The first assessment will take place between July 1 and December 31, 2026. The first actual payments will then be made in 2027. All water users who extract groundwater directly from their own wells are required to pay the groundwater extraction fee. This includes, for example, public water utilities, as well as private users and industry. The fee is a flat rate of 10 cents per cubic meter (1,000 liters) of groundwater extracted. Due to the legally mandated exemption, all water users are not required to pay until their annual extraction exceeds 5,000 cubic meters. During the first assessment period, from July 1 to December 31, 2026, the exemption amount is 2,500 cubic meters, based on the half-year period.
Principle of Trust and Personal Responsibility
When determining the specific water withdrawal fee, either the annual withdrawal volume specified in the water withdrawal notice or the actual withdrawal volume is used as the basis, provided the user reports this to the water authority. In this context, it is sufficient to provide prima facie evidence of the actual volume of water abstracted. The principle of trust and personal responsibility applies; accordingly, there is no legal obligation to measure water usage. Existing measurement obligations—such as those arising from the permit notice or the Self-Monitoring Ordinance—remain unaffected.
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For the city of Erlangen, all water users subject to the fee requirement may therefore report their actual water withdrawal volume to the City of Erlangen, the lower water authority, by March 1, 2027. The Ministry of the Environment recommends documenting the corresponding meter readings from measuring devices—such as water meters or electricity meters for pumps—as of July 1, 2026, and December 31, 2026. This documentation is required to provide the necessary evidence of the actual volume of water abstracted. Households that obtain their water from the public water supply are not considered water abstractors for the purposes of the water abstraction fee; they are billed directly by the water utilities for their share of the costs.
Information letter to be sent in the fall
Those potentially subject to the fee will receive an informational letter in the fall of 2026 with further details regarding the introduction of the water withdrawal fee, particularly regarding the option to electronically report the actual volumes of water withdrawn for the first reporting period (July 1 through December 31, 2026).
For more information on the “Wassercent,” visit:
https://www.stmuv.bayern.de/themen/wasserwirtschaft/novelle_baywg/index.htm