Water Management Association

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A water management association is a river basin-related public legal form of organization for solving water management tasks such as flood protection , sewage drainage and purification, water maintenance , groundwater management and much more

A water management association differs legally (because of the special laws enacted for this and the involvement of the private sector) and by its much more extensive water management tasks from a water and soil association (which usually only takes care of the water maintenance of the residents), a municipal association (which usually constituted by public bodies) or a waste water association (whose task is essentially limited to waste water purification and drainage). The self-governing bodies of a water management association roughly correspond to those of a special purpose association.

history

Emergence

Water management associations have long proven themselves in Germany, especially in North Rhine-Westphalia, as an organizational form for dealing with water management tasks.

As the first “special cooperatives” for drainage purposes , there were sewer associations as early as the 13th century , primarily on the North Sea coast in conjunction with dike associations for the passage of inland and backwater from the marshland through the dykes . Here, all landowners whose land was drained were compulsory members.

These early, progressive alliances were subjected to strict police control in the 17th century, which prevented further development of the cooperative idea and thus of self-administration .

A renaissance of this cooperative culture did not begin again until the 19th century. In Prussia , a legal basis was created with the “Private River Law” of February 28, 1843, which initially only contained provisions on cooperatives for irrigation systems. On May 11, 1853, the law was then extended to include drainage systems, albeit with limited autonomy and self-administration . On this basis, for example, the "Cooperative for the Melioration of the Erft Lowlands" was founded in 1859 , which later became the Erftgenossenschaft, or from 1959 the "Große Erftverband ".

Another opening came with the Prussian law of April 1, 1879 on the "formation of water cooperatives", which was based on the already very progressive French legal system. The membership extended to all property owners, under certain circumstances also through compulsory membership. The state supervision of the cooperatives was on an equal footing with the municipal supervision, the public cooperatives were quasi-municipal associations.

The successful implementation of the laws in Prussia led to the adoption of these cooperative regulations in the laws of the other German states in the following years. While only around 100 cooperatives had been established by 1892, the legal framework introduced in Baden , Württemberg , Bavaria and Saxony by 1911 led to the formation of around 3,800 cooperatives with an average drainage area of ​​just over 3 km². This also included the amalgamations made possible by ordinances in previous years for the management of reservoirs and for commercial water use.

Water management associations in the age of industrialization

As a result of the Prussian law of April 1, 1879 on the “formation of water cooperatives”, a draft law “regulating the drainage and keeping the watercourses in the Emscher area clean” was presented to the state government by the Upper President of the Westphalia province for the first time. This draft already provided for the association of those who caused damage on the basis of a cooperative . The background was the steady population growth due to the increasing industrialization of the over 800 km² Emscher area (today's core zone of the Ruhr area, naturally more of a flat breakland) in the 19th century. Increased by subsidence as a result of mining with disruption of the drainage conditions and major floods, there was a drainage emergency here. Diseases such as typhoid , malaria and cholera kept spreading, mainly through infected drinking water and the inadequate disposal of wastewater .

The proposed drainage measures and the required state aid of 2.5 million marks were rejected, but some sections were built in the particularly affected sections of the Emscher between Herne and Oberhausen.

The advancing settlement and the flourishing mining and chemical industry worsened the water management and hygienic conditions dramatically. Gradually, the realization took hold that a solution could only be found through comprehensive action - the Emscher district was then administratively divided into 2 provinces, 3 administrative districts, 6 urban and 8 rural districts, 43 offices and 137 municipalities. At a meeting of the representatives of the municipal associations, mining and industry in the Ständehaus in Bochum on December 14, 1899, which was called by the Arnsberg District President, it was decided to establish an organizational form that would create a sufficient drainage system, the construction of collecting canals for sewage drainage and -cleaning and should ensure overall the performance of tasks in the public interest. Right from the start, the aim was to achieve a cost sharing that is fair to the user. The planning for the elimination of the drainage emergency was assigned to a commission in which representatives of the affected interest groups were united: Municipal, rural, industrial and mining representatives looked for problem solutions together with technical and hygienic experts.

