Water shortage forces Watzmannhaus to restrict services

Severe water shortages after an exceptionally dry summer have forced the Watzmannhaus mountain hut in the Berchtesgaden Alps to close most washrooms and bring drinking water up by material cableway, BR reports.

Hut manager Paul Verst said he could not remember such a dry summer. Since mid-June, there has been virtually no rain apart from occasional thunderstorms, he said. Verst, 25, took over the role from his parents after spending many summers at the hut as a child.

The Watzmannhaus, at an elevation of 1,930 metres, does not normally offer showers. Because of the shortage, only one washroom remains open for two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening so guests can brush their teeth. The taps produce only a thin trickle, and visitors cannot wash their hands after using the toilets. They can only disinfect them.

The hut belongs to the Munich section of the German Alpine Club. A spring supplies drinking water to three cisterns, but their levels are now extremely low and sufficient only for restricted operations. Carolin Kalkbrenner, the section’s hut officer, attributed the shortage to a winter with little snow followed by a long dry period in summer.

The remaining natural drinking water is needed for the hut’s operations, including cooking, washing dishes and staff hygiene. The hut has 160 sleeping places and serves fresh food to many guests. Surface water is collected in another cistern for use in the toilets, but those supplies are also running low.

The German Alpine Club plans to build dry toilets at the Watzmannhaus in the coming years and treat surface water for drinking. In the meantime, a notice at the entrance tells visitors that the hut can no longer refill their drinking bottles. Instead, they can buy 1.5 litres of still mineral water for 6 euros.

Drinking water is brought up by the hut’s material cableway, which is also used to transport food up and rubbish down because the large mountain hut has no road access. Packs of bottled water have been delivered in recent weeks for hikers to buy. Many guests continue from the hut towards the Watzmann and otherwise have no alternative unless they carry sufficient water themselves. The climb to the hut takes about four hours.

The shortage is increasing investment and operating costs, which the hut manager and the German Alpine Club will have to pass on to guests. BR described the development as a troubling consequence of climate change for tourism at one of Germany’s most traditional mountain huts.