Drinking Water in Germany: A Case Study of High Quality Drinking Water - Global Drinking Water Management and Conservation - page 271

Wastewater infrastructure lasts a long time and is amortized over the entire
service life. The long service life of capital-intensive technical facilities is a par-
ticular challenge for the wastewater disposal utilities when it comes to proper
accounting. The service life of a sewage system is approximately 50 to 80 years.
Wastewater charges follow the cost recovery principle, and therefore

the consumer
pays the costs which arise for the wastewater collection and wastewater treatment

“

”

(Althoff 2007 ). Althoff further pointed out that “ these costs also include the

wastewater tax, which is a statutory extra fee. The amount of the wastewater tax

depends on the residual contents of wastewater substances in the discharged
wastewater. This was designed as a

“

on the residual contents of
the wastewater, but as these contents cannot be traced to the particular consumer
who discharges these pollutants, the tax has lost its

“ polluter pay tax ”

”
(Althoff 2007 ). This is a common problem with all nonpoint source pollution, as the
source cannot be identi

“ steering effect and function

ed.

12.7 Mean Water Price in Germany

12.7.1 Fiscal Framework

In Germany, some water utilities are taxed like other private corporations. Water
supply utilities are taxed with a uniform and reduced turnover tax rate of 7 percent.
The public wastewater utilities as

“ ”

are exempted from
corporate tax and turnover tax, while the private wastewater utilities are subject to a
full turnover tax rate of 19 percent with the usual deductible costs (Althoff 2007 ).

sovereign undertakings

12.7.2 Drinking Water

In 2002, the average drinking water price in Germany was 1.80 euros per cubic
meter. In Italy and Spain, even though droughts occur frequently, the average
drinking water prices are much lower: 0.73 and 0.72 euros per cubic meter,
respectively. The low water prices in Italy and Spain could be indirect subsidies for
agriculture. In Great Britain and France, the average drinking water prices are 1.25
and 1.09 euros per cubic meter, respectively. Between 2000 and 2009, the German
drinking water price index increased by 5 percent though this was below the in ation

rate, while the general price increase amounted to 15.9 percent during the same
period (see Fig. 12.10 ). Finally note that, in Germany, the average share of house-
holds

expenditures on water bills is only 0.5 percent (German Federal Association
of the German Gas & Water Industries (BGW) 2004 and German Federal Associ-
ation of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) 2007 , as cited in Althoff 2007 ).
Due to regional differences in water resources, treatment and distribution costs,
water prices in Germany vary for different regions (BGW 2004 and BDEW 2007 ,

'