diff --git a/dumux/material/components/h2o.hh b/dumux/material/components/h2o.hh
index 532b95c607dd5218132c34a18415f5eeb6bbca5b..5446da512cc4c33aa0f1ddab03e6b61498204fd9 100644
--- a/dumux/material/components/h2o.hh
+++ b/dumux/material/components/h2o.hh
@@ -185,7 +185,6 @@ public:
         if (pressure < pv) {
             // the pressure is too low, in this case we use the slope
             // of the enthalpy at the vapor pressure to regularize
-            Scalar tau = Region1::tau(temperature);
             Scalar dh_dp =
                 R*temperature*
                 Region1::tau(temperature)*