Water law permit - construction projects in groundwater

Course description

Interventions relevant to water law include, for example

• Pumping out and thus lowering groundwater to drain an excavation pit and discharging the extracted water back into the groundwater.
• Temporary or permanent damming up and possibly also lowering of groundwater due to a building structure or the enclosure of a building pit.
• Introduction of substances into the groundwater (buildings or building materials such as foundations, building materials, bored piles, sheet piling, injections).

The resulting construction water (groundwater and rainwater in the excavation pit) must be discharged back into the near-surface subsoil via absorption wells or soakaways after passing through a settling basin to settle fine particles.

Discharge into the municipal sewer or into surface waters (such as municipal streams, rivers and lakes) is not desirable and is only authorised in very well-founded individual cases.

Required documents

All documents are required on paper in quadruplicate and also in digital form in accordance with our information sheet.

As part of the application documents, calculations on the height and range of the groundwater accumulation resulting from the construction project must also be submitted. Proof must be provided that no detrimental situation will arise for existing neighbouring buildings. If necessary, the planned measures to reduce the back-up must be presented.

Legal basis

Sections 8 to 15 of the Water Resources Act
Article 15 and Article 70 of the Bavarian Water Act