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🇩🇪 Germany /Environment & Climate

Falling groundwater threatens forests and drinking water in Saxony

From Die Zeit · () German

Translated from German and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire Named sources Ongoing story
  • Groundwater levels in Saxony are currently more than half a meter below typical levels at about 88% of the state’s roughly 550 monitoring stations, an environmental agency expert told dpa.
  • Levels have declined since 2013, while recent years have brought less snowmelt, lower rainfall, higher evaporation and more localized heavy rain.
  • Measurements at a Brandis station found no seepage water beneath even many heavy soils, raising questions about whether the changes exceed natural variation.

Saxony has reached another low point in its long-running groundwater decline. At about 88% of the state’s roughly 550 monitoring stations, levels currently sit an average of just over half a meter below their usual marks, according to Andy Philipp, a water expert at the State Office for Environment, Agriculture and Geology.

A year earlier, 81% of the stations recorded levels 37 centimeters below normal. Brief relief came in late 2021 and early 2022, followed by another recovery in the winter of 2023-2024. But neither period lasted. “Groundwater levels have been falling since 2013. There has not yet been any longer recovery, let alone a sustainable recovery,” Philipp told the German Press Agency.

The way water reaches underground reserves also appears to be changing. In the past, a significant share of precipitation in the uplands fell as snow, replenishing groundwater during the spring melt. That effect has become increasingly rare. Lower rainfall and substantially higher evaporation may both be contributing, while warmer air is linked to more localized heavy rain. For the water cycle, Philipp said, it matters whether 50 liters per square meter fall steadily or in a concentrated downpour.

Groundwater levels have been falling since 2013. There has not yet been any longer recovery, let alone a sustainable recovery.

· Andy PhilippThe state environmental agency expert described the long-term decline in Saxony’s groundwater.

The state office studies the process at a lysimeter station in Brandis, in Leipzig district. Its 28 open-top, sealed-bottom cylinders measure how precipitation moves through different soils. The latest readings revealed something the station had never recorded before: even many heavy soils, normally capable of storing large amounts of water, produced no seepage. “Although it rained above, nothing reached the bottom throughout the entire year,” Philipp said.

Officials can observe groundwater levels closely, but direct measurement of groundwater recharge remains limited because underground water flows rather than staying still. The pattern of unusually low levels and their persistence has prompted the question of whether Saxony is seeing natural fluctuations or a fundamental change.

Although it rained above, nothing reached the bottom throughout the entire year.

· Andy PhilippHe described unprecedented results from the lysimeter station in Brandis.
About this summary

Originally published by Die Zeit in German. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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