continuous, at good pressure, and drinking water quality is excellent, as evidenced by the universal compliance with the EU drinking water directive.^[8]

Wastewater treatment is universal. 94 percent of municipal wastewater is treated according to the highest EU standards including nutrient elimination, a much higher percentage than in France (36 percent) or in England and Wales (39 percent).^[9]

[edit] Responsibility for water supply and sanitation

[edit] Service provision

Public water supply and sanitation in Germany is a responsibility of municipalities. Municipalities in turn can delegate this responsibility to municipal companies, private companies, public-private partnerships or municipal associations.

There are more than 6,000 public water service providers and about 6,000 sanitation service providers in Germany, most of them departments (Regiebetriebe) of small municipalities.

[edit] Water supply

Among the 1,266 larger water service providers about 15 percent are municipal utilities under public law (Eigenbetriebe); 16 percent are inter-municipal utilities (Zweckverbaende); 63 percent are utilities under private or mixed law either under private, public or mixed ownership. ^[10]; and 6 percent are water and land associations (Wasser- und Bodenverbaende). Only 3.5 percent of service providers were entirely privately owned (no figures are available on companies with mixed ownership, an increasingly prevalent form of ownership).

[edit] Sanitation

While in some cases the same utility provides water and sanitation services, they are usually provided by different utilities in the same locality. Unlike public water supply, sanitation is considered a sovereign core responsibility (hoheitliche Kernaufgabe) of municipalities in Germany. This implies that, unlike water supply, it is exempt from VAT and corporate taxes. It also implies that companies under private law cannot directly provide sanitation services. The great majority of municipalities thus provide sanitation directly through a municipal sanitation department (Regiebetrieb). Less than 10 percent of the 6,000 sanitation providers are utilities under public law, and none are utilities under private law. However, municipalities or municipal utilities can sign operating contracts (Betreibervertraege) with private companies. Out of the 900 largest sanitation service providers, about 10 percent have signed such contracts for sewerage services and 12 percent for wastewater treatment services.

[edit] Examples of large water and sanitation service providers

The largest privately owned public water company is Gelsenwasser AG, a multi-utility (water, sanitation and natural gas distribution) serving 3.2 million inhabitants in North-Rhine Westphalia, under concession agreements with 39 municipalities, and many other localities throughout Germany and internationally. [[12]][[13]]

An example of a publicly owned large multi-utility (water, electricity generation and distribution, natural gas distribution) is the Mainova AG in Frankfurt.[14]

The Berliner Wasserbetriebe, a subsidiary of the holding company Berlinwasser, is an example of a public-private partnership providing water and sanitation services in Germany’s capital Berlin. The holding company Berlinwasser is owned by the city-state of Berlin (50.1 percent), the private German electricity company RWE and the private French water company Veolia Environnement. It serves 3.5 million people with water and 3.9 million people with sanitation services.[15]

[edit] Policy and regulation

Responsibility for policy setting in public water supply and sanitation in Germany is shared between the EU, the federal government and state governments (Länder).(For more details on the role of the Laender and municipalities see States of Germany) The EU sets the framework legislation for water quality and water resources management (see EU water policy). The organization of public water supply and sanitation, however, remains a prerogative of EU member states. The German states (Laender) play a key role in the sector by setting, among other things, the legal framework for tariff approvals. Municipalities, legally entrusted with service provision, play an indirect role in influencing policy positions related to water and sanitation through their influential municipal associations (the Deutsche Staedtetag representing the largest cities and towns and the Deutscher Staedte- und Gemeindebund representing smaller cities and towns).

Industry associations and professional associations also play an important role in self-regulating the water and sanitation sector (verbandliche Selbstverwaltung). There are currently six associations in the sector. They include two industry associations, the BGW (association of gas and water service providers) and the VKU (association of municipal utilities); two professional associations, the DWA (professional association for water and sanitation), BVGW (professional association for gas and water); and two associations specialized on sub-sectors, the ATT (working group of dam operators providing drinking water) and DBVW (association of land and water associations). In particular the two professional associations play an important role assisting in the development of technical norms and, more recently, in performance benchmarking.

