(Bloomberg) -- Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Inc. has secured water supply for its factory outside Berlin at the expense of any further development in the area, according to the local water authority.
Water reserves for the region are being completely exhausted, Wasserverband Strausberg-Erkner, said in a statement Thursday following a meeting on the Tesla project. WSE said further commercial and industrial development plans aren’t possible without additional extraction permits due to the lack of groundwater extraction.
Concern about Tesla’s plant straining the area’s water supply is one of the main reasons the carmaker will start producing Model Y electric vehicles months later than Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk planned. The economy minister for the state of Brandenburg, where Tesla has constructed the facility, has said that while there was enough water for the first stage of the factory, more will be needed as Tesla expands.
Tesla secured approval for the project early this month and said it expected to obtain an operating license within a matter of weeks. The company has sent out invitations to a delivery day event at the factory on March 22.