Riparian zones and livestock watering holes

The use of surface water for watering livestock is generally permitted in Hesse. In the interest of environmental protection, farmers are asked to observe the following regulations and, if they have not already done so, to put them into practice.

1. If the adjacent properties are used for grazing, the water body must be fenced off so that grazing livestock cannot reach or enter the water body. The fencing should be installed along the property lines between the stream and the pasture to minimize the introduction of pollutants, ideally at a distance of approximately 1.5 m to 2.0 m from the top of the embankment.
2. Livestock should ideally be watered through self-watering systems or troughs fed from a body of water via a hose (free-fall inlet, mechanical suction pumps). Examples of this can be found in the brochure “Livestock Watering at Water Bodies” (published by the Nonprofit Training Association for Water Management and Landscape Development (GFG) GmbH).

In some cases, livestock are watered by fencing off a body of water together with the pasture, so that grazing livestock from adjacent properties can access the water. However, this practice of common use results in the watercourse bed and banks being damaged to a greater or lesser extent by livestock trampling, depending on the extent of grazing.

From the perspective of water law, this damage is unacceptable, as riparian zones constitute a habitat worthy of protection for small organisms and, as such, serve to preserve and improve the ecological function of water bodies and ensure water runoff. This is also reflected in the fact that, since 2018, the Hessian Water Act has contained stricter regulations for the protection of riparian zones.