According to the Water Resources Act, all bodies of water must be maintained in a good condition or developed towards this goal. This is also the core objective of the EC Water Framework Directive. The key biological and chemical parameters are decisive for the assessment of a water body. Deficits exist mainly in the structural and physical characteristics. The Water Framework Directive also includes protected areas, which serve either to protect the water bodies themselves or to preserve water-dependent habitats and species.

Installations include all structures and measures that may have an impact on the discharge of the watercourse. Plantings and earth fillings may fall under this category and require a permit under water law from the UWB. As a rule, structures may not be erected within a five-metre wide strip of water from the top of the bank of a watercourse.

Incorrect storage of materials (e.g. green waste, compost heaps) near bodies of water can lead to pollution and thus adverse changes in the body of water due to flood events, among other things.

The use of bodies of water without a permit under water law or the construction of facilities in, on, above and below surface waters without a permit under water law are also violations of water law that can be punished with fines.

Prior application for a permit under water law is required for the use of water bodies. Water uses include discharges, water withdrawals, impoundment and removal of solid substances.

The stream development plan (BEP) adopted by the city council in 1989 contains a description of the characteristic features of each of the 47 streams, such as bank design and use, stream bed shaping and development measures.

The most important objectives of the stream development plan are the opening up and near-natural design of streams and the greening of streams. In addition, water protection strips (buffer zones) to adjacent agricultural land are recommended for some streams.

The main task of the stream development plan is to comprehensively safeguard the ecological and valuable stream areas in Bonn's urban area. The specific protection measures are not limited to the body of the stream, but also include the accompanying floodplain.

The renaturation of streams is intended to achieve a state of water that would have developed naturally without human intervention. This state is documented in so-called guiding principles.

The task of near-natural watercourse development and maintenance is to ensure that human demands on the watercourse are met with the least possible impact on the ecosystem. Measures of this kind are described in the "Guidelines for near-natural development and maintenance of watercourses in North Rhine-Westphalia" (Blue Guidelines (opens in a new tab)).