European Beer News (Issue 19)

German brewers scored one for the Reinheitsgebot after winning government backing to protect their water supplies from fracking. 

The government will allow federal states to identify “no-fracking zones” to preserve the quality of ground water used for making beer and bottled mineral water. "We need clean water to produce our beer," said Friedrich Duell, president of the Bavarian Brewers Association. “If our wells aren’t protected our business is threatened.” 

"Fracking is a high-risk technology and we've seen water tainted in other countries often enough," said Duell, whose 350-year-old brewery in Krautheim in the south German region of Franconia operates two wells.