Soil assessment — Water retention capacity (FCs), rated nationwide

The soil function “component of the water balance” is a partial function of the natural soil function “component of the natural balance, in particular with its water and nutrient cycles” (BBodSchG, § 2, paragraph 2, point 1.b). An assessment criterion for this is the general water balance with the characteristic “field capacity”, which indicates the amount of water that can be retained in the soil against gravity. The higher the water retention capacity or the field capacity, the more and longer the water is removed from the circulation atmosphere — soil — water and is available for soil-related processes such as supplying plants with water and nutrients or decomposition of organic matter. The concrete values for water retention or field capacity are classified in five stages from very low to very high. The higher the water retention capacity, the higher the fulfillment of the soil function “component of the water balance”. An overview according to (country-wide) uniform classifications, which are not naturally differentiated, is often an appropriate technical basis, especially in the case of larger-scale or transboundary plans. In order to reach as many users as possible and to cover different purposes, the LLUR provides the mapwork in five different scale levels: 1: 2,000 for concrete land management or construction on site or for high-resolution planning; 1: 25,000 for planning at municipal level, 1: 100,000 for planning in larger regions, 1: 250,000 for nationally differentiated planning, 1: 1000,000 for nationwide to nationwide planning.