12 hours ago
3
The small town of
Baruth
is just over an hour's train ride out of Berlin. Some 4,500 people live here and in the 12 surrounding villages that make up the municipality. Forests and a few fields dominate the landscape.
Two years ago, energy drinks maker
Red Bull
and its partner Rauch took over operations from a mineral water company, acquiring its rights to 2.37 million cubic meters of groundwater each year.
Up to now, the new owners have used less than half that amount. But uptake looks set to more than double under recently approved development plans.
Brandenburg
, which encircles the German capital, is one of the driest regions in the country. It's being hard hit by
climate change
. This winter, less rain fell here than in any other German state. Rising temperatures and changing rain patterns are also leading to increased water loss due to evaporation — and, as a result, sinking groundwater levels.
Baruth's mayor Peter Ilk says there is enough water to go around: "We are using a maximum of 25% of the water available. I don't believe that we are an area that will have any problems in the near future. We are talking in the region of maybe 30, 50 years," he told DW.
Unter the existing permit, some 92% of the water being extracted by Baruth's local waterworks, WABAU, goes to the drinks manufacturers and 8% to the districts' residents. Under German law water is designated as common property and drinking water provision has priority over commercial needs.
Freedom-of-information challenge to Red Bull plans
One citizen, who is concerned about the
sustainability
and transparency of the project, has launched a legal challenge to the plans with the help of a right-to-know platform "Frag-den-Staat" (ask the state). Lawyer Ida Westphal said that the aim was to get the local authority to disclose what Red Bull is getting in terms of subsidies and how much it is paying for the water.
Mayor Ilk explained that water levels were closely monitored by Brandenburg's environmental agency and supplies to the drinks manufacturers could be throttled in the event of concern.
Groundwater, however, remains a scientific black box, according to environmentalists, making it impossible to know how much exists deep underground and how quickly it is replenished. Over-extraction also carries the danger of contamination.Björn Ellner, from the German environmental association NABU, sees the situation critically. In an interview with DW, he said: "In my view we cannot allow any water intensive industries to move to Brandenburg. In particular when groundwater is involved."
Richard Jacob, from the nature conservation organization BUND, told DW that Red Bull and Rauch's operations could only be "tolerated" in terms of job creation. "Really, it's crazy what we are doing here. In dry Brandenburg we are producing these drinks in great quantities. And then we are transporting them by truck to Scandinavia where there is plenty of water available. Or to eastern Europe where there is plenty of water."
No industry before reunification
In the 1990s, there was no industry to speak of here in what was communist East Germany. Baruth's mayor Peter Ilk is proud of the gleaming enterprise zone that he has helped build up right outside town and the employment opportunities that he has created.
By bringing Red Bull and Rauch to the town, he said some 300 jobs had been saved and that another 150 to 200 would be created under the new plans. The municipality will get a €14-million ($15.9 mio) grant from the state of Brandenburg to build a
water treatment plant
for Red Bull and Rauch, the mayor added.
"It is sustainable, alone by dint of the fact that we have secured jobs here," said Ilk. He said residents should not all be forced to make the 70-kilometer (43.5 miles) journey to Berlin or elsewhere, but should be able to get jobs locally. But the mayor also conceded that Baruth's biggest problem was attracting families with children to the area because of a lack of living space and building land. Much of the surrounding countryside is designated as a conservation area.
Shoppers outside one of Baruth's local supermarkets, told DW they support the employment opportunities that he is creating and the tax influx to the town. However, some voice criticism of the "non-European" workers that the development has reportedly brought to the town, or regard the chopping down of 16 hectares of forest to make way for an aluminum canning plant as incompatible with the town's sustainability agenda. None of them want their names published.
Lack of sustainability
Red Bull also gets its water from Austria and Switzerland. In 2023, it was nominated for a booby prize for "transport nonsense" by the Swiss environmental organization "Alpen-Initiative" for shipping water extracted in the Alps in the form of energy drinks all the way round the world. Many drinks manufacturers export just the syrups, which are then mixed with water locally.
Concern about the expansion of the soft drinks plant has been fueled by reports from Grünheide, also in Brandenburg. US automaker Tesla set up a huge plant there several years ago — and there have been protests about its heavy water consumption and the razing of forests.
Workers from 150 different nations now work at the Tesla plant in Grünheide. Many commute from Berlin or across the Polish border. Works council chairwoman Michaela Schmitz told rbb public radio that most of the employees come from Germany, Turkey, Poland, Syria and India.
English (US) · 