In 2022, economy and private households extracted nearly 66.886 million m3 of water from the environment. The total extraction was dominated by soil water, accounting for 66 %, followed by surface water (19 %) and groundwater (11 %). Soil water is defined as the uptake of water by agricultural plants, excluding irrigation water. Besides agriculture, especially the energy supply sector represents a major water extractor, being responsible for about one half (6.582 million m3) of the surface water extraction. In contrast, with 3.756 million m3 the public water supply extracts most groundwater.
Compared to 2019, the total water extraction declined by 6 %, with Precipitation and surface water showing the strongest drops of 19 % respectively 16 %. The decline in surface water can be mainly attributed to the energy production sector, where the extraction in 2022 (6.582 million m3) was 25 % lower than in 2019 (8.786 million m3). In 2022, 51 % of the groundwater were extracted by the public water supply to be subsequently distributed to the economic sectors and private households. Compared to 2019 (3.779 million m3), this groundwater extraction remained nearly the same in 2022 (3.756 million m3).
Regarding the areas of application in 2022, water is to a large extent used as production water (75 %), with 44.380 million m3 once again dominated by the water agricultural plants extract from soil. Another economic sector with relatively high values of production water is the manufacturing sector with 1.121 million m3. Apart from production water, 10.883 million m3 are used as cooling water, with 60 % resulting from activities of the energy production sector.
The return of water back to the environment predominantly takes place in the form of water vapour (69 %), where transpiration with 44.654 million m3 dominates compared to evaporation (917 million m3). The waste water generated by economy and private households is with 18.269 million m3 considerably low and mainly discharged into surface water bodies. 60 % of the waste water is untreated, which can be mainly attributed to the cooling water volumes of the energy production sector.
Further information:
Further results can be found in the statistical report "Umweltökonomische Gesamtrechnungen - Wassergesamtrechnung" (only available in German) and on the website of the Federal Statistical Office under the heading "raw materials, material flows, water".