Since the formation of the Federal Republic of West Germany, a Ministry for Atomic Energy and Water Management has been entrusted with the development of federal water policy.
A water management law, passed in July 1957, offers a general framework into which possibly divergent, but hopefully uniform, state water laws are to be fitted on initiative of the states. The federal law itself requires application for a permit or for an acquisitive right when a given source of water is to be put to a particular use. The application may be denied, however, and there is no legal claim either to a permit or a right. Permits are revocable instruments. Rights are not; they are granted under public law. In either case, conditions of water use may be regulated and supervision of water use ordered. Penalties and fines are to be imposed for failure to obtain the necessary permit or right or for failure to comply with established conditions of water use.
Persons suffering damages from pollution may sue the polluter, and in doing so are not required to present proof of negligence on his part. Where the available volume of water or its quality does not meet the needs of all users, the preferred user may be required to pay compensation to those deprived of their privilege. Drink-ing water supplies are given priority over other water uses.
General regulations may re-quire treatment of all waste waters; biological purification of municipal sewage; and exclusion of wastes dangerous to health, of oil, of flammable liquids, and of other objectional substances. Lakes and rivers are to be kept clean enough to sustain their normal water flora and fauna, and to permit bathing.
Gordon M Fair, speaking on pollution abatement in the Ruhr at RFF's 1961 Forum.
A version of this article appeared in print in the June 1961 issue of Resources magazine.
