Water and soil association

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Water and soil associations are organizations that perform water and soil management tasks in the public interest and for the benefit of their members. The German water and soil associations are similar to the existing in many states, water boards .

There are several thousand water and soil associations in Germany. They have their legal basis in the law on water and soil associations (WVG) of the federal government and the corresponding implementing laws of the federal states.

Historical roots of the water association

Historically, the water and soil associations go back to the dike associations , which today are a certain subspecies of the water and soil associations (see below). One example of this is the history of the Bremen dyke system . The second type of associations that emerged were the sluice laughter or sluice agreements . All types of associations were initially private cooperatives, but were later permeated with sovereignty and finally became expressly public corporations . The first forerunners of today's associations existed as early as the end of the Middle Ages, probably around 1200 AD.

The association areas of the older, historical associations go back to historical developments, for example the extraction of new land , for whose diked area a new dyke and sewer association was founded. These historically grown structures were partially reorganized through sovereign interventions, for example through the reorganization of the association areas or mergers of existing associations. In areas in which water and soil associations have only just been introduced, the association and regional structure can be traced back entirely to sovereign stipulations. The associations responsible for water maintenance in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania were formed in 1992 by the law on the formation of water maintenance associations. In Brandenburg, too, there is a corresponding law that divides the area of ​​the associations according to water catchment areas and only exempts the water areas of the first-rate bodies of water from the obligation to contribute. Saxony-Anhalt has a very similar law, in Thuringia and Saxony there are hardly any such laws and such associations.

membership

Members are farmers, landowners in the association's territory, generally those who benefit from the association's activities (" beneficiaries ") and share in its costs. In the states of Brandenburg , Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , and sometimes in other federal states, there is also so-called community membership.

Tasks and association names

Permissible tasks of a water and soil association can be, subject to further state regulations according to § 2 WVG:

  • the expansion including near-natural dismantling and maintenance of water bodies ,
  • the construction and maintenance of systems in and on waterways,
  • the creation and maintenance of rural paths and roads,
  • the production, procurement, operation and maintenance as well as removal of communal facilities for the cultivation of agricultural land,
  • the protection of properties against storm surges and floods, including necessary measures in the foreland of the dike ,
  • the improvement of agricultural and other areas including the regulation of the soil water and air balance,
  • the manufacture, procurement, operation, maintenance and removal of irrigation systems as well as systems for irrigation and drainage,
  • technical measures for the management of groundwater and surface waters,
  • the sewage ,
  • waste disposal in connection with the performance of association tasks,
  • the procurement and provision of water,
  • the preparation, maintenance and care of areas, facilities and water bodies to protect the natural balance, the soil and for landscape maintenance ,
  • the promotion of cooperation between agriculture and water management and the further development of water protection , soil protection and nature conservation ,
  • the promotion and supervision of the above tasks.

According to § 3 WVG, the name of an association should reveal its quality as a water and soil association, its main task and its spatial scope; the names of the associations valid when the law on water and soil associations came into force can, however, be retained. Designations such as “water and soil association”, “water association”, “entertainment association”, “dike association” (also “dyke yacht”), “sewer association” (also “Sielacht”), “drainage association”, “water procurement association”, “waste water association” have emerged “As well as combinations thereof.

Overlaps and delimitations

It can happen that other water and soil associations in the area of ​​the association are members of a water and soil association. It is then regularly a question of upper and subordinate associations. The dyke and drainage system is primarily organized in this way. One example of this is the Dithmarschen dyke and main sewer association, to which the Dithmarscher dyke and sewer associations (and the Dithmarschen sewage association ) belong as sub-associations.

It can also happen that different water and soil associations are active in one area with different tasks. In Krempermarsch , for example, the Deich- und Hauptsielverband Krempermarsch and its sub-associations are active in the area of ​​dyke and drainage, and the Krempermarsch water association is active in the area of ​​drinking water supply. Another example is the Wilstermarsch , in which the Deich- und Hauptsielverband Wilstermarsch and its sub-associations are active in the field of dyke and drainage and at the same time the water association Unteres Störgebiet is active in the field of drinking water supply and, in some cases, wastewater disposal.

Water and soil associations are to be distinguished from special-purpose associations such as water and wastewater associations, which can perform similar tasks. Organizationally, special purpose associations are established according to state laws, the water and soil associations according to the WVG, which is federal law, but also according to special state laws, such as the water maintenance association foundation laws in Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt.

If water and soil associations in the area of ​​a municipality are engaged in tasks that are compulsory tasks of the local authority (municipality) due to Article 28.2 of the Basic Law (e.g. drinking water supply to the end consumer, Article 57.2 BayGO), then this results in considerable conflict situations. However, since a water and soil association is first and foremost committed to the public interest (and only secondarily to the welfare of its members), a water and soil association can at any time be informed by the competent legal supervisory authority according to § 62 WVG (before 1991: §177ff. 1. WVVO), if this is necessary for reasons of public interest (BayVGH, judgment of February 20, 1979, VGHE 32, 78ff.)

Inner organization

At the top of each association, since the implementation of the Water Board Act, not a single ruler, but a board, which at the dike associations often traditionally dike office is referred to as, and its representatives often than banks associations or, depending on BANDAGING traditionally considered dike judge , Obersielrichter o. Ä referred. become.

Supervision and association show

As self-governing bodies under public law, the associations are not subject to any specialist supervision , but only to legal supervision .

In order to determine the condition of the facilities, bodies of water and properties to be looked after by an association, association shows must be carried out on a regular basis. In addition to representatives of the association, the supervisory authority and other parties involved, in particular technical and agricultural authorities, also take part. Depending on the type, the show is called, for example, a dike show or a stream show / water show.

Cooperations

The water and soil associations are represented in some federal states by their own central associations, for example in Brandenburg by the Landeswasserverbandstag Brandenburg eV (see below) or in Lower Saxony by the Wasserverbandstag , which also includes the states of Bremen and Saxony-Anhalt. There is also an exchange of experiences at all levels, and parliamentary evenings in Brandenburg and Lower Saxony. At the federal level, the German Association for Water Management (DBVW), based in Potsdam and Hanover , represents the interests . The managing directors of this eV are Godehard Hennies (Hanover), as well as the lawyers Turgut Pencereci (Potsdam) and Matthias Rhode (Rendsburg), the president is Michael Constien (Rostock). DBVW eV is a member of the European Union of Watermanagement Associations (The Hague).

swell

  1. ^ Law on the formation of water maintenance associations (GUVG) of August 4, 1992 (GVOBl. MV 1992, p. 458).
  2. ^ The waters of Itzehoe and the surrounding area (PDF; 3.0 MB), p. 3 with footnote 12.
  3. ↑ Wasserverbandstag.de
  4. ↑ www.dbvw.de
  5. ↑ www.euwma.org

literature

  • Deich- und Hauptsielverband Dithmarschen (ed.): Chronicle of the Deich- und Hauptsielverband Dithmarschen , Vol. I: Historical presentation, legal basis, formation of water and soil associations and association activities , 2nd edition, Hemmingstedt 2008.
  • Deich- und Hauptsielverband Dithmarschen (ed.): Chronicle of the Deich- und Hauptsielverband Dithmarschen , Vol. II: Presentation of the drainage system, receiving waters, dyke drains and pumping stations, nature conservation and landscape maintenance, wastewater treatment, association administration , Hemmingstedt 2008.
  • Gerd Quedenbaum: flood. The Eider Association. A contribution to the history of dykes and drainage in the central Eider region , Düsseldorf 2000. ISBN 3-921908-08-6

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