Shadowing Practice: Rivers under pressure - From drought and competing agendas | DW Documentary - Learn English Speaking with Video
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In June 2026, Europe experienced record temperatures, including in central Germany.
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For that to happen so early in the year is extraordinary.
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And the temperatures were also extraordinary.
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And it came on the back of a hot, dry summer the year before, where some regions were left bone dry.
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It's getting steadily worse with several dry years in a row.
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No rain, and there's less water from the mountains, affecting drinking water reserves.
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Lawn sprinklers and swimming pools we could live without.
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The Rappbode dam in eastern Germany was still not filled to capacity last November.
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A record dry winter followed with little snow.
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The water level remained low till spring.
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Finally, in May, localized flash floods hit central Germany.
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Climate change is altering nature's water cycle more profoundly than we thought,
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and faster while federal and state governments draft laws and plans of action and then don't follow through?
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Will Germany restructure its landscape or be overtaken by the climate crisis?
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Natural rivers meander.
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Such meanders or bends have become rare.
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The Wetterau River in the Thuringian Slate Mountains in eastern Germany is still in its natural state.
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It spreads out wide.
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In late September 2025, an inspection of the floodplain showed water levels had recovered after just a few days of rain.
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The Vettera is about 17 kilometers long.
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Stefan Gunkel explains why the river boasts healthy levels of biodiversity.
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Because the water is able to move back and forth in the floodplain.
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The meanders here are relatively large.
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They also shift location over time and occasionally leave pools of water behind, known as oxbow lakes, where the water can collect.
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At the same time, there are other areas that are still dry, where species typical of dry grasslands, for example, can thrive.
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And what's special about a floodplain with a meandering river is
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that much more water can flow into the land and be retained than in a straightened watercourse.
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Why is that? because the course of the river is three to five times longer.
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And it supports a unique ecosystem.
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Trees that thrive in wet soil like alders and willows are perfectly adapted to this habitat.
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We're standing here in a floodplain, so called because it floods.
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When water levels are high and the river bursts its banks, the entire floodplain is submerged.
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And that's important because a living body of water is constantly interacting with groundwater levels, surface water, the riverbanks and the floodplain.
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And this dynamic interplay leads to a high level of biodiversity.
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And here, that biodiversity is protected under conservation laws.
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Small loaches migrate upstream through the gaps in the beaver dam, while trout simply jump right over it.
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But only one -fifth of the species here actually live in the flowing water.
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The rest make their home on the riverbed among the stones, pebbles and sand.
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What's he hoping to find?
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What I'm mainly looking for is caddisfly larvae.
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They're relatively easy to spot.
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This here is a caddisfly case.
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Caddisflies are indicators of good to very good water quality.
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That's exactly what you'd hope for in a stream in a low mountain range like here.
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A diverse environment is what makes a river healthy.
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Decaying tree trunks are part of that.
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They help keep the water clean.
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Because there are so many tiny creatures living on the wood, they act as decomposers and also work as a filter in the water too,
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and in that way contribute to the water's self -purification process.
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The Vetteran naturally interacts with its surroundings.
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It serves as a model for rivers that still need to be upgraded to cope with climate change.
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In mid -February 2026, a group of experts gathered high above the Unschrutt River, near the East German city of Leipzig.
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The snow had just melted.
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From here, it's clear to see how human intervention has completely altered the river's course.
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When did our ancestors actually start intervening in the river and its surroundings here?
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We can trace the beginnings all the way back to the Middle Ages.
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The people of Flanders, now in modern -day Belgium, were recognized as experts in hydraulic engineering because of how they'd learned to control rivers.
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And since we needed such experts here, we brought them into the country.
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They moved here to work and brought their families too.
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Migrant laborers from Flanders were just the start.
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Through the centuries, all those in power have had plans for the Unstrott Valley.
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One aspect was flood protection.
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The other was making use of the fertile soil, and the very frequent flooding was a threat to the harvest.