There are no autonomous regulatory agencies for water and sanitation in Germany at the state or federal level. The recently created federal regulatory agency for network industries (Bundesnetzagentur) covers telecommunications, postal services, electricity, gas and rail. It does not cover water supply and sanitation, since it is a responsibility of the states. Water and sanitation tariffs are approved through different procedures in each state, usually by a department in the state Ministry of Economy after a review of the tariff increase request by an independent auditor. In city-states (Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen) this means that the Minister (called Senator) of Economy both requests the tariff increase in his capacity as chairman of the board of the utility and also approves it, which constitutes a conflict of interest. In the case of some private utilities, tariffs are set by a mutually agreed arbitrator based on the professional opinion of an auditor.

Drinking water quality is monitored by the public health departments of municipalities and counties (Landkreise). Environmental monitoring is largely based on self-monitoring, which has proven to be reliable, and occasional samples by environmental Ministries of the states.

[edit] Recent developments: debate on liberalization and modernization

A study commissioned in 2000 by the Ministry of Economy suggested to liberalize the German water sector, allowing competition similar to the telecommunications and electricity sectors. ^[11] The proposal met with harsh criticism, including from the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) and the associations of municipalities, which alleged that liberalization could entail setbacks for the protection of health and the environment.^[12] The liberalization proposal was not further pursued. However, public-private partnerships continued to become more widespread and the trend towards the creation of private law water utilities (commercialization) continued.

In reaction to the liberalization debate the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag) passed a decision sponsored by the Green party and the Social-democrats (SPD) on sustainable water supply and sanitation (nachhaltige Wasserwirtschaft) in 2001. The decision rejected the liberalization of the water sector, but also called for the merging of smaller service providers, higher competitiveness and the general modernization of the sector, including through systematic performance benchmarking. ^[13] In 2005, the six professional associations signed a declaration promoting benchmarking, based on a methodology developed by the International Water Association.

[edit] Efficiency

[edit] Water losses

Water losses in the distribution network have been estimated at only 7 percent in 2001, down from 11 percent in 1991. ^[14] According to a study commissioned by the BGW losses are 19 percent in England/Wales, 26 percent in France and 29 percent in Italy ^[15] These would not only be the lowest water losses in the four countries, but also in the world. ^[16] The study states that its methodology allows for an accurate comparison, including water used to flush pipes and for firefighting. This is consistent with the International Water Association's definition of non-revenue water, which includes authorized non-metered consumption such as for flushing and firefighting.

[edit] Benchmarking

Benchmarking has been undertaken for a long period by German utilities, but not in a comprehensive and systematic manner. In 1998 the Federal Ministry of Education and Research initiated a competition of ideas to reduce the costs of water supply together with the economic research institute RWI and 14 water utilities. It developed a set of criteria to assess strengths and weaknesses in the industry. Participating utilities say that they reduced their operating costs by about 5 percent after two to three years. ^[17] The professional associations DVGW and DWA have jointly established a voluntary benchmarking system, which keeps individual company data confidential. The associations consider the system as being highly successful.

Germany has so far not participated in international benchmarking efforts such as International Benchmarking Network,[16] which is so far mainly focused on developing countries and which makes results for each utility public.

[edit] Tariffs

By law (Kommunalabgagengesetze or Betriebsgesetze der Laender) tariffs must cover the full costs of water supply and sanitation, including capital replacement and the remuneration of equity. The various state laws do not foresee a review of the level of the efficiency of investments and operations as part of the tariff approval procedure. Some states also levy a resource charge for groundwater abstractions which is passed on by utilities to the consumers ^[18]. There is no such a charge for surface water abstraction, however.

Utilities also pay a wastewater discharge fee which depends on the degree of pollution of the discharged treated wastewater. The discharge fee is supposed to provide an incentive to treat water beyond what is legally required (Abwasserabgagengesetz). It accounts for about 3 percent of total sanitation costs.