It quickly became clear that the law on the formation of water cooperatives from 1879 set a much too narrow framework for the large, densely populated area, so that on July 14, 1904 the "law regarding the formation of a cooperative to regulate the drainage and waste water purification in the Emscher area ”was confirmed by the Prussian king. The cooperative principles laid down here:

  • Representation of all democratically elected cities and city districts,
  • joint assessment of all polluters to the cooperative burdens,
  • Subordination and control by supervisory authorities

are still current and valid today. Although this special law has been applied to z. Partially adapted to changed framework conditions; Principles and essential tasks have remained, however, as well as the sponsorship by industrial-commercial as well as municipal members and the mining industry .

Water management associations in North Rhine-Westphalia

The Emschergenossenschaftsgesetz (Emschergenossenschaftsgesetz) served in the following years as a model for the establishment of the other North Rhine-Westphalian water management associations, whereby "cooperative" and "association" are used synonymously here. In the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with around 18 million people, the following eleven large water management associations are active today:

They look after almost ¾ of the population of North Rhine-Westphalia on the tributaries of the Rhine and Maas . East Westphalia and some cities bordering the Rhine, for example, are not in the area of ​​responsibility of a water management association. Characteristic of the work of the associations is their responsibility for entire river basins or essential parts of them and their overarching activities in the areas of water runoff and water quality as " non-profit " companies.

In order to ensure that water management tasks are carried out uniformly across the country, the special statutory water associations are subject to direct legal supervision by the NRW Ministry of the Environment , i.e. they have no sovereign tasks.

However, since they have to give their association and cooperative members an account of the economic efficiency and appropriateness of the cost-effective measures, there is latent potential for conflict: on the one hand, requirements are formulated by the authorities, on the other hand, cost-saving action is expected from the “customer side”. The organization is usually the same: so-called association organs are the association assembly, the association council and the board (analogous to the cooperative assembly, cooperative council, executive board). The operative business is regulated by statutes. Among other things, membership fees, voting rights, budget, cash and accounting are set here.

This river basin-related form of organization is a historically developed peculiarity that in Germany only exists in North Rhine-Westphalia and the neighboring Netherlands . The water management associations in North Rhine-Westphalia are united in a working group of water management associations (AGW) as a registered association.

Water management associations in the Netherlands

The Netherlands has a very similar system to North Rhine-Westphalia, the Waterschappen . Traditionally, there is cooperation, especially between the water management associations close to the border in North Rhine-Westphalia and the Netherlands. The cooperations are also supported by the European Union . B. funded within the framework of the European Regional Development Fund ( ERDF ) in the cross-border Interreg program.

literature

  • Alfred Bochalli: The water cooperatives . Publisher Paul Parey, Berlin 1913.
  • Alfred Bochalli: The water cooperative law . Carl Heymanns Verlag, Berlin 1921.
  • Ralf Peters: 100 years of water management in the area. Peter Pomp Verlag, Bottrop / Essen 1999, ISBN 3-89355-197-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Federal Water Management Act, Section 40
  2. ↑ a b Alfred Bochalli: The water cooperatives. Publisher Paul Parey, Berlin 1913.
  3. ^ A b c d Alfred Bochalli: The water cooperative law . Carl Heymanns Verlag, Berlin 1921.
  4. ↑ page of the Erftverband
  5. ^ Emschergenossenschaft (self-published): 50 years of the Emschergenossenschaft (1906–1956). Essen 1957.
  6. ↑ Ralf Peters: 100 years of water management in the area. Peter Pomp Verlag, Bottrop / Essen 1999, ISBN 3-89355-197-2 .
  7. ^ Page of the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of the Environment on the subject of water associations. ( Memento from September 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ Umbrella organization of the Dutch water management associations (Dutch)
  9. ↑ www.nweurope.eu