Postponed but not canceled: Is this the solution? A compromise is emerging in the conflict over the planned 66 square kilometer drinking water protection area west of Würzburg. According to District Administrator Thomas Eberth (CSU) and the head of the Würzburg environmental agency Mara Hellstern, the controversial three-year change ban for the entire area from Würzburg to Altertheim is now off the table. Provided: The government of Lower Franconia sees it the same way. The water protection area should still come. When is not clear yet. The planned rubble dump of the company Beuerlein in Helmstadt is also welcome.
What happened? At the beginning of 2021, many district communities received a letter from the Würzburg district office with the request to comment within four weeks on a proposed change block for the “newly established water protection area Zeller Quellen”. The only information: a map of the area, the exact course of which has now been determined after 30 years of hydrogeological investigations and reports.
Many mayors are upset
In the event of a ban on changes, anything between Würzburg and Altertheim would be prohibited for at least three years that would prevent the designation of a protected area. Construction projects that could endanger the groundwater would be put on hold for the time being.
Affected are the district communities of Helmstadt, Altertheim, Waldbrunn, Eisingen, Waldbüttelbrunn, Höchberg, Hettstadt, Greußenheim and Zell am Main as well as the community of Großrinderfeld in the Main-Tauber district. “You have to honestly say that we snubbed one or the other mayor. That would have been different in non-Corona times,” says the district administrator.
The trigger for the short-circuit reaction: At the end of October 2020, the Environment Agency evidently had doubts as to whether the project of the Beuerlein company in Helmstadt, despite all previous reports, could not damage the groundwater after all. And with it the drinking water, on which around half of the 130,000 inhabitants of Würzburg depend. Because the Volkach company wants to rededicate its existing clay pit to a class 1 landfill. Toxic material can then be poured into this. The project still has to be approved by the North Bavarian Mining Authority in Bayreuth.
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With the idea of a change lock one primarily wanted to buy time, so the district administrator. He says: “We just needed another two or three months to be certain that both the drinking water protection area and the landfill go together.” The water management office had created a separate report. The project was once again checked hydrogeologically and legally, and the safety precautions tightened again. What about the concerns? Can the Environment Agency now rule out that the drinking water of more than 65,000 people in and around Würzburg would be endangered by the landfill? Yes, say Eberth and Hellstern unanimously.
Landfill: security measures are increased
Managing director Steffen Beuerlein is relieved: “I am glad that a satisfactory solution is emerging for all parties. We are increasing the security measures beyond the legal requirements.” The clay layer, which is supposed to keep the seepage water out, will now be twice as thick and ten times thicker. District Administrator Thomas Eberth says: “I’m happy when we get a DK1 location in the district. We urgently need it for the old town development and renovation.”
And what about the water protection area that has been under discussion for 30 years? Whether and when it will come remains open. The next meeting on March 17th between the District Office, the Water Management Office and the Würzburg drinking water supply should clarify where the individual protection zones in the 66 square kilometer area could run. Then you want to take the fear of the affected communities.
“It may well be that building will be a bit more expensive,” says the district administrator and adds: “But for this we provide a perfect drinking water supply regionally and safely.” To call this once again to the consciousness of all citizens, municipalities and companies, for this, too, at the beginning of this year “this principle was taken”. Collaboration: Martin Hogger
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