District Administrator: Use meltwater to fill Lake Eder

The last days of January saw comparatively good amounts of precipitation in the Waldeck-Frankenberg district area, much of it in the form of snowfall. The Waldecker Land is experiencing one of the best winters in recent years. A thaw is forecast shortly and the accumulated snow will run off into surface waters. District Administrator Dr Reinhard Kubat sees this as an opportunity to make up for the deficit, especially in the water level of Lake Edersee, and to enter the spring and summer season with a well-filled lake.

"It was usually the case that the lake's main function in times of snowmelt was to regulate floods," the district administrator said. "This year is different, because we currently have to deal with the consequences of three hot years with little precipitation." In the first days of January, the level of Hesse's largest reservoir was about 50 million cubic metres below the average annual mean. This is worrying, says Kubat. However, the snowfall of the past few weeks has given us the chance to make up for this deficit, at least in part. The prerequisite is responsible and targeted management. This means that the amount of runoff must be limited to an urgently needed minimum.

"Those responsible, especially at the Water and Shipping Authority in Hann-Münden, must also include the interests of the Edersee region more strongly in their considerations," the district administrator demands. The entire area lives primarily from tourism and already had to bear considerable losses last year due to the Corona pandemic. Although the situation in the summer months cannot be predicted, the vaccination that has now been started at least offers the chance that the tourism industry and the gastronomy around the lake will be able to do business at least to some extent normally in the second half of the year. This perspective must be preserved in any case.

At present, the lake has a filling volume of just under 92 million cubic metres, which corresponds to about 46 percent of the full reservoir (199.55 cubic metres). The district administrator appeals to all those responsible to maintain the current outflow of four cubic metres per second, which corresponds to the minimum outflow. The water level of the Weser does not need to be supported at the moment "The Edersee region has suffered extremely from the dry summers of the last three years as well as from the restrictions caused by the Corona crisis; now it is time to show solidarity with the people who have built their existence on tourism and gastronomy". It is imperative that the opportunity offered by the expected snowmelt be seized for the benefit of the region.