The water supply in Lusatia and subsequently in Berlin will be a task of the century with costs that cannot yet be estimated. It may take decades or even 100 years to achieve a self-regulating water balance after the end of lignite mining, said Regina Heinecke-Schmitt, Head of Department at the Saxon Ministry of the Environment, at a meeting of the Spree, Black Elster and Lusatian Neisse river basin management working group in Dresden.
Total costs cannot yet be estimated
According to Heinecke-Schmitt, it is currently impossible to estimate what this will ultimately cost. Feasibility studies currently underway are financially secured by the states of Brandenburg, Berlin and Saxony. There are 1.6 million euros available for this. A study on the groundwater model is being financed jointly with the federal government and is estimated to cost nine million euros. 70 percent of this will be borne by the federal government, 15 percent each by Brandenburg and Saxony, said Anke Herrmann, head of department at the responsible Brandenburg ministry.
Feasibility study on the Elbe spillway into the Spree
A feasibility study is currently underway on a possible spillway from the Elbe into the Spree. However, there are concerns at the Port of Hamburg, for example, as to whether they will be left high and dry if water is diverted from the Elbe. The feasibility study for the Elbe spillway is only one component of the overall water management concept, which should be available in around two to three years. "We are very keen for this to happen quickly," said Heinecke-Schmitt.
