Water Body Maintenance Concept Kremsfluss – Pilot Project

According to the legal guideline „RIWA-T 2016“, until the end of the year 2027 maintenance and water-care measures will only be government-funded if there is a water-specific maintenance concept. It defines those measures that can be used to improve the ecological functioning of the water body by ensuring the flood protection at the same time. So far, there is no standard across Austria, of how such water maintenance concepts are to be created.

In cooperation with the Kremstal water board and the water engineering regional office of Waldviertel (WA3) we defined characteristic sections and specific care measures for the rivers Große Krems & Kleine Krems. These were adapted to the specific circumstances of the rivers and coordinated with the legal and ecological conditions. These care strategies should lead to a significant improvement of the ecological situation at the river Krems in the medium- and long-term.

In order to be able to apply the results of this pilot project in practice, a comprehensive map series was created, in which all the basic data, such as buildings, nature reserves, etc., are displayed. In combination with a detailed description of the care-measures in the particular map section (profiles), this instrument provides all essential basics to make future decisions.

The pilot project included the following aspects:

• Innovative design of a water maintenance concept applicable in practice
• Water-legal and ecological inventory
• Definition of care measures (catalogue of measures)
• Generation of characteristic sections of different care intensities (care sections)
• Development of a method for the estimation of the potential for ecological development
• Development of a map series with all essential basic information
• Detailed description of the care-measures in profiles
• Roughness Analysis – effect of care-measures on the extent of flood plains