Dryness - Groundwater levels are slowly recovering after years of drought
After several exceptionally dry years, the soil and groundwater levels in Germany have recovered this year. It was a good year for the water balance in Germany, said Andreas Marx, Head of the Drought Monitor at the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig. The abundance of rain meant that 2023 was not a year of severe drought. Over the past winter, groundwater levels have recovered well after the very dry years since 2018.
According to Marx, the soil is currently soaking wet to a depth of 60 centimetres. In Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, the soil is statistically only as wet as every ten years at a depth of up to two meters. In eastern Germany, particularly in Brandenburg, Saxony and the north of Saxony-Anhalt, groundwater levels have also risen. However, it has not yet rained enough for the levels to return to normal.
The State Flood Protection Agency in Saxony-Anhalt reported that, on average, groundwater levels in the state were still 40 to 50 centimeters below the long-term average. However, the rain this year has meant that the deficit has been reduced somewhat and a slight upward trend can be observed again, according to a spokeswoman. According to the state agency, the droughts since 2018 had led to new lowest groundwater levels being recorded at 63 percent of the total of 1215 measuring points in Saxony-Anhalt.
From the farmers' association's perspective, it was also a good year in terms of drought. "Between 2018 and 2022, around 500 liters too little fell in Saxony-Anhalt," said a spokesperson for the association. This corresponds to the amount of precipitation of a normal year in most regions of Saxony-Anhalt. Nevertheless, the year was not easy from an agricultural point of view. It rained to varying degrees. In some cases, the potato and sugar beet harvest had to be repeatedly interrupted due to wet conditions.
In principle, scientist Marx does not see a problem with the total amount of water, but rather an uneven distribution due to heavier rainfall. "I don't know what it will be like next year," says Marx. From a scientific point of view, the past few years have been extreme events. These will pass. However, the new distribution of precipitation means that water management needs to be addressed. "We have to make the water that we have too much of in winter usable in summer."
Saxony-Anhalt drought monitor groundwater levels
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- Despite the recent recovery, Groundwater levels in Brandenburg, Saxony, and the north of Saxony-Anhalt are still below their normal levels.
- Andreas Marx, the Head of the Drought Monitor at the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research - UFZ in Leipzig, noted that 2023 was not a severe drought year due to ample rainfall.
- In comparison, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia experienced soil moisture levels as wet as every ten years at a depth of up to two meters.
- The recovery in groundwater levels in eastern Germany has not yet returned them to their normal levels, as indicated by the State Flood Protection Agency in Saxony-Anhalt.
- The droughts from 2018 led to new lowest groundwater levels being recorded at 63% of the 1215 measuring points in Saxony-Anhalt, according to the state agency.
- Marx, the scientist, does not view the overall water problem as a serious concern but rather the uneven distribution due to heavier rainfall in certain regions.
- The Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research - UFZ in Leipzig, where Marx works, focuses on addressing water management in regions with too much winter water for summer use.
Source: www.stern.de