In 2004 water tariffs averaged 1.81 Euro per cubic meter including VAT, and sanitation tariffs averaged 2.14 Euro per cubic meter. ^[19]

According to NUS consulting water tariffs in Germany (without sanitation) were the highest of 16 mainly OECD countries at the equivalent of US$ 2.25 per cubic meter, about on par with tariffs in Denmark. However, according to a study commissioned by the German industry association BGW in 2006, the average household water bill was only 82 Euro per year in Germany, lower than in France (85 Euro) or in England and Wales (95 Euro), but higher than in Italy (59 Euro). The study shows that subsidies are more prevalent in the three comparator countries and service levels are lower. Taking into account these differences, the cost of supplying water at an equalized service level would be 84 Euros in Germany, 106 Euro in both France and England/Wales, and 74 Euro in Italy. ^[20] The apparent discrepancy between higher unit tariffs and lower bills is due to the lower water consumption in Germany. Water tariffs have remained stable in real terms over the past ten years. Concerning sanitation, unequalized tariffs are by far the highest in Germany at 111 Euro per year, 93 Euro in England and Wales, 90 Euro in France and only 40 Euro in Italy. Equalized costs net of subsidies are, however, highest in England and Wales with 138 Euro, followed by France (122 Euro), Germany (119 Euro) and Italy (85 Euro).

Metering is widespread in Germany and almost universal for single family homes. However, many apartments do not have their own meter, so that households living in apartments where only the consumption of the entire house is metered have little financial incentive to conserve water.

[edit] Investments and Financing

Investments are in the order of 8 billion Euros per year, including 5.5 billion Euros for sanitation and 2.5 billion Euros for water supply. ^[21] Financing is predominantly through debt and ultimately through user fees. Commercial debt is issued directly by the municipalities in the form of municipal bonds (Kommunalanleihen) or by utilities. The development Bank KfW also provides long-term credit for up to 30 years (Kommunalkredit) for municipal investments, including water supply and sanitation.

According to the professional associations of the sector there is no investment backlog (Investitionsstau).

[edit] See also

• Water supply
• Sanitation
• EU water policy
• Water supply and sanitation in France
• Water supply and sanitation in the United Kingdom
• Water supply and sanitation in the United States

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Statistisches Bundesamt [1]
2. ^ Branchenbild, p. 13
3. ^ Branchenbild, p. 12
4. ^ German Wikipedia entry on Trinkwasserverbrauch and Statistisches Bundesamt [2]
5. ^ Branchenbild, p. 8
6. ^ Branchenbild, p. 11
7. ^ Statistisches Bundesamt [3]
8. ^ Branchenbild, op.cit.
9. ^ Branchenbild p. 26
10. ^ ATT/BGW/DBVW/DVWG/DWA/VKU: Branchenbild der deutschen Wasserwirtschaft 2005, p. 14 [4]
11. ^ BMWi/Evers et al. 2000 [5]
12. ^ UBA [6]
13. ^ Bundestag 2001 [7]
14. ^ Branchenbild, p. 24
15. ^ Metropolitan Consulting Group: VEWA - Vergleich europaeischer Wasser- und Abwasserpreise, p. 4 of the executive summary [8]
16. ^ International Benchmarking Network [9]
17. ^ BMBF [10]
18. ^ Branchenbild, p. 40
19. ^ Branchenbild
20. ^ Metropolitan Consulting Group: VEWA - Vergleich europaeischer Wasser- und Abwasserpreise, p. 7 of the executive summary [11]
21. ^ Branchenbild, p. 7

[edit] External links

• UBA Federal Environmental Agency – technical agency under the Ministry of Environment UBA
• DVGW - An association of professionals and firms in gas distribution and water supply that assists the federal government in setting technical norms and advances the professional development of its members DVWG
• DWA - An association of professionals in water supply and particularly in sanitation that assists the federal government in setting technical norms and advances the professional development of its members DWA
• VKU - The association of municipal electricity, gas, water and sanitation utilities VKU
• International Benchmarking-Network for water and sanitation(IB-net) IB-Net