5. August 2026    631

By the time I was eight months pregnant, I had become an expert on public toilets in Bonn (Germany).

I knew exactly which cafés had clean restrooms, which department stores allowed customers to use their facilities, and which places changed their policy (for example, the cathedral had accessible public bathrooms – and suddenly the doors were locked). I knew that the bookstore Thalia had toilets. I knew which cafés required you to make a purchase before handing over the key (the majority, although sometimes a nice barista takes pity on you). And I knew that leaving home without mentally mapping the next available toilet was no longer an option.

  24. January 2024    3905

Water is the condition for (a healthy) life, which is why access to clean tap water and sanitation has been included as one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Agenda 2030, the international agreement for global development. In a global comparison, Germany is very well positioned, but we increasingly have to deal with issues such as water pollution and - due to the increasing impacts of climate change - water scarcity too. In reference to sanitation in Germany, the main question we have to ask ourselves is how we can use our tap water as economically as possible. Because of its outstanding quality in Germany it should end up in the Germans' stomachs rather than in their toilets.