EVN versus Greenpeace

Why the water dispute is now “boiling over”

Groundwater is used to sprinkle the fields(Bild: Huber Patrick)

No one in this vast country will ever have to suffer from thirst, EVN assures us. Greenpeace is sticking to its drought warning.

"Our analysis is explicitly not 'just' about drinkable water, but about the total demand for groundwater," reads a statement from Greenpeace, with which the eco-organization is now countering the accusation of "thirst scaremongering". The rainbow campaigners paint a different picture.

In the Marchfeld region, for example, more than half of the precious underground drops are used to irrigate agricultural crops. "The local farmers draw the water themselves from field wells, which has nothing to do with the supply from EVN," explains Greenpeace boss Alexander Egit. "In dry years, consumption here is many times higher than in normal years," warns the activist.

In agriculture in particular, the need for water varies greatly from year to year. This is because groundwater consumption is up to eight times higher in dry years! Industry also often draws on this natural resource.

Sebastian Theissing- Matei, Wasserexperte von Greenpeace

Bild: (c)Mitja Kobal

In the Tullnerfeld, on the other hand, water is tapped differently. Here, more than half of the natural resource lying dormant in the depths goes to industry, while in the southern Vienna Basin the figure is 25 percent. Nevertheless, there is also praise for the supplier: "It is right, important and good that EVN is building a supra-regional water network for drinking water! According to their own information, around 60 percent of the communities at risk are already connected to it," says Egit.

The drought is also causing problems for agriculture(Bild: Pail Sepp)

City councillor: "No drinking water shortage"
Nevertheless, Wiener Neustadt infrastructure councillor Franz Dinhobl insists: "There can be no question of a drinking water shortage! The springs in our Mitterndorfer Senke secure the supply for the whole of southern Lower Austria." People should not be unsettled by "such cloudy, undifferentiated reports", he emphasizes.