diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index f7a0689a20295826c75a611fde3ed146fec1d9b9..19ac5373fad8b3ea1cbd24e02211c86b2f78c45d 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -324,6 +324,7 @@ endif(UG_FOUND)
 
 # deal with ALUGrid
 if(ALUGrid_FOUND)
+  add_definitions(-DENABLE_ALUGRID=1)
   set(DumuxIncludeDirectories ${DumuxIncludeDirectories} ${ALUGrid_INCLUDE_DIRS})
   set(DumuxLinkLibraries ${DumuxLinkLibraries} ${ALUGrid_LIBRARIES})
 endif(ALUGrid_FOUND)