Water Management Office
A water management office is a specialist authority that is responsible for regional water management in a specific area.
function
The water management offices have indirect and direct tasks. They are indirectly responsible for the drinking water supply and wastewater disposal of the citizens by the municipalities, for hydraulic engineering measures and for other uses of the waters by industry, trade and private individuals. They are directly responsible as a carrier of public concerns, as a licensing authority in the administrative procedure under water law, as an informing and advisory specialist authority and in state grant procedures.
The water management offices are directly responsible for the construction and maintenance of bodies of water, unless they are federal waterways or bodies of water owned by associations or privately owned. In Germany they perform the tasks of the lower water authority within the meaning of the Water Management Act.
staff
In addition to the administrative staff, experts from a wide variety of professions, including civil engineers, biologists, chemists, geologists, geographers, state administrators, environmental technicians, river masters, hydraulic engineers, etc. are employed by the water management authorities.
tasks
The water management offices are the point of contact for municipalities, businesses and citizens when it comes to their water in the region. You are u. a. direct contact person for questions about the handling of water-polluting substances.
The water management offices also advise other specialist authorities and prepare expert reports for them on issues relevant to water management, but also advise and inform the municipalities and individual citizens.
The collection and evaluation of hydrological, water- quality- relevant and water-ecological data (see also: Ecology ) on the nature of surface water and groundwater is also part of their area of responsibility. Hydrological data may be included. a. used in flood intelligence.
Subject areas are:
- Water control
- Water supply , groundwater, soil protection
- Water protection , sewage disposal
- Hydraulic engineering , water development
history
The predecessors of the water management offices in Germany were the hydraulic engineering administrations of the 19th century in Prussia and Bavaria as well as regional building offices that were set up around 1900 for drainage and protection against floods . The Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture introduced the authority designation Wasserwirtschaftsamt in 1939 by renaming the cultural building offices to water management offices with a decree of August 11, 1939. In the course of the development of environmental protection , at the end of the 20th century there was a merger with specialist authorities that had similar tasks: In Lower Saxony , for example, the state offices for waste and water management were established around 1990 .
Structure in the Federal Republic of Germany
In the many federal states, the tasks have been transferred to the responsible environmental agencies or environmental authorities.
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Baden-Württemberg
In the area of today's state of Baden-Württemberg, the cultural building authorities were renamed from 1939 to water management authorities. In 1995 these offices were dissolved and three water bodies were established instead. Today 35 rural and 9 urban districts are responsible for water management. Some tasks are performed by the government districts and the State Agency for the Environment in Baden-Württemberg .
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Bavaria
The water management offices in Bavaria belong to the division of the Bavarian State Ministry for the Environment and Consumer Protection . The technical higher authority for this is the Bavarian State Office for the Environment . There are a total of 17 water management offices in Bavaria.
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Berlin
The responsible authority in Berlin is the Senate Department for Urban Development and the Environment.
- Brandenburg The districts and independent cities are responsible for water management as lower water authorities. The State Office for the Environment takes on overarching tasks as the upper water authority.
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Bremen
The tasks of the water management office , which was dissolved in 1993, have been partially transferred to the dike associations and are mainly carried out by the respective environmental senator.
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Hamburg
The office for water management was dissolved and integrated into an office for environmental protection .
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Hessen
With the restructuring of the environmental administration in 1997, the water management offices were dissolved. Some tasks are performed centrally in the Hessian Ministry for the Environment, Climate Protection, Agriculture and Consumer Protection , many responsibilities lie with the regional councils , districts and urban districts .
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Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania the state offices for the environment and nature as well as the district administrators and the mayors of the independent cities are responsible.
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Lower Saxony
In Lower Saxony, the water management offices were initially converted into state offices for water and waste . Since 2005, the tasks have mainly been carried out by the Lower Saxony State Agency for Water Management, Coastal Protection and Nature Conservation . In some districts there are now separate offices for water management due to the regional situation.
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North Rhine-Westphalia
Here, the districts and independent cities are responsible as the lower water authority and the district governments as the upper water authority.
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Saxony
In Saxony, the tasks have been carried out by the Saxon State Office for Environment, Agriculture and Geology since 2008 .
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Schleswig-Holstein
1973 the offices for land and water management were formed.
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Thuringia
After 1945 there were six independent water management offices , which were dissolved in 1952 and transferred to VEB -Wasserwirtschaftsbetriebe (WAB).
Switzerland
In the canton of Bern, the Office for Water Protection and Waste Management (GSA) and the Water Management Office (WWA) were recently merged to form the Office for Water and Waste (AWA).
literature
- Hans Schaal, Fritz Bürkle : From hydraulic and cultural engineering to water management in Baden-Württemberg. Published by: Ministry of the Environment Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart 1993
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ HyWa special issue: 200 years of hydrology - collecting, storing, analyzing and using data. Journal "Hydrologie und Wasserbewirtschaftung", issue 2/2010
- ↑ http://www.nlwkn.niedersachsen.de/live/live.php?navigation_id=8454&article_id=44982&_psmand=26 Water management has turned East Frisia inside out
- ^ A b Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg: History of the holdings , report on the files of the Künzelsau water management office
- ↑ Hans Schaal / Fritz Bürkle, 1993, page 104
- ↑ http://www.mlr.baden-wuerttemberg.de/Ansprechpartner/48871.html
- ↑ https://rp.baden-wuerttemberg.de/Themen/WasserBoden/Seiten/default.aspx
- ↑ https://www.landkreis-fulda.de/buergerservice/natur-und-umwelt/wasser-und-bodenschutz.html
- ↑ https://rp-kassel.hessen.de/umwelt-natur/wasser-bodenschutz
- ↑ Water Act of the State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
- ↑ https://www.landkreis-aurich.de/bauen-umwelt/kreisstrassen-wasserwirtschaft-und-kuestenschutz.html
- ↑ http://www.thueringen.de/imperia/md/content/staatsarchive/gotha/2-33-0478_th__ringisches_wasserwirtschaftsamt_erfurt_-_m__hlhausen.pdf