Drava - River Widening Obergottesfeld

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Drava - River Widening Obergottesfeld


Factsheet: Drava - River Widening Obergottesfeld

General
Country AT
River Name Drava
Site Name Drava - River Widening Obergottesfeld
River Characterisation
    River typology
    Location (Lat Lon) 46.8040105811317, 13.3593964576721
    Altitude mid-altitude: 200 - 800 m
    Catchment area very large: > 10000 km2
    Geology
    National code/
    River type name
    Hydromorphological quality elements

    Biological quality elements
    Ecosystem Services
    EU Directives
    Pressures
    Measures
    Other
    Project size 3 km
    Approximate costs > 1 000 000 Euros
    Synergy Flood protection, ecology, recreation
    Status Realised
    Period of realization 2006 - 2011
    Evaluation Hydromorphological and ecological changes
    Implemented by Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management


    General description

    The Drau river is the fourth longest tributary of the Donau with a length of 707 km. The source of the river is in the Italian municipality Toblach where it continues its flow through Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary. The mouth of the river in the Donau is near the city of Osijek.

    The Upper Drau in Austria is an European protected area with the largest grey alder riparian forests of Austria and over 140 species of birds, including 51 red-listed species. The LIFE project ‘Life vein – Upper Drau River’ was carried out to counteract the trend of too narrow channels that are vulnerable for erosion and flooding by widening the river. Location Obergottesfeld is one of the project areas where the river was widened.


    Pressures and Drivers

    The Upper Drau is the last free-flowing, not dammed stretch of the river Drau. Nevertheless, human activity has changed the river and its floodplains. When a rail road line was build through the valley in 1870, regulatory procedures were carried out in order to reduce the flood danger and to expand intensive agricultural lands and settlements. The embankments created a narrow channel which suffered from bed erosion. The river bed deepened and wetlands and agricultural lands went dry with the sinking groundwater level. The stability of bank protection structures also suffered from the erosion.

    Global objectives

    The project has 4 global objectives

    • Further stabilization of the Drau river bed through widening and strengthening of bed load influx from tributary brooks.
    • More pristine, dynamic shaped river habitats
    • Improved information and visitor management on site
    • International cooperation with the respective authorities of the Drau neighboring states

    Specific objectives

    No specific objectives could be found in the available project documents

    Success Criteria

    No success criteria could be found in the available project documents

    Site description

    Obergottesfeld before and after the construction of the measures

    Image: 500 pixels

    Measures selection

    At Obergottesfeld, a part of