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02.11 Water Conservation Districts and Groundwater Use (2009 Edition) Overview Berlin’s drinking water needs are met primarily by groundwater. The drinking water supply is managed by the Berlin Waterworks (BWB). Water supplies are to some extent obtained as bank filtered water: surface water filters through the soil and is withdrawn by extraction wells near the shore. Some surface water is diverted into groundwater recharge plants to percolate into the groundwater, which is then withdrawn for use. Fig. 1: Principles of groundwater production (AHU 1991) There are also a number of smaller waterworks, the private sector water supply plants, which withdraw groundwater for private sector purposes, mostly industrial, or withdraw groundwater for public facilities. Construction activity in Berlin increased considerably after the unification of the city in 1990. Groundwater retention is practiced during construction, in which groundwater is withdrawn. Depending on the level of construction activity, this occurs at various locations and in variable amounts. Especially deep and/or large construction projects use the trough construction method, which saves groundwater. This method requires the withdrawal of only small amounts of water. Withdrawal Quantities In May 2009, the phreatic surface, which has been lowered in Berlin due to drinking-water discharge over the past hundred years, was generally at a relatively high level compared to 1989, as it had been during the previous years. The reason for this is the reduced raw-water discharge by the BWB. Five smaller BWB plants (Altglienicke, Friedrichsfelde, K?penick, Riemeisterfenn und Buch) were closed down during the period between 1991 and 1997. In the autumn of 2001, drinking water production at the two waterworks Johannisthal and Jungfernheide was also discontinued temporarily; at the latter, the same was true for artificial groundwater recharging. In the context of groundwater management by the Senate Department for Urba