Water Law; Applying for a Permit

Society’s demands on water resources are diverse and often conflicting. For this reason, all human impacts on surface and groundwater must be systematically regulated and monitored. This is the purpose of water laws and their enforcement. The water law authorities are the district administrative authorities (district offices, independent cities, and, to a limited extent, individual municipalities within a district).

Water law consists of legal provisions of the European Union, legal provisions enacted by the federal government, and legal provisions enacted by the Free State of Bavaria. For any impact on a body of water that is not of purely minor significance, you need an official permit. In particular, land ownership does not, as a general rule, entitle the owner to use a body of water, etc. (Section 4(3) of the Federal Water Act (WHG)). The link below will take you to a website where you can find an overview of the most important water law procedures and their legal treatment.

There are several types of permits under water law:

• A permit or authorization is required for the use of a body of water, e.g., if you wish to divert water from a stream, impound a body of water, or discharge substances into it (Section 9 of the Water Resources Act (WHG)).
• The creation, removal, or substantial alteration of a body of water or its banks requires what is known as a “plan approval” or “plan authorization” (Section 68 of the WHG).
• Structures in bodies of water or located less than 60 meters from a body of water generally require approval under § 36 WHG and Art. 20 BayWG for larger bodies of water, unless a building permit is already required.

No permit is required, for example, for:

• the extraction of small quantities of groundwater for agricultural, forestry, and horticultural purposes to maintain soil fertility (Section 46(3) of the WHG, Article 29 of the BayWG)
• activities that fall under the so-called “public use” of surface waters (Section 25 of the WHG, Article 18 of the BayWG; including, among other things, swimming, watering livestock, and ice sports...)
• certain impacts on specific bodies of water, provided they are of minor significance in terms of water management (see Art. 1(2) BayWG; e.g., an artificial pond that is not connected to other bodies of water)

The district administrative authority—that is, the district office for the district’s territory or the independent city for its municipal area—is generally responsible for issuing a permit. In certain cases, larger municipalities within the district may also be responsible.