Presented at the 12th meeting of the OECD Water Governance Initiative, on 20 - 21 June, 2019 in Berlin, Germany

1. Challenges for water management of
tomorrow
Plenary presentation by Thomas Stratenwerth
OECD-Water Governance Initiative
Conference
21 June 2019, Berlin

2. National Dialogue on
Water Background
Water management challenges:
• Climate change, demographic trends, land use changes,
technological innovations and changing consumer behaviour
• Water infrastructure is built for the long term.
• Adaptation and transformation processes need
framing and time.
• Such changes cannot be tackled through
decentralized decision making and local
measures alone, multi level governance
approaches engaging relevant stakeholders and
citizens are needed based on a shared vision.

3. Water sector is looking to the future:
Future-oriented strategies
require us to reflect and
expand on current water sector
approaches together with all
stakeholders in society.
During the National Dialogue on Water, stakeholders discuss
the foundations that need to be in place by 2030 and
corresponding options for action to ensure the necessary steps
can be initiated in time for the period up to 2050.

4. The first National Water Forum on 16
October 2018 in Berlin kicked off the
National Dialogue on Water:
 As preparation and basis for
discussions, participants received
a discussion paper containing a
description of problems and
challenges
 Positive feedback on discussion
paper at the event and in online
consultation
 130 participants from public
administration, industry, science
and NGOs
Past meetings
National Water Forum

5. ensure long-term protection of water as a habitat and
core component of ecosystems,
secure water in its various facets as a resource for
current and coming generations (including aspects of
health, nutrition, production and locational
advantages) and
tap opportunities for long-term nature-friendly,
economic and social development.
National Water Forum
Guiding principles of the
dialogue
Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze
 announced BMU draft national water strategy and
 outlined targets for sustainable water management and guiding
principles for a national water strategy:

6. Stakeholders expressed general wish for water
management to play a greater role in environmental
policy and for more value to be attached to good,
clean water in and for society.
National Water Forum

7. National Water Forum
Water sector & society cluster
A strategy is needed: Recognition and enforcement and political
significance of water as a basis of life
Campaigning ability, nexus of agriculture, energy use and health
and importance for implementing SDGs must be taken into account.
- Water remains a public good
- Internalise costs, voluntarily or by law
- Expand and rejuvenate workforce, address lack of expert staff
- Enhance enforcement and administration
- Improve communication in and between authorities
- Involve all water services (ecosystem services)
- Strengthen external communication
- Expand and pool water research, improve knowledge management
- Strengthen federal level competences

8. How the National Water Dialogue
is structured and organized?

9. • Networked infrastructures cluster
• Risk factor - substance inputs cluster
• Agriculture and consumer protection cluster
• Water sector and nature conservation cluster
To make the National Dialogue on Water’s broad range of
topics more manageable, they were grouped in four clusters
to facilitate an in-depth discussion of each topic.
National Dialogue
Thematic Clusters

10. Steps in the National
Dialogue on Water
 Four successive dialogue meetings will be held for the clusters networked
infrastructures, risk factor - substance inputs, agriculture
and consumer protection and water sector and nature conservation,
respectively.
 The water sector & society cluster touches on all other topics
in areas such as governance and financing and will therefore be discussed on
the second dialogue day during the mid-term workshop in December 2019.
 Clusters will be linked up with each other during the mid-term workshop in order
to forge synergies in the dialogue process.
 The four dialogue meetings per cluster will focus on strategic goals (1),
operative targets (2), options for action and framework conditions (3) and the
concrete measures (4) of each cluster.
1. Define strategic
goals within cluster
2. Define operative
goals within
cluster
3. Derive
recommendations
for action; set out
framework
conditions
Mid-term review
Water sector and
society cluster
4. Derive concrete
measures
Conclusion of
National Dialogue
on Water
September 2020 at
2nd National
Water Forum

11. State of Play!
Spotlights on
some preliminary
Outcomes!

12. Conclusions from networked infrastructures cluster
Greater priority will be given to these aspects in future:
• safeguarding critical infrastructures,
• an extended concept of infrastructure that covers both flooding events and low-
water situations,
• smart city, sponge city, urban climate and infrastructure to combine different
services, e.g. linking up waste water systems with
electricity and heating grids, or combining infrastructure
with urban nature
• Water sector 4.0 and digitalisation
Consensus:
Guiding principle of greater resilience of critical infrastructure.
Improving governance aspects such as integrated planning
and organisation of infrastructure and service management,
implementing successful pilot projects for widespread use
and better knowledge management and monitoring of the
water sector.
Networked
infrastructures
cluster workshop

13. Strategic goals - June 2019
1. Sustainability: Design water-related infrastructures in a resource-efficient and
innovative way that are flexible, intelligently networked and can adjust to
changing conditions such as climate change. They are designed to ensure long-
term public services both in urban and rural areas.
2. Resilience: Design water-related infrastructures to prevent damage and
failures and, in the case of an incident, these can be addressed as a priority,
flexibly, across sectors, swiftly and effectively.
4. Gear water-related infrastructures towards the efficient and economic
recovery of energy and resources and ensure they contribute to circular
economy and climate change mitigation.
5. Promote common goals and synergies in planning, legislation and the use of
water-related infrastructures through inter-community and inter-sectoral
cooperation and knowledge transfer.
Networked infrastructure cluster workshop

