00:01The container terminal at Berlin's Westhafen port still has plenty of work.
00:06Scrap metal destined for a steelworks outside the city can still be shipped out of the capital as usual.
00:13Many building materials for construction sites in Berlin are transported by ship.
00:19But if water levels continue to fall, many industrial goods like this gas turbine could no longer be transported.
00:30This is not a load that we can split.
00:33A turbine weighing 500 tons means the boat sinks lower in the water.
00:38And we can't change that.
00:40For the industry that manufactures these goods, it's very serious if they can no longer transport them.
00:46Water transport is the only option.
00:50Twenty kilometers away, Berlin's Wannsee lake is fed largely by groundwater.
00:56Its water level has fallen.
00:58Drinking water supplies are dwindling.
01:02A problem that the Berlin waterworks are all too aware of.
01:07The main problem is the climate crisis.
01:11The climate has changed dramatically.
01:14With much longer summers.
01:16Sometimes with flash heat and flash droughts, which we experienced last year for example.
01:25Then of course, there's the steadily growing population.
01:29There are more and more of us.
01:32We've just had a few very wet months, which is nice.
01:35But nature needs all that rain.
01:39It just disappears into the plants and trees, so none of it replenishes the groundwater.
01:45What we need to secure groundwater capacity is rain in the fall and winter.
01:51If we get a rainy winter, things slowly recover.
01:53As it is, we haven't managed to get back to the level we were at before 2010 for example.
02:00Despite that, Berlin still has enough drinking water.
02:04The company responsible for ensuring the city's water supply is the Berliner Wasserbetriebe.
02:09This treatment facility is one of the largest, supplying up to one million people daily.
02:16The water is purified in huge basins with the help of gravel.
02:22The result is clean drinking water.
02:25But if the city's rivers and lakes have less water overall, problems will arise in the long term.
02:32The waterworks are already preparing.
02:34When we get less fresh water from the Spree and Havel rivers, the proportion of recycled water increases.
02:44So water that's been purified by our treatment plants and is back in the cycle.
02:49So our job isn't just to ensure that everything works well.
02:53The plant is very much involved in ensuring the safety of our drinking water.
02:57We're developing more advanced stages of treatment that remove phosphorus and nitrogen even more effectively, for example,
03:02which will also protect our waterways.
03:06It's costing millions of euros.
03:09Making the city resilient to climate change and managing with less water is expensive, as the Berlin Senate knows all too well.
03:17We're not just starting to invest now.
03:19Berlin has been working hard for 10 to 20 years to modernize and expand its infrastructure.
03:27But we needed a concrete strategy for Berlin.
03:32So we developed a master plan for the city's water supply.
03:36The master plan includes strategies for saving water.
03:41Wastewater treatment plants are being expanded and more greenery planted.
03:47This is the eastern district of Neukölln.
03:50In Hassenheide Park, the local council has planted over 300 new trees that require less water.
03:55We're planting different trees than we used to.
03:59We're now taking species that, firstly, are more resistant to certain fungi and other pests.
04:04And secondly, that tend to come from the Mediterranean region.
04:09Because we assume that they're likely to cope better with the climate in the years and decades to come.
04:17New shrubs have also been planted.
04:20The aim is to foster biodiversity.
04:22But how to keep them watered?
04:24And who will pay for the gardeners?
04:28These days, we have to care for young trees for a lot longer.
04:31We used to water trees for the first three years, and then they could take care of themselves.
04:37Now it takes seven to ten years.
04:40He'd like to plant more trees and shrubs in other green spaces in the district.
04:46But it's just too expensive.
04:48He says it's the same elsewhere in the city.
04:51The problem in Berlin is not that we don't understand what's needed.
04:56The problem is doing it.
04:57Everyone talks about action and master plans, but we lack the finances and personnel to implement it.
05:06Back to the port.
05:08The management here is concerned about the long-term future, given the water levels.
05:13Would diverting water from other rivers, like the Harfel or the Elbe, help to replenish the river Spree?
05:19Yes, there are ideas about diverting water from the Elbe into the Spree.
05:25But you know yourself, the Elbe often runs low too.
05:29There have been times when shipping traffic on the Elbe has had to cease for a whole year.
05:34That's probably not the solution either.
05:36I think we can no longer afford to let the rivers drain off water during times of high water.
05:41We need to focus more on retaining that water so that when it doesn't rain, we can top up the rivers from the reservoir.
05:52Everyone agrees that something needs to happen to ensure that Berlin has enough water for its industry, residents and green spaces in the years to come.
06:01In the years to come.
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