Water, and thus groundwater, is a fundamental component in the natural cycle. In times of climate change and increasing demands on nature by humans, groundwater is an increasingly important resource. And the value and importance of water and water resources will continue to increase in the future.
Our groundwater
In Stuttgart, groundwater feeds many wells that are used for all kinds of purposes. The situation in Stuttgart is special in this respect: on the one hand, there is a unique underground natural treasure in Stuttgart, namely the medicinal and mineral water, which is of particularly high quality and beneficial to health.
On the other hand, there is the groundwater within the different rock layers, which also has a high value. There are industrial wells for the extraction of industrial water, but also isolated private wells for self-supply of water. In recent years, groundwater has also been increasingly used indirectly for thermal purposes: It supplies the energy for geothermal probe systems for heating and cooling buildings.
Groundwater protection
The city's task sounds simple, but it is highly complex: We must preserve the natural groundwater conditions in a densely built-up area as far as possible and ensure sustainable protection of the groundwater from overuse and from contamination.
For this reason, there are water protection areas in addition to a medicinal spring protection area. In addition, we ensure, for example through technical specifications in building permit and water law approval procedures as well as through active construction monitoring, that the groundwater is protected in terms of quantity and quality with regard to future impacts. Conversely, groundwater contamination that has already occurred is tracked, investigated and remediated.
Technical groundwater protection, surface water, wastewater
