The present European Groundwater Memorandum formulates five key requirements for the protection of naturally formed groundwater resources and thus complements the European River Memorandum (ERM) aiming at the protection of the surface water bodies. Around 170 water suppliers, representing the water protection and drinking water interests of 188 million of people in the catchment areas of the rivers Rhine, Ruhr, Danube, Elbe, Meuse and Scheldt in 18 riparian states have collaborated. The five key requirements include:

• naturally available groundwater: sufficient quantities and good quality;
• the preservation of groundwater (from anthropogenic and geogenic pollution) as a precious common resource;
• the priority use must be given to public drinking water by binding legislation;
• a “zero-pollution” protection goal should be established with intervention values and intervention measures;
• the cooperation between the different stakeholders and users such as polluters, water suppliers, states and individuals: precautionary and polluter-pays principles; transparent and available data collection and monitoring.

You can find the entire Groundwater Memorandum following this link: (PDF 1,8 MB)

www.grueneliga.de/images/PDF-NewsletterENG/europeangroundwatermemorandum_2022_en.pdf

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Category: Publications

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Published: 01 April 2022

Cottbus, 10.02.2022. The environmental network GRÜNE LIGA has already issued numerous expert statements on how to deal with the water balance in Lusatia, which has been significantly disturbed by lignite mining. Under the title "Coal.Water.Money.", the most important contexts and demands have now been clearly summarised and published.

Opencast lignite mines are among the most serious interventions in the water balance and have shaped Lusatia for many decades. Problems caused in the process were often left to later generations to solve. This is becoming increasingly difficult with the decision to phase out coal: now all the cards must be on the table. What are the real follow-up costs of the opencast mines? Who is responsible as the polluter and to what extent? Above all, there are only a few years left to find out what damage can still be avoided or reduced.

The paper clearly contradicts claims that an early coal phase-out would aggravate the water problem: "The fact is: between the decommissioning of the opencast mines and the end of the groundwater rise, there will be a bottleneck in the flow in the Spree - and this is completely independent of whether coal use ends in 2038 or earlier. The cause of the water shortage is the opencast mining itself, which has removed the groundwater supply in the river's catchment area," says René Schuster, author of the paper.

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Category: Publications

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Published: 18 March 2022

• Deutsche Umwelthilfe and GRÜNE LIGA successful with urgent application against main operating plan before Cottbus Administrative Court
• For years, operator LEAG has been pumping out drastically more groundwater than permitted by water law.
• Opencast mining must be stopped by 15 May
• DUH and GRÜNE LIGA demand that the missing recultivation concept be submitted without delay.

Berlin/Cottbus, 17.03.2022: Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) and GRÜNE LIGA have succeeded in stopping the Jänschwalde opencast lignite mine in court. The Cottbus Administrative Court today ruled in favour of the environmental organisations and suspended the main operating plan for the open-cast lignite mine. The reason is that for years the open-cast mining company LEAG has been pumping out drastically more groundwater than permitted by the water law. The amount is now many times the permitted annual volume. The court grants LEAG a time buffer of almost two months until 14 May to take the necessary safety measures to stop opencast mining. From 15 May, the excavators must then be at a standstill.

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Category: Publications

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Published: 18 March 2022

The 27th ENVIRONMENT FESTIVAL will once again take place in front of the Brandenburg Gate on Sunday, 12 June 2022 from 11 am to 7 pm. The GRÜNE LIGA Berlin e.V. is looking forward to many visitors, committed and diverse exhibitors, entertaining live stages and many sustainable actions. This year's ENVIRONMENT FESTIVAL is dedicated to the elixir of life: water.

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Category: Events

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Published: 03 March 2022

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Category: Events

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Published: 01 March 2022

Always up to date on the topic of water protection with the Wasserblatt. With short news items and an extensive nationwide list of events, the Water Bulletin of the Green League provides monthly information on current events in the water sector. Subscribe free of charge to the water bulletin distribution list at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and receive the water bulletin with the latest news by e-mail every month.
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Category: Newsletter

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Published: 01 March 2022