14. Conclusions from Cluster 2:
• Human- and eco-toxicology and related
protected assets should be included
equally from the start and explicitly differentiated.
• Risk assessment for humans and the environment
must each be extended and redesigned in parts.
• Here, the concept of pollutant should be considered
in a broad context and for instance, also include pathogens
and antibiotic resistance.
• All relevant pathways should be coherently considered
and greater emphasis should be placed on the polluter-pays
principle.
• Comprehensive socio-economic assessments
of the benefits and damages arising from relevant
substances/substance groups should be undertaken.
Cluster: Risk factor
- substance inputs

15. Strategic goals - June 2019
1: Minimise or prevent input of substances, substance groups and bacteria
[(pharmaceutical products, resistant bacteria, microplastic particles, nutrients,
persistent substances)] into the water cycle. This would also result in a
corresponding reduction of input into oceans.
2: 1) Establish a transparent, legally regulated assessment framework for
weighing up the socio-economic benefits and risks of substances and bacteria
for humans and the environment, 2) implement the framework and 3) take this
into account in risk communication.
3: Make knowledge available on the behaviour and relevance of substance input
into the water cycle. Subsequently, policy-makers, industry, citizens and
administrations will have a greater sense of responsibility and be able to weigh
up the pros and cons when it comes to handling substance inputs.
Cluster: Risk factor - substance inputs

16. Conclusions from Cluster 3:
Very intensive discussion with several new topics and proposed recommendations
for action.
Cluster: Agriculture & consumer protection
Topic Challenge:
Cross-sectoral
topics
- Adaptation to climate change
- Digitalisation (precision farming)
Substance
pollution
- (Lack of) enforcement (e.g. Fertilisers
Ordinance)
- Increase in control frequency
- Nitrogen tax?
- Farm manure adaptation
- Innovative plant protection systems
Land - Reduced availability of arable land due to land
used for settlements, economic zones,
transport infrastructure
- Multiple use
- Soil degradation, groundwater protection
- Rising Land prices
Quantitative
availability
- Integrated irrigation concepts
- Development of food crops that can tolerate
drought and heavy wet conditions
Topic Challenge:
Structural
change
- Requirements on international
markets
- Consumer behaviour and
willingness to pay
- Product transparency
- Responsibilities of retailers
- Alternative production methods
- Lack of expert staff
- Agricultural subsidies

17. Strategic goals - June 2019
1a: Manage the resource of water in a way that covers all relevant water uses and
requirements of water pollution control, while also securing availability of drinking
water for human consumption as a special priority.
1b: Recognise the conservation and development of ecosystems and their services
beyond the minimum legal framework based on local conditions as an income-
generating activity and service of the agricultural sector and that they constitute a
key basis for agricultural support.
2: Coordinate the necessary multiple uses of land for water pollution control, nature
conservation, flood protection, extraction of drinking water and agricultural
production through suitable management mechanisms with a view to preserving
the functionality of the water balance.
Cluster: Agriculture & consumer protection

18. Strategic goals - June 2019
3: Consumers, food industry and retailers accept and honour benefits of widespread
water-optimised agricultural practices and are willing to pay more for them.
4: Agriculture sector and water sector use production methods that minimise the
impacts of climate change on regional water balance and the risks arising from more
frequent and intensive extreme weather events.
5: Establish a coordinated harmonised legal framework for the joint implementation
of EU-wide, national, federal-state and municipal provisions in the areas of water
pollution control, soil conservation and nature conservation.
Cluster: Agriculture & consumer protection

19. Conclusions from Cluster 4:
• The continuity of rivers is to be established.
• Better networking is required between the water sector and the biodiversity
strategy, the Habitats Directive and Natura 2000 and integrated planning
approaches are to be developed.
• Legislation regarding cross-media planning must be further developed.
• The implementation of the Water Framework Directive must be driven forward.
• Conflicts in goals between the Water Framework Directive, Habitats Directive
and the Floods Directives and also other water users need to be discussed and
plans put in place to resolve them.
• Ecosystem services of water bodies are to be better presented to the public.
• Germany needs to foster a culture of learning from its mistakes and
administrations should be allowed to make more use of leeway in decision
making processes.
Cluster: Water sector and nature conservation

20. 1: Ensure extensive knowledge on and high regard for the targets and benefits of
water body renaturation measures and water-related nature conservation*¹ in society
and among bodies*² implementing the measures. Ensure that services of functional
ecosystems are known and recognised. Better networking is required between the
water sector and the biodiversity strategy, the Habitats Directive and Natura 2000 and
integrated planning approaches must be developed.
2: Establish coherent legal provisions at EU, national and federal state level for the
areas of water body renaturation, nature conservation and soil conservation.
3: Establish cross-media, integrated water resource development and management
including the water sector, flood protection, nature conservation and soil conservation
in the competent authorities at national, regional and municipal level.
4: Restore water balance to near-natural state, except where this is prevented by
overriding reasons of general welfare. This means, that water balance components of
each region would correspond to the near-natural landscape of the local area.
Cluster: Water
resource development
and nature conservation

21. BMU strategy process
National water strategy
“future of water”
The second National Water Forum is planned for autumn 2020. Outcomes of the
water dialogue process will be summarised and prepared for the BMU water
strategy.
The national water strategy will be based on
• the outcomes of the water dialogues,
• the regular online consultations
and a public participation process,
• the action programme for insect protection,
• work on the nitrogen strategy and
• the outcomes of the trace substance dialogue.
Links to other relevant strategy processes of federal government:
• German Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change
• Strategy on Farming
• Biodiversity Strategy
• Sustainable Development Strategy

22. BMU strategy process
National water strategy “future of water”
• A draft of the BMU water strategy is due to be presented in early
2021 and will be discussed at the 3rd National Water Forum in 2021.
• The ministry is responsible
for the content
of the strategy.

23. Thank you very much for
your attention.