Wasserschutzgebiete und Heilquellenschutzgebiete festsetzen

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

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 contamination that is not or only with difficulty degradable. As a general rule, Zone III should cover the entire catchment area. A subdivision into zones IIIA and IIIB is possible (yellow in the detailed maps, or in case of subdivision: A = yellow and B = brown).

Zone II (narrower protection zone):
Zone II is intended to ensure protection against contamination by pathogenic micro-organisms (e.g. bacteria, viruses, etc.) and against other impairments which can be dangerous if the flow time and distance to the drinking water production plant are short. Therefore, it should cover the area around the well where the groundwater takes 50 days or less to reach the catchments (shown in blue in the detailed maps).

Zone I (capacity):
Zone I includes the immediate vicinity of the water extraction plant. In it, any contamination and impairment must be avoided. The area must therefore be secured by fencing against unauthorized access (shown in red in the detailed maps).

The application with explanations (granted water right, withdrawal quantities, water analysis and map representation) must be submitted by the public water supply authority in consultation with the upper water authority. Furthermore, a hydrogeological report must be commissioned at the expense of the carrier, from which, among other things, the necessary protection zones emerge.

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

The same applies to the designation of mineral spring protection areas for state-recognised mineral springs, whereby quantitative protection zones are designated here in addition to the qualitative protection described above in order to avoid a quantitative impairment of the mineral springs.

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

The public water supply authority (associations, municipalities, etc.) submits the application for the establishment of a water protection area (WSG) to the upper water authority of the responsible regional council. The water protection area is determined by means of an ordinance.