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The interventions became increasingly radical.
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The river doesn't look like this anymore.
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This section here is basically what we have now.
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It was straightened by the communist East German government.
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What's also interesting is that there are no trees or shrubs in this picture, yet now they're here.
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So the flow path has become shorter.
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That's a really massive intervention, which in fact served only to allow the water to drain away more quickly.
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90 % of Germany's rivers have undergone similar interventions.
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At first, the aim was to protect communities from flooding.
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But soon, it became more about prosperity, progress and people's livelihoods.
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Only much later did the negative impacts on the water cycle and the environment become clear.
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What we see here is a river that carries water away from the landscape as quickly as possible, in an area where we actually have a shortage of water.
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Really, we need the water to remain in the landscape longer.
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And given the years of drought that we've experienced since 2018, it's especially important that we retain water in the landscape wherever we can.
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But the dike separates the river Unschloed from the fields in the floodplain.
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Matthias Scholz is a floodplain ecologist.
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He says this kind of intervention in nature is problematic.
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The river has an energy of its own.
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Especially during floods or when the river is flowing at full capacity, it has a lot of energy.
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So normally it would carry sediment with it.
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But if it's not able to erode the riverbanks, then all that force goes into the riverbed instead.
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And as a result, the riverbed automatically becomes deeper.
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As the riverbed deepens, the river's water level drops and the groundwater level sinks too.
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The only real solution is to slow the river down, create space so the banks can be flooded and flushed out material can settle.
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That also improves the quality of the water.
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We have a major problem with nitrates, especially here on the Unstrutt.
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This river has had a nitrate problem for years.
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If a section of the river, or the river as a whole, were in its natural state, it would have a greater capacity to purify itself.
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For years, potash mines discharged wastewater into the river.
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Farmers fertilized their fields right up to the riverbanks.
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The Unstre desperately needs a cleanup.
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Oxbow lakes that have been disconnected from the river hold great potential.
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Reconnecting them often changes the dynamics of the river permanently.
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Matthias Scholtz has studied river floodplains and renaturation for more than 30 years.
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He says reconnecting an oxbow lake is a decision that needs to be weighed carefully.
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What might speak against reconnecting an oxbow lake is if it's become an especially valuable spawning ground for amphibians, so frogs and toads.
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They don't like flowing water or high fish populations, but generally speaking, we know whether or not that's important in any given case.
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So when does it make sense to restore the river's course exactly where it was shortened 60 years ago?
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Generally speaking, reconnecting old meanders with the river again is a good idea, because it extends the length of the river,
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providing all the free benefits that we get from a more natural river.
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But in this case, it would only really be effective
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if we could also relocate the dike over a large area back into the old floodplain.
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And exactly that is planned for this section of the Unstrut.
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First, the dikes are to be moved closer to the towns, then the floodplain restored.
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But just when that might happen is the big unknown.
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The main law governing the protection of Germany's water bodies is the European Water Framework Directive.
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It came into effect in 2000.
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Its core objective is to upgrade the ecological and chemical quality of Europe's water bodies to good by 2015.
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Allowing more space for rivers to meander is considered the most important measure, but the deadline wasn't reached, so it was postponed to 2021.
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Now 2027 is the official target.
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But that deadline isn't realistic either.
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So there are already extensions until 2033 and exemptions through to 2045 and beyond.
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In early June 2026, a group of volunteers in the German state of Thuringia were asked to study the Bibabach River.
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The NGO Environmental Action Germany wanted to know what aquatic insects and small creatures they would find in the water.
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The participants were basically assessing and documenting the health of the river's ecosystem.
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For 30 years, Environmental Action Germany has made the health of streams and rivers a key focus of its work.
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Project manager Sabrina Schulz is concerned about the delay in implementing the European Water Framework Directive.
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In Germany, 9 % of our water bodies meet the criteria for good ecological condition
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that all water bodies should have achieved long ago.
