For the settlements established in the 11th and 12th century water was not only a vital element, but also threat. Therefore, Kalksburg, Rodaun, Liesing, Atzgersdorf, Erlaa, Inzersdorf, Rothneusiedel, Ober- and Unterlaa in the Liesing valley, were established in a respectful distance to the brook. The flood areas served as wet meadows and orchards.

Only in the course of the industrialisation in 19th century flood-endangered surfaces were extensively developed. Large industrial companies as for instance the textile industry, the food industry and the chemical industry settled along the Liesing. Since no sewer system existed, this resulted in an enormous pollution of the Liesing by industrial and house effluents and eventually in diseases and epidemics such as the cholera and the typhoid fever.

In the course of the 20th Century many things changed. Industrial companies gradually disappeared. At the same time investments were increasingly made into urban infrastructure projects such as wastewater treatment and flood protection. A sewer system and the purification plant Blumental were built and the Liesing regulated.

Finally, the city and settlements in the south of Vienna developed rapidly in the last three decades. New settlement areas were concentrated along the Liesing and along the major axes of public transport. Today the Liesing valley is a high-quality area housing about 150.000 inhabitants and grows more and more important as a local recreation area. (Source: MD 45)

Information & Contact:

Municipal Department 45 ? Water Engineering
Wilhelminenstrasse 93
A-1160 Vienna
Phone 4000-965 19
Fax 4000-72 90

Municipal Department 30 - Vienna Sewerage
Modecenterstrasse 14
A?1030 Vienna
Phone +43 1 79 514?93 043
Fax +43 1 79 514?79 30