The German Environment Aid (Deutsche Umwelthilfe, DUH) has filed an enforcement action against the federal government to compel the implementation of effective measures for groundwater protection, the organisation announced on Friday. A judgment from the Federal Administrative Court, which became final in October 2025, obliges the government to establish a robust action programme that ensures compliance with the nitrate limit in groundwater. Queries sent to the responsible Ministry of Agriculture about the timetable for this programme have gone unanswered, the DUH reported. Instead, on 15 January the ministry introduced a draft ordinance for a fertiliser law that weakens water‑protection regulations.
Accordingly, the DUH is now seeking a threat of a €10,000 penalty from the Higher Administrative Court in Münster against the federal government, represented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Minister Alois Rainer (CSU), for failing to implement the court’s ruling. The organisation also warned that the European Commission could launch a new infringement proceeding against Germany, imposing steep daily fines for each day the EU Nitrate Directive remains improperly implemented.
“This enforcement request is meant to force the federal government to take water protection seriously as a paramount public good” explained DUH’s national director Sascha Müller‑Kränner. “If this isn’t a wake‑up call, the court can compel immediate implementation through a penalty. Minister Rainer is not only ignoring the principle ruling on water protection, but he is also further weakening the fertiliser law at a critical point. Time is pressing: since the start of the fertiliser season in February, tonnes of nitrogen and nitrate are already leaching into the environment every day, even though farmers still lack clear fertiliser rules”.
The DUH demands an immediately effective nitrate action programme and statutory tightening to achieve the mandated nitrate limit of 50 mg per litre in groundwater nationwide. This includes a revised fertiliser law. “We must maintain and improve the accounting obligation for business nutrients” said senior agricultural policy adviser Reinhild Benning. “As in Denmark, balance data should be entered into a database and evaluated digitally by the relevant authorities”.
She also called for the abolition of the “system of commercial livestock farming without adequate land for environmentally responsible manure application” and a comprehensive overhaul of animal husbandry to make it both environmentally and ethically sound. “Field rotations are the biggest contribution to water protection. Therefore, monocultures in maize and overly tight crop sequences in rapeseed should be penalised”.
Benning noted that organic farming is particularly effective for safeguarding water quality. “The government should engage organic agriculture constructively through demand incentives and subsidies to help achieve the nitrate‑reduction goal”.