Water Protection Area; Designation

Water protection areas are particularly well-suited to protecting groundwater that is extracted for drinking water purposes. Ultimately, they also serve to protect consumers. In Bavaria, precautionary drinking water protection is based on an approach consisting of several interrelated components (known as the “Bavarian Approach”). The watershed of a drinking water extraction facility is divided into three risk zones based on sensitivity. Only the particularly sensitive parts of the catchment area are officially designated as water protection areas; the remainder of the catchment area can be protected through regional planning instruments (priority and reserved areas for public water supply), through targeted risk management within the catchment area by water supply companies (WVU)—for example, through voluntary cooperation with farmers—and the consistent enforcement of general groundwater protection. However, in areas of correspondingly high sensitivity (such as in karst regions), the entire watershed may well be included in the WSG. This allows water protection areas and the impact on private land to be limited to what is absolutely necessary. The approximately 3,100 designated protection areas throughout Bavaria to date therefore account for only about 5% of the state’s total area.

’s water protection areas generally consist of three protection zones:

• Zone I (Intake Area): 

  The catchment area protects wells and springs and their immediate surroundings from any kind of contamination. This area is therefore fenced off and is usually owned by the water utility. Only selected individuals are granted access.

• Zone II (narrower protection zone): 

  This zone primarily ensures protection against contamination by pathogens. For this reason, wastewater and manure must under no circumstances seep into the ground here. Zone II must be large enough so that groundwater travels underground for 50 days from its outer boundary to the wells, as this is how long it takes for the water to be sufficiently purified of pathogens.

• Zone III (outer protection zone), subdivided in some cases into Zone IIIA and Zone IIIB: 

  This zone is defined by the watershed. It is intended to provide protection against persistent contaminants, such as those resulting from chemical accidents in the wider vicinity of water extraction facilities. It also ensures that there is sufficient time to implement countermeasures following accidents. In large water protection areas, the “Extended Protection Zone” may be divided into Protection Zones IIIA and IIIB—each with different prohibitions and requirements. In Bavaria, the “Extended Protection Zone” generally does not cover the entire watershed.

The size of the protection zones is determined on a case-by-case basis according to local hydrogeological conditions. In Bavaria, special precautions for drinking water protection are provided not only by water protection areas, but also by priority and reserved areas for water management, as well as through responsible risk management in the watershed by water supply companies. This allows water protection areas and the impact on private property to be limited to what is absolutely necessary (“the Bavarian approach”). Consequently, the approximately 3,100 designated protection areas throughout Bavaria to date account for only about 5% of the state’s total area.

Parts of the Erlangen metropolitan area are affected by the water protection zone in the city of Erlangen and in the municipalities of Möhrendorf and Bubenreuth (Erlangen-West), the water protection zone in the cities of Fürth, Erlangen, and Nuremberg for the public water supply of the Eltersdorf Group Water Supply Association, and the water protection area in the city of Erlangen and the municipality of Heßdorf, Erlangen-Höchstadt District, for the public water supply in the service area of the Special-Purpose Association for Water Supply to the Seebach Group.

The water protection area in the Erlangen-Höchstadt district—comprising the municipalities of Buckenhof, Uttenreuth, and Kalchreuth, as well as unincorporated areas—for the public water supply of the city of Erlangen (Erlangen-East) borders the city limits.