Red alert: Lower Saxony's groundwater is in danger of drying out!

Red alert: Lower Saxony's groundwater is in danger of drying out!

A huge problem is brewing in Lower Saxony: A current study by BUND warns of an acute shortage of groundwater in the region. It's no secret that the situation is getting worse in many districts. According to the report by butenunbinnen.de There is groundwater stress in almost half of the districts in Lower Saxony. What is worrying is that more groundwater is being withdrawn than can be naturally regenerated.

Agriculture in particular is cited as the main cause of this development. Rural People's President Holger Hennies is critical of this. He accuses the BUND of dramatizing the situation and emphasizes that the withdrawals are already subject to strict controls. Water remains the indispensable staple food for agriculture. Hennies suggests creating retention areas to better store water in the event of heavy rain or flooding.

Environment Minister sees worrying developments

Environment Minister Christian Meyer (Greens) is alarmed about the ongoing drought and points to the dry spring, one of the lowest rainfall in decades. These climate changes are contributing to declining groundwater quality and have reignited public conversations about water availability. A new information platform from the Lower Saxony State Office for Water Management, Coastal and Nature Conservation (NLWKN) is intended to provide a remedy here gwf-wasser.de reported.

Under the name “Groundwaterstandonline”, the platform offers daily updated data on 161 representative groundwater measuring points in Lower Saxony. This initiative was launched to give citizens and decision-makers a transparent overview of the groundwater situation. Information in map views, diagrams and tables is intended to help enable quick and well-founded decisions about water use.

The importance of such detailed information can hardly be overestimated. Rising temperatures and the droughts of recent years require reliable data for the development of a comprehensive water master plan. NLWKN director Anne Rickmeyer emphasizes the importance of this data. “It is time to develop far-sighted measures to protect our water resources,” said Rickmeyer.

Latest publications on groundwater quality

A look at the published reports shows that Lower Saxony is making extensive efforts to optimize groundwater protection. The NLWKN has prepared a series of publications on the groundwater situation, which can be downloaded as PDFs. The latest volumes, which were published in 2025, contain results of nitrogen-argon studies as well as comprehensive insights into the development of groundwater levels in recent years, as on nlwkn.niedersachsen.de is to be read.

In order to overcome these challenges, cooperation between farmers, environmental organizations and politicians is essential. Hedder the longer we wait, the more difficult it will be to avert the impending crises in the water sector. Lower Saxony is facing an exciting but challenging time in terms of groundwater protection.