Drinking water protection

In contrast to the action programme for springs conservation, this project focuses on the long-term protection of our drinking water, which is of particular importance in the Natur- & Geopark Mëllerdall. Because of the geology of the region, most households can be supplied by the municipalites’ own springs and boreholes, which means that the Natur- & Geopark Mëllerdall is also known as self-sufficient in drinking water. Around 60 springs and boreholes are used to supply drinking water. This is no matter of course, neither on a global nor national level. The self-sufficiency of drinking water is made possible by the Luxembourg sandstone, which is an ideal aquifer due to its pores and crevices and which filters groundwater in a natural way.

To protect this precious resource even better, the municipalities are implementing additional voluntary measures about settlement, transport, agriculture, and forestry in close cooperation with the concerned actors in over 20 drinking water protection areas . The regional cooperation between the municipalities, the authorities and representatives of the agricultural sector plays an important role in this process. In order to simplify the distribution of costs, evaluate the implemented measures and promote exchanges, they set up the “Comité d’Accompagnement” at the end of 2019 in the presence of the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development, Carole Dieschbourg. In addition to the eleven member municipalities of the syndicate, six other municipalities are represented here, as they too operate drinking water catchments within the Natur- & Geopark Mëllerdall. One measure is the establishment of an agricultural cooperation in which the municipalities and farmers jointly pursue the goal of maintaining groundwater quality. The central contact person and coordinator of the project is the “Animatrice ressources eau potable”.

An active protection of our drinking water is an investment in our future. The project is being financed by the municipalities of Beaufort, Bech, Berdorf, Consdorf, Echternach, Fischbach, Heffingen, Larochette, Nommern, Rosport-Mompach, Waldbillig, Biwer, Diekirch, Grevenmacher, Manternach, Reisdorf et Vallée de l’Ernz, which are supported by the Water Fund of the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development and by the Ministry of Agriculture, Viticulture and Rural Development.

Drinking water is the best controlled food, so enjoy it in our glasses and our carafe in a set.

Discover more on our drinking water in this video. It is in luxembourgish with english subtitles. You can watch all the videos of this series here.