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To be fair, I think that when the Water Framework Directive was adopted, the extent to which the changes to our rivers had seriously impacted them was underestimated.
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It's not so easy to correct.
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But we're at 9%.
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If I submitted a tax return that was just 9 % complete, we all know what would happen.
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What we lack most urgently is land, land and more land.
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And that has to do with priorities.
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We've set aside land for wind energy and enshrined targets in law.
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We use two and a half times as much land for traffic infrastructure as we would need for the rivers.
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Every time there's a flood, we're promised more space will be given to rivers.
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But it's just not happening.
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At the end of March 2026, rain returned to the Thuringian Basin after a long period of drought.
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The Unstrott River had been low for weeks.
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Matthias Wiegand's farm includes fields right near the river.
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Until now, they were guaranteed a good harvest.
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Fields that are near rivers or bodies of water we call deep land.
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That's because there's always a relatively good supply of water there.
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Even during dry spells, there's plenty of water stored in the soil.
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Of course, that decreases over the course of the year.
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At the end of the day, if we have a dry summer, everywhere is dry no matter how far or near it is from the Unstut.
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The Thuringian basin has always been dry, but now the area is experiencing additional droughts in summer.
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Floodplain ecologists advise giving up the better watered land near the river to allow the waterway to expand.
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Not an idea that appeals to Matthias Wiegand.
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He has his own strategy.
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By building up hummus in the soil, we can increase the availability of water in the ground and its ability to hold water.
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The soil here is very good, with good cohesion.
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It can store a lot of water in winter.
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When we have wet winters, we can store a lot of water and through targeted farming methods make it available to the crops throughout the year.
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Of course, being near a river does make things much easier.
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I find it fascinating that you have crops that can enhance water storage capacity or the sponge effect.
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What are they exactly?
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Well, we can build up hummus by using organic fertilizer in a targeted way, so we can create more hummus in the soil.
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The water that comes during wet periods is then retained for longer in the soil.
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OK, so that means that if you have a decent development of hummus… If you have a decent hummus balance,
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then it doesn't just contain nutrients, it also has water -holding capacity which gives life to the soil.
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The nearby Straussfurt Reservoir stores water for the local community, including the farmers.
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Matthias Wiegand says that allows him to save his crops during very long, dry summers.
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He orders and pays for what he needs.
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Shortly before the interview, the state government presented a plan for the river Unstrott.
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First, flood defences on the river will be completely reorganized.
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and then the river re -naturalized.
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The plans will directly affect the farm.
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Of course, it wasn't easy to see just how much land is eventually supposed to be flooded.
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And everything that's supposed to happen, which dikes are to be removed or lowered, we don't know many of the specifics yet.
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The whole project is certainly interesting.
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But of course it's worrying, because you don't know what the land will look like afterwards.
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And how he'll be able to farm here.
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Could he graze cattle on floodplain meadows that are often inundated with water?
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In nature conservation, that's considered the gold standard.
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But on Wigan's purely arable farm, there's no room for livestock.
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Rivers in Germany currently occupy one percent of the total land area, not enough to allow them to expand and follow a more natural course.
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A study by the federal government's Environment Agency states, an additional 2 % will be needed to restore the country's rivers.
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Only then can Germany honor the commitment to protecting its waterways.
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2 % is around 7 ,000 square kilometers.
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There are no specific figures available on how much land each federal state would have to contribute.
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around 90 percent of the Unstrutz floodplain was taken away in the past.
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Matthias Scholz estimates it used to be a whopping one to four kilometers wide.
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Right now we might have about 100 meters of foreshore here, but that's actually the exception.
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In many cases there are only about 20 or 30 meters left on each side.
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The waterway we have here, in its near natural state, should actually be three to four times as wide, with varied shoreline edges, gravel and sandbanks,
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diverse features and aquatic plants.
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The Unstrud can no longer widen its own riverbed.
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Excavators will have to break up the solid banks to reconnect the river with the surrounding countryside.
