The institute of German and European water law (IDEW) at Trier university in Germany organized a discussion forum on "Fracking and [German] water law". The forum was held on 19 september 2012 in Cologne.

The director of IDEW, Prof. M. Reinhardt, laid out the framework and the challenges related to unconventional gas E&P and water protection. Talks by Prof. Roßnagel (Univ. Kassel), Dr. Westendor-Lahouse (ExxonMobil E&P Germany) and Mr. Gentzsch (German Association of Energy and Water Management, BDEW) highlighted different issues, e.g. the obligation of an Environmental Impact Assessment, economic benefits of unconventional gas production, and whether water protection areas should be used or not for unconventional gas operations. The talks were succeeded by a lively discussion among the more than 40 participants of the forum.

An extended summary of the talks and the discussion is available here (in German only).