Against droughts: How the water gets back into the soil – knowledge

The weather is becoming more extreme and there is a risk of drought. Researchers are therefore working on methods to replenish sinking groundwater. But that’s harder than it sounds.

Daniele Caccamo draws. He holds a stick with a cup attached to it in a concrete basin into which fresh water from the Rhine flows. He fills the water sample into a glass and holds it up to the light, the liquid is cloudy. “You certainly wouldn’t drink that,” says the head of the water treatment plant in Biebesheim, Hesse.