For more than a century, Vienna has put much effort into permanently protecting its “spring water”– for very valid reasons, as we now understand. This water is a valuable resource that needs to be sustainably managed and protected. Natural resource management plays a vital role in this respect.
Vienna currently owns some 320 square kilometres of woodland in the two wellhead protection areas, a surface that is almost as large as the city of Vienna itself. To protect and secure Vienna’s drinking water supply, there are plans to acquire even more land in the water protection areas in the future.
The forestry office staff have established a series of rules for a sustainable management of the protected forests. One rule in forest management is to completely renounce large-scale deforestation and to seek to replace traditional afforestation by the self-rejuvenation of the forest. Another rule is to ban the use of pesticides and artificial fertilisers in the protected areas. This conservative policy is also adopted with forest roads: they are only built in areas where they are absolutely necessary for forest cultivation. The burden of the transportation of trees is shifted off nature’s shoulders and on to horseback: supported by mobile cable cars and tow trucks, Haflinger horses drag the felled logs out of the forest. Forestry experts are aware that only a healthy forest can provide clean and fresh water with its impeccable taste. (Source: MD 49 – Forestry Office and Urban Agriculture)
Information & Contact:
Vienna Municipal Department 49 (Forestry Office and Urban Agriculture)
Volksgartenstrasse 3
A-1016 Vienna
Dipl. Ing. Andreas Schwab
Tel. +43 1 4000-97 922
