Northern Germany? Same here in the south (Bavaria). For example, the small river that runs to and through Nuremberg is quite disgusting, lots of algae - the wr

Northern Germany? Same here in the south (Bavaria). For example, the small river that runs to and through Nuremberg is quite disgusting, lots of algae - the wrong kind, and visibly bad water quality. There is a lake in the east of the city where it runs into before going out the other end and continue through the inner city. That water is disgusting. It's quite obvious there is lots of agricultural runoff, before getting to the city the river passes mostly through farmland. Despite disgusting, sometimes stinking water right in the city I have yet to see anyone complain or even raise the issue. I'm from East Germany, and we had an even more polluted river (Saale), my grand parents told me people used to bath in it - I never saw anyone even touch the water. After reunification polluting industry was removed and all was cleaned up, now the water is wonderful, the right kind of algae grow, lots of fish, the water is clear and a pleasure to behold. So Germany can do it, I have no idea why nobody cares about such a highly visible problem, after all, millions of inhabitants and visitors to the city see it every year. It stinks, literally. And sometimes it foams. There also has just been an article in a major German paper (Spiegel) about concerningly high levels of nitrates in drinking water in many places. Still within official limits, but if you know something about those limits, their main component is "what is (technologically and financially) feasible", not "what is desirable". Also, they only test for compounds they know about already, there are thousands of compounds nobody even tests for because we have no idea how they work - especially not in combination with others. It is hardly even researched because it is too hard (not even lots of money can really help, the complexity problem is huge).