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Matias Schultz is coordinating a European Union research project called Spongebost,
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where researchers from seven countries are studying how water can be retained in the landscape for longer periods.
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Our partners in Portugal are working to re -wet peatlands and bogs by removing drainage ditches.
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This means that the water is retained for longer, leading to bogs that are closer to their natural state.
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We installed measuring instruments throughout the area and found that even just shortly after the restoration work, water was retained after heavy rain for 20 hours longer.
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Allowing rivers more space and mitigating the effects of climate change sounds pretty general.
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By contrast, SpundBoost is collecting data, real -life experience and arguments for the debate over farmland.
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Because the water remains in the landscape longer, the soil -water balance in neighboring areas improves as well.
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This means soil moisture increases across the entire floodplain, making growing conditions better.
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So, we hope farmers will actually be able to achieve better yields.
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Surrendering land to relocate dikes and restore rivers is something farmers in the Thuringian basin are already dealing with.
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A section of the river Gera is currently being restructured.
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It flows into the Unstrud.
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Farmers believe it's the wrong approach.
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Agriculture produces food.
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That's the priority.
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And it requires the use of agricultural land.
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It's existential.
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These measures are resulting in a massive loss of farmland.
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Ultimately, we need to preserve as much farmland as possible.
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These are the best soils graded between 70 and 90.
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That's top grade, and we can't do without them, especially given climate change.
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These soils will always yield crops, even in dry years.
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They'll be the ones still providing an average crop, and that's important.
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That's why society should also want to preserve as much of this farmland as possible.
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Restoring the Unstrut was discussed as early as the 1990s bold visions were put forward for eco -friendly extensive farming.
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The ideas were fiercely opposed by farmers.
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In 2015, the German government included the Unschrutt in its national flood protection program.
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First the dikes were to be relocated, then the river given space to expand.
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Plans were discussed for 12 sections of the river, including which dikes were to be relocated, how many hectares of land would be submerged during floods,
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and where old river channels would be reconnected.
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Eleven years then passed before the state of Thuringia presented its own plan, and what's been made public is relatively vague.
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A lot of work has gone into the concept in terms of planning.
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As I have reiterated, we'll still need time for detailed planning through 2035 before construction can actually begin on the individual dams.
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There are an incredible number of local interests to take into account.
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I have to get the property owners on board.
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From a planning perspective, none of this is easy.
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Construction is expected to take until 2051.
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Renaturation will only come at the very end.
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25 years for a project deemed urgent.
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Conservationists are disappointed.
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Right now, a few interest groups are campaigning fiercely against the use of land for floodplains, rivers and other nature conservation projects.
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If you look at the general public and the available polls, such as environmental awareness surveys, the majority of people are in favor, in the range of 80 to 90 percent.
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After all, we all benefit from this.
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And it's important for future generations, too.
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A healthy river ecosystem offers many free benefits.
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The entire city of Leipzig depends on these benefits, for example.
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A quarter of the city's drinking water is sourced from the floodplain of a major river.
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It's vital for the population.
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In early June, the Mulde River was flowing at normal levels.
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At the Kanitz water treatment plant near Leipzig, The lab manager explains how filtrate from the riverbank is transformed into drinking water for 750 ,000 people.
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Basically, the water that flows along the river here naturally seeps into the landscape
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and eventually flows very slowly parallel to the river.
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And that's where our well systems are located.
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The water is extracted from these wells and then channeled via pipes to the water treatment plant.
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Before that, the filtrate mixes with groundwater in the soil.
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The Leipzig Water Works has sourced its drinking water from here for more than a century.
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The floodplain hasn't been restored.
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The company itself works to ensure the soil between the river and the treatment plant stays as uncontaminated as possible.
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We operate our own subsidiary that practices organic farming here in our water catchment area.
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Of course, it doesn't cover the entire catchment area we'd love to see more organic farming here,
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because that would prevent substances like pesticides or fertilizers from ever entering the water.
