If you want to carry out so-called earth excavations, you must notify the competent authority. Earth excavations are drillings or other earthworks that reach so deep into the ground that they can influence the movements or the nature of the groundwater.

Notification is required for the following projects:

• Old mine exploration or cavity exploration.
• Investigation of contaminated sites (except groundwater measuring points)
• Well
• Geochemical investigation
• Geophysical investigation
• Geothermal exploration (other)
• Groundwater measuring point (except wells)
• Engineering geological investigation or subsoil investigation
• Mapping (except basic drilling)
• Raw material exploration drilling
• Other exploration purposes
• Geothermal utilization with groundwater heat pumps

Each borehole provides data for the evaluation of the subsurface at the respective location. The notification enables the responsible authorities to get an on-site impression of the drilling project and the produced drilling material. The authorities can take supplementary measurements and ensure the quality of the drilling results. This prevents costly wrong decisions in underground spatial planning.