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Philipps-Universität Marburg
Abstract
It is not so long ago that water was taken for granted in most European countries and that
a threatening abundance or scarcity of it was considered an exception. This has obviously
changed in recent years. First, the floods along the Oder, Elbe and Danube rivers brought
water back into the public eye in Germany, and into the focus of socio-scientific interest.
In the current debates, the main topics are heat waves and increasing drought. The
examples can be chosen relatively arbitrarily from mass media: for example, an episode
of the broadcast Report München in August 2019 titled ‘Der Kampf ums Wasser. Behörden
contra Landwirte’ [The Battle for Water. Authorities versus Farmers] focused on water
conflicts in Germany. In it, a farmer from Peine reported that he had to let part of his
crop dry out during the drought because the authorities prioritized drinking water supply
over irrigation. Visibly desperate, he warned that food was just as important as drinking
water. A month earlier, the captain of a large passenger ship on the Rhine, Moselle and
Danube revealed to the German news outlet Zeit Online that the tricks he used when the
water level was low were no longer sufficient. Normally, he would drain the water from the
swimming pool at the stern of the ship and from the ballast tanks at the bow, which keep
the ship in balance. This allowed him to reduce the total weight by 80 tons and reduce
draught by a few centimeters. But in the summer of 2019, he said, they ultimately had to
transport the passengers by bus.
Originally published in German as: Dietzsch, I. (2021). Waterworlds revisited. Hamburger Journal für Kulturanthropologie, 13, 79-95. https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:gbv:18-8-17250.
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Except where otherwised noted, this item's license is described as Attribution 4.0 International