Water Conservation Districts 2009

Map Description

All the drinking water for Berlin – 100 % of some 205 million cu.m. in 2008 – is obtained from groundwater. Moreover, the groundwater resources were tapped by private and industrial water users, as well as for large-scale groundwater retention measures for construction projects, groundwater redevelopment measures and heat use. The Spandau, Tegel, Tiefwerder, Beelitzhof, Kladow, Wuhlheide, Kaulsdorf and Friedrichshagen waterworks, which are currently used to supply Berlin’s drinking water, are located in the Warsaw-Berlin Glacial Spillway or the Havel Channel (Fig. 4). Only the Stolpe waterworks north of Berlin takes its water from the State of Brandenburg, and sends to the city water amounting to a maximum of 9 % of the total discharge of the BWB for the public water supply of Berlin. It is maintained by the BWB, and is also responsible for providing drinking water to several nearby Brandenburg communities.

Fig. 4: Location of the nine waterworks currently supplying Berlin with drinking water

The Water Conservation Areas of the Staaken, Eichwalde and Erkner waterworks which supply suburban communities with drinking water, are partly on the territory of Berlin and partly outside the city limits. Due to the large number of waterworks both within the city and in the suburbs, a considerable proportion of the municipal territory is under conservation status. Berlin has a total area of approx. 89,167 ha; its water conservation zones account for 23.6 % of that.

Tab. 3: Total surface area of the Water Conservation Zones (WCZ) (without consideration of the general disposition Johannisthal)

The BWB are service providers and expert partners in the area of water supply for a number of cities, communities, associations and businesses in the state of Brandenburg. Under long-term contracts, 3.3 million cubic metres of drinking water were delivered to Brandenburg in fiscal 2007.

The drinking water processed in the waterworks is distributed through an almost 7900 km long network of pipes. The average age of the pipes in Berlin is fifty years. The oldest pipes are about 130 years old. There are 260,000 service connections for private consumers in Berlin, which branch off from the supply lines, and an equal number of water-meters.