Ministry for Environmental Protection and Water Management of the GDR

Ministry of Environmental Protection and Water Management in Berlin's Hans-Beimler-Strasse (right building complex)

The Ministry for Environmental Protection and Water Management of the GDR ( MUW ) was formed on January 1, 1972. In the newly founded ministry, the former Office for Water Management of the GDR was merged. The ministry was responsible for the state planning and management of the growing tasks of environmental protection and the national culture . In particular, the improvement of the natural environmental conditions and the rational use of natural resources were important tasks.

tasks

In order to ensure the growing demand of the population, industry and agriculture for drinking and service water and to guarantee reliable wastewater treatment with a high level of protection of the environmental media (air, soil, water), the ministry has a wide range of fields of action and tasks. The tight water balance in the GDR led to an intensive use of the water resources. The river basin districts were balanced in management plans and measures worked out to compensate for deficits in the water balance. In addition, the Ministry had the task of ensuring that scientific and technical advances in the field of environmental protection and water management were directly applied in productive areas of the national economy. The formation of state water authorities and environmental inspectors should further improve environmental protection.

Until the early 1990s, the Ministry was housed in the House of Statistics at Hans-Beimler-Strasse 70-72 (today Otto-Braun-Strasse) in the Mitte district of Berlin.

In 1989 about 38,000 people were employed in the ministry with subordinate agencies.

Structure of the Ministry

(Structural areas 1975)

• Minister:
  • Ministerial Office
  • Department I.
  • Inspection and Control Department
  • Management / Education Department
  • Press office
• State Secretary:
  • Planning / Economics department
  • Finance / Accounting and Statistics Department
  • Organization department
  • Legal body
  • Information and on-call service department
  • Department of water management construction projects in Berlin
• Deputy Minister for Water Management:
  • Water Management Department
  • State water authority
  • Science and Technology Department
  • Central office for innovation
  • Coordination office for standardization
  • Production Propaganda Department
• Deputy Minister for Water Supply:
  • Main water supply department
    • Drinking water supply and wastewater treatment department
    • Investment / Materials Management Department
  • Mechanization / Automation Department
  • Safety inspection
  • State building inspection
  • Expert body
• Deputy Minister for Environmental Protection:
  • Environmental protection department
  • State environmental inspection
  • Environmental Control Department
• Deputy for international cooperation:
  • International Cooperation Department

minister

• 1971: Werner Titel ( DBD )
• 1972–1990: Hans Reichelt (DBD)
• 1990: Peter Diederich (DBD)

literature

• Wilhelm Thürnagel: Drinking water supply and wastewater treatment in the GDR . 1st edition. Edition Bookmark, Friedland, 2014, pp. 71–76