Watering Can Day: ‘Leipzig gießt’ at the Entenbrücke Video

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Leipzig’s street trees, particularly those planted in recent years, are suffering from the drought; the heatwave of the last few weeks in particular has taken its toll on them once again. The ‘Leipzig gießt’ initiative has been running since 2020, with the aim of saving the street trees. The “Leipzig gießt” app has been available since 2021; it allows users to see where the trees are located, which ones have already been watered, and to log their own activities.

On 4 July, it was the Germany-wide ‘Day of the Watering Can’ – yes, there are initiatives like this all over Germany – and ‘Leipzig gießt’ called on people to come together to water the trees. The meeting point was at the Entenbrücke between Leipzig Plagwitz and Schleußig. We were there too, had a look around and also spoke to some organizers.

A chat with Anni and Hannes from “Leipzig gießt”

Watering trees – that sounds a bit abstract to many people. Street trees – we didn’t used to water them either, did we? They still grew back then. Besides, we’re all supposed to be saving water; we’re not allowed to hose down our lawns, but you’re watering trees. Tell us a bit about the background.
Anni: We water trees because they’re now simply suffering much more from drought and heat. We all only realised last week just how hot it had become. We’re not used to that from the past, and neither are the trees. So we simply have to give them a bit of a helping hand to get through this heatwave in good health, to stop them getting sick, to keep them stable and able to fend for themselves. Yes, we also say that we really do need to tap water. That’s why we’re always looking for ways to use rainwater. In other words, using the water that nature essentially gives us and which often seeps away in the city. Today, we’re using river water here.

Hannes: Of course, it’s also about the condition of the soil. The soil is dry in Leipzig, despite last week’s rain, and you can see that quite clearly on the UFZ’s drought monitor. Young trees in particular can’t reach the groundwater with their roots at all yet. That’s the problem. And that’s where we need to pick up a watering can ourselves and give them a helping hand.

If someone says: ‘Good idea, that’s brilliant – I’d love to get involved.’ How can they get in touch with you? How can people get involved? Where can you be found?

You can find us on social media under ‘Leipzig gießt’. You can always email us at info[at]leipziggießt.de. We also have a website, or rather, one hosted by the Ecken wecken Foundation. What’s more, you can water with us via the app. You can download it from all app stores. It’s the Leipzig gießt app. You can use it to log your watering sessions; that way, we all water together and work together. No tree is watered twice, and we can see which tree needs the most water.

The conversation went on for a while longer; we recorded it on video and set it to some footage from Watering Can Day in Leipzig.

How did the day go?

It kicked off at 9.00 am; the stall was set up, and cargo bikes and trolleys for canisters, watering bags and watering cans were on hand. People went down to the river, scooped up water with the watering cans and then filled the canisters with it. It’s a bit of a faff, but the use of pumps isn’t allowed unless you have a special permit.

Then they set off – some on cargo bikes, others with trolleys – to the trees that required watering. In any case, they were carrying heavy loads; to achieve the best possible result, you need 100 litres of water for each watering.

Work progressed quickly, as can be seen in the video, and at the end you can also hear Hannes explaining which trees should be watered.

When we headed to the next location, the volunteers were still hard at work. Over the course of the day, 25 trees were watered with a total of 2,500 litres of water.

There was also a video challenge on social media: “On Watering Can Day, we want to symbolically pass on a watering can via video, from one watering session to the next. This way, we connect virtually and can symbolically water the trees together. Become part of this video chain by creating a short video of yourself or yourselves with a watering can.”

We made a video with Anni – here’s the result.

Conclusion
: The young trees, which are no longer being watered by the nursery, urgently need water so that they can provide us with shade later on and thus help to counteract the urban heat island effect. “Leipzig gießt” is making an important contribution in this regard.