The vice-president of the Association of Municipal Enterprises (VKU), Karsten Specht, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in the Tuesday edition that “widespread price adjustments would be unavoidable” due to “massive investment needs” and “explosive costs to secure the water supply”. Specht also advocated uniform prices for water withdrawal – including for large companies.
With a view to the cost of water extraction for large companies, which varies from state to state and is sometimes free of charge, Specht told the “FAZ”: “Regardless of who accesses it and for what purposes – everyone should pay the same price, because the extraction of the groundwater is the decisive factor .”
Specht also called for additional measures to protect the groundwater. “You don’t have to pollute groundwater, not even with pesticides, by the way,” he said with a view to the sometimes still high level of nitrate pollution. It is “very questionable” if the use of pesticides in water protection areas is still possible.
