Storm - BUND: State should acquire floodplain areas for flood protection
According to the environmental association BUND, the flooding in several federal states shows how important the preservation of natural floodplains is for the flood protection of towns and villages. According to BUND Thüringen on Wednesday, water can collect in floodplains and flow off at a reduced rate, which can ease flood situations. Rivers therefore need more space to spread out in flood situations. However, in Thuringia, where 80 percent of the water bodies are not in good condition, there are hardly any natural floodplains left. This is why the state needs to buy or swap land for floodplains, demanded the association's regional director, Sebastian König.
The German Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (Nabu) expressed a similar view. On Wednesday, its Thuringian state association called for the establishment of a state fund for the purchase of land along watercourses and in floodplains.
BUND called for a ban on intensive farming in floodplain landscapes.n "It is unacceptable that valuable topsoil is regularly washed away and then dumped back onto the fields, only to be seen floating away again in a few years' time," König said in a statement. "This is not only ecological, but also economic nonsense."
Shortly before the turn of the year, a dyke on the River Helme between Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt was opened in a controlled manner due to flooding in order to direct the floodwaters onto adjacent fields. This has so far prevented the village of Mönchpfiffel-Nikolausrieth in the Kyffhäuserkreis district from being flooded.
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- Despite the urgent need for flood protection in Thuringia, where 80% of water bodies are in poor condition, there are hardly any natural floodplains left due to environmental degradation.
- The environmental association BUND in Thuringia proposes that the state acquires or swaps land for floodplains to improve flood protection, a view also shared by the German Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union.
- In a statement, BUND's regional director Sebastian König criticized intensive farming in floodplain landscapes, calling it ecologically and economically nonsensical due to persistent soil erosion and eventual flooding.
- A recent example of flood protection measures involving land acquisition was the controlled opening of a dyke on the River Helme between Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, diverting floodwaters to save the village of Mönchpfiffel-Nikolausrieth from flooding.
- Bad weather and flooding are not new to Erfurt, the capital of Thuringia, and its environmental association has called for increased efforts in preserving the city's rivers and floodplains for effective flood protection and the preservation of nature.
Source: www.stern.de