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Chemical pollution of the river itself must not increase.
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That's banned under European law.
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And yet there are more and more calls for exemptions, like for mining rare earths.
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Water utilities in the wider region work together to combat new sources of pollution.
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Strict controls are in place at the waterworks, both for water samples and equipment.
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The wells at the Connets treatment plant are up to 22 meters deep.
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This is one of 130 wells.
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The water is collected through a filtration system, then lifted by a suction pipe and pumped into the treatment plant.
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And what's the distance from the river?
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We're around 300 meters from the river Mulde.
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It takes around 50 days for the water to travel that short distance.
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A quarter of Leipzig's drinking water consists of treated riparian filtrate.
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In recent years, nationwide stress tests have shown that reservoir and groundwater levels are increasingly depleted.
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River water filtered by floodplains is growing in importance.
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In summer 2026, Germany was expected to pass an important bill to strengthen the status of natural habitats,
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preventing construction projects encroaching on protected floodplains, for example.
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The environment minister was upbeat.
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The bill to strengthen natural infrastructure is like protecting the crown jewels of nature in Germany.
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It involves defining what these are, then providing them with special protection, prioritizing them over other areas and highlighting their importance.
266
He wants to step up efforts to protect waterways.
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Given climate change, he says it's a matter of survival.
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But he gets the debate.
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If I propose abstract measures where the public doesn't yet feel that it's necessary or urgent, I often face resistance.
270
But I believe we now have a consensus on this issue.
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And I would say that I've succeeded in securing nearly 2 billion euros in additional funding for this.
272
More and more established environmental standards are being vehemently called into question.
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But Schneider says things are moving.
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I can feel and see that people in Germany value and protect their rivers.
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And that's a major asset I want to build on to further strengthen and expand the floodplain restoration programs.
276
For me, that's the absolute priority in this legislative term.
277
Of course, many waterways have been successfully restored.
278
The NGO Environmental Action Germany acknowledges that some things have been done right.
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In the state of Saxony, land readjustment procedures were specifically used to bring public land closer to the waterways.
280
In the state of Thuringia, water management associations were established under the 2019 Water Resources Act.
281
And the key difference from other federal states is that these associations are state -funded, rather than dependent on local municipalities.
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In the state of Saxony -Anhalt, flood protection plans for the River Saleh were given an additional conservation review.
283
and those with the greatest synergies with nature conservation then prioritized.
284
The river Rossel is a small tributary of the Elbe.
285
A restoration plan is in place to gradually improve its condition.
286
An oxbow lake that was previously cut off from the river has been reconnected, something Karl -Heinz Jöling is proud of.
287
The aquatic ecologist worked for the German state of Saxony -Anhalt for 44 years and is now retired.
288
He was responsible for implementing the European Water Framework Directive here.
289
He thinks there's a lot of potential for streamlining processes within government agencies.
290
If they had more room to maneuver, the courage to make decisions that don't necessarily align one -to -one with a particular law,
291
but where you're thinking in terms of the dynamics of the water, And where you see something good developing, to just take the plunge and say, here's your permit, get started.
292
Every restoration project presents its own challenges.
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The Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Leipzig conducted a study
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to find out where things tend to get stuck time and again.
295
One aspect, a key success factor, was that early collaboration within government agencies is very important.
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The water management sector needs to work together with nature conservation, soil management, agriculture and forestry.
297
This is absolutely crucial in addition to involving all the other stakeholders, such as landowners, farmers, the fishing industry and local residents.
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The first dike on the river Elbe was relocated in 2004
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and the floodplain expanded a successful project that yielded valuable insights for water management and researchers.
300
We gained 140 hectares of new retention area, land that can be directly submerged when the river is very swollen.
301
The city of Dessal -Hoslau also gained improved flood defenses thanks to a modern dike.
302
The farmland has now been converted into a grassland floodplain, and the floodplain forest has been reforested.
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Meanwhile, nature conservation has suffered another setback in Germany.
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Parliament passed a major infrastructure act.
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To benefit construction projects, it overrides environmental standards that took decades to achieve.
306
The environment minister, meanwhile, couldn't even get his bill to strengthen natural infrastructure through the cabinet.
307
The whole thing was postponed.
308
Protecting nature's crown jewels, including river floodplains, will have to wait.
309
I'm sorry.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 309 sentences and 3981 words to shadow. The speech runs for 29:07. The speaker talks at a steady 137 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 79% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
- soil /sɔɪl/ (noun) — A mixture of mineral particles and organic material, used to support plant growth.
- flood /flʌd/ (noun) — An overflow of a large amount of water (usually disastrous) from a lake or other body of water due to excessive rainfall or other input of water.
- landscape /ˈlan(d)skeɪp/ (noun) — A portion of land or territory as defined by its landform, its geographical (and architectural) features.
- conservation /ˌkɑnsə(ɹ)ˈveɪʃən/ (noun) — The act of preserving, guarding, or protecting; the keeping (of a thing) in a safe or entire state; preservation.
- farmer /ˈfɑɹ.mɚ/ (noun) — A person who works the land and/or who keeps livestock; anyone engaged in agriculture on a farm.
- restore /ɹɪˈstoɹ/ (verb) — To reestablish, or bring back into existence.
- retain /ɹəˈteɪn/ (verb) — Often followed by from: to hold back (someone or something); to check, to prevent, to restrain, to stop.
- expand /ɪkˈspænd/ (verb) — To change (something) from a smaller form or size to a larger one; to spread out or lay open.
- intervention /ɪntɚˈvɛnʃən/ (noun) — The action of intervening; interfering in some course of events.
- crop /kɹɑp/ (noun) — A plant, grown for it, or its fruits or seeds, to be harvested as food, livestock fodder, or fuel or for any other economic purpose.
- infrastructure /ˈɪnfɹəˌstɹʌkt͡ʃə/ (noun) — An underlying base or foundation for a building, organization, or system.
- restoration /ɹɛstəˈɹeɪʃən/ (noun) — The process of bringing an object back to its original state; the process of restoring something.
- meter /ˈmitəɹ/ (noun) — A device that measures things.
- strengthen /ˈstɹɛŋ(k)θən/ (verb) — To make strong or stronger; to add strength to; to increase the strength of; to fortify.
- priority /pɹaɪˈɒɹɪti/ (noun) — An item's relative importance.
Phrasal verbs you will hear
- build up (verb) — To erect; to construct.
- go into (verb) — To get involved in; to investigate or explore.
- back into (verb) — To advance to the post-season as a result of another team's loss, especially where one's own team has also lost.
- break up (verb) — To break or separate into pieces.
- call for (verb) — To shout out in order to summon (a person).
- come at (verb) — To get to, especially with effort or difficulty.
- come into (verb) — To obtain (usually money or property), especially through inheritance.
- come on /ˌkʌm ˈɒn/ — Come along with me; join me in going.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 33 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, doesn't, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: strengthen /ˈstɹɛŋ(k)θən/, thrive /θɹajv/, gather /ˈɡæðɚ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: conservation /ˌkɑnsə(ɹ)ˈveɪʃən/, intervention /ɪntɚˈvɛnʃən/, restoration /ɹɛstəˈɹeɪʃən/, shortly /ˈʃɔɹtli/, pollution /pəˈluʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: conservation /ˌkɑnsə(ɹ)ˈveɪʃən/, intervention /ɪntɚˈvɛnʃən/, infrastructure /ˈɪnfɹəˌstɹʌkt͡ʃə/, restoration /ɹɛstəˈɹeɪʃən/, priority /pɹaɪˈɒɹɪti/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like soil, flood, landscape.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have become · have had · has become |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | were left · was still not filled · be overtaken |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.