The draft law amends the Bavarian Water Act. The main focus is on the introduction of a water abstraction charge (“water cent”) for groundwater from July 2026.

Several experts, including ZfK Director and hydrologist Prof. Dr. Harald Kunstmann, are particularly critical of the exemptions from the charge provided for in the draft law.

For example, large extractors only pay for the amount exceeding 5,000 cubic meters. In the evaluation, the exemption limit alone means that no fees would have to be paid for almost ten percent of the total approved water volume.

“That is a very, very large amount that is still allowed as an exemption, especially in agriculture,” says Augsburg hydrologist Harald Kunstmann. “Other federal states are much more restrictive in this regard.”

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