Munich weighs tighter rules for brewery groundwater use

Munich breweries use particularly pure deep groundwater not only to brew beer but also to clean pipes, tanks, barrels and bottles, a practice that is not permitted under state rules, BR reports. The city is now examining stricter requirements for the breweries.

The breweries are allowed to use deep groundwater for beer made under the traditional Munich Purity Law. They have their own wells and say the water is important for controlling the beer’s quality and taste.

Martin Leibhard of Augustiner-Bräu, who chairs the Munich Brewers’ Association, said breweries use their own well water for anything that comes directly into contact with the beer. He said ordinary drinking water could be chlorinated if there were problems in the public water network, affecting the beer’s taste and quality.

Breweries use an average of three to four litres of water to produce one litre of beer, according to the Munich Brewers’ Association. Much of that water is used for cleaning.

Under Bavaria’s state development programme, deep groundwater may be extracted only for purposes requiring exceptional purity. A guidance document from the Bavarian Environment Agency states that using it for rinsing and cleaning is generally not permitted because drinking-quality water is sufficient for those purposes.

Munich has 19 deep wells, 16 of them owned by breweries. The state government sets an annual limit on how much deep groundwater the breweries may extract, and they have so far remained below it. In 2024, they used just under four million cubic metres.

Data from Munich and its water management authority show that deep groundwater extraction has risen by about one third over the past 20 years. The water is not yet becoming scarcer, the authorities say, because the extracted groundwater is replenished.

Munich Mayor Dominik Krause of the Greens has called for the breweries’ use of deep groundwater to be reviewed. Talks with the breweries are under way.

“This practice must be reviewed in light of increasing drought and water scarcity,” Krause told BR24. He said the city had previously assumed that enough drinking water was available, but this year’s conditions showed that assumption was wrong. Munich introduced water emergency restrictions for the first time this summer.

Munich’s water management authority also views the breweries’ use of deep groundwater critically. It noted, however, that Munich residents consume considerably more water than the breweries, although that water is ordinary drinking water. The city consumes 4,000 litres of water per second, according to the authority.