Over the years, the neighboring nations of France and Germany have recognized the significance of working together through cross-border cooperation to address common issues, foster mutual understanding, and produce great results in the Upper Rhine Region. This Good Practice Article focuses on the collective approach of Germany and France to ensure sustainable and effective water management.

WHAT

With the impacts of global warming becoming increasingly evident, especially in the case of droughts, effective water management strategies are necessary to address scarcity during dry seasons, both for drinking water and for the preservation of the environment. In the Upper Rhine Region, the drought in the recharge zone of the aquifers, specifically affecting the springs of Pfälzerwald and the Northern Vosges, led to an overreliance of boreholes to meet the demand for drinking water, thereby posing serious threats to the long-term sustainability of the ecosystem. On the contrary, the Rhine plain does not have springs, leading to its dependence on water pumped from underground wells in Bienwald.

In 2020, drinking water managers from the Northern Aslace and Southern Palatinate combined forces to combat resource scarcity by seeking more effective ways to efficiently manage supply. Their collaborative approach ultimately led to the inception of the Palatinate Alsatian Water Nature Project, or PAWENA, with the goal of developing sustainable water production infrastructures.

The following years were focused on the construction of interconnecting supply networks which can distribute excess water from the aforementioned springs to the Rhine plain during the wet periods.

WHO

The Regions of Alsace and Rhineland-Palatinate came together with the project partners of the Bad Bergzabern Association of Municipalities, the Stadtwerke Bad Bergzabern, the city of Wissembourg and the Syndicat Mixte de Production d’Eau Potable de la Region Wissembourg.

WHERE

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The area involves Northern Alsace region in France and the Southern Palatinate in Germany.

HOW

The PAWENA project is part of the 2014 - 2020 INTERREG VA France - Germany - Switzerland (Upper Rhine-Oberrhein) Programme.

The project had a total budget of approximately €7M, of which €2M were co-financed through the ERDF.

RESULTS

Since its inception in March 2020, the project has resulted in the construction of large water management infrastructures within a short period of time:

The construction of the Steinfeld Water Treatment and Storage Plant, serving as a modern water management and storage facility, designed to process around 150 m³ of raw water per hour, converting it into clean, drinking water. The drinking water tanks are quite sizable, each capable of holding over 2,000 m³ of water. Additionally, to promote sustainability in electricity generation, a photovoltaic installation covering an area of nearly 400 m² will be installed on the roof of the building.

The construction ofthe Riedseltz–Schafbusch and the Wissembourg connecting linesin order to ensure sufficient drinking water supply to cover the needs of both northern Alsace and southern Palatinate.

The Establishment of the local cross-border cooperation group of Wissembourg - Bad Bergzabern with the aim of quality control through infrastructure monitoring and workshop coordination.

Find out more about the PAWENA Project here.