Bavaria: Citizens‘ submission on Article 20a of the German Basic Law – Murnauer Moos (hydrological integrity)
Upper Loisach / Murnauer Moos – Hydrological Integrity
Preventive submission pursuant to § 13 BayVwVfG in conjunction with Art. 20a GG and Art. 141 BV. The focus is on the hydrological integrity of the upper Loisach and the Murnauer Moos, on groundwater levels and on the function of the moors as CO₂ sinks.
Prevention instead of after-the-fact adjustments: Art. 20a GG as a constitutional mandate for precaution and self-review.
What this is about
Recurrent special abstractions in the catchment area can cumulatively lead to falling groundwater levels and the mineralisation of peat bodies. This threatens drying-out, CO₂ release and the loss of moor habitats. The submission calls for a constitutionally guided self-review by the competent authorities – not only with regard to individual causes, but to the totality of influencing factors (water abstractions, drainage ditches, biomass use and tunnel construction).
Legal core
Art. 20a GG: State objective of environmental protection – duty to protect and take precaution
Art. 141 BV: Protection of nature and landscape in Bavaria
§ 13 BayVwVfG: Internal administrative submission triggering an official review
§ 24 BayVwVfG: Principle of official investigation – full clarification of the facts
§ 34 BNatSchG / Art. 6(3) Habitats Directive: Appropriate assessment for Natura 2000 sites
The aim is the constitutionally guided coordination of all involved specialised authorities, so that hydrological, ecological and climate-relevant interactions are captured and assessed cumulatively in an integrated expert report.
Status: Submitted on 05/11/2025. The District Office of Garmisch-Partenkirchen has responded to the submission and taken up the four specific suggestions within the ongoing procedure. In a further letter (December 2025), we are now clarifying how the constitution-related submission is formally recorded (file reference) and which authority, from the perspective of the District Office, holds functional responsibility for the Murnauer Moos / upper Loisach system (Dossier · Phase II: Submission and constitution-related follow-up questions).
Cooperation: Specialist input from journalism, river studies and science from the Loisach region; the submission bundles local observations, hydrological expertise and constitutional-legal argumentation.
Resonance: Hydrological and forestry feedback confirms the shift in perspective laid out in the submission: away from viewing individual abstraction points and towards the entire upper Loisach. With the District Office’s response, there is now a first administrative statement that takes up the concrete suggestions. The question of the functional integrity of the Murnauer Moos / upper Loisach system and of the competent authority for such a functional assessment will be further documented and developed, both technically and in constitutional terms, in the next steps.