While Austria has done much in recent decades to enhance the water quality of its rivers and lakes, focus is now on improving the hydromorphological situation of the rivers in keeping with the EU Water Framework Directive. When the results of the draft of the First National Watercourse Management Plan/NGP (http://wisa.lebensministerium.at) were presented in late April, the apparent shortcomings made it clear that action was required. Currently, only one third of all Austrian watercourses have an excellent or good ecological status. 67 percent fail to achieve a good ecological status, with 49 percent of them demonstrating even less satisfactory quality. Mostly to blame for this trend is the extensive use of hydropower in Austria and the installation of flood control installations such as groynes and dykes, which have negatively impaired the water flow.
“This is where we need to focus our attention,” says Environment Minister Niki Berlakovich and names the EU Water Framework Directive as the key pointer in this context. The first interim target for achieving a good status is the year 2015. By the year 2027, all natural watercourses must have an excellent or good ecological status. Brooks and rivers which have been irreversibly modified by human influence must reach a “good ecological potential”.
What are the implications for Austria? The prime objective must be to improve the flow conditions and create ecological river structures. The federal government intends to support power plant operators and local authorities willing to complete such ecological river rehabilitation programmes with a total of 140 million euros.
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(Source: aqua press Int. 2/2009)
