Overview

• The ban bars the use of pumps for drawing water from the Spree between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. and from the Schwarze Elster at all hours.
• Residents and landowners may still collect water manually with watering cans under modest allowances.
• Neighboring Dahme-Spreewald and Spree-Neiße districts have already issued similar orders following record-low river levels.
• Officials linked the move to persistent drought, dry soils, and steadily sinking river levels.
• Authorities said past enforcement of such measures had helped stabilize water tables and protect local ecosystems during dry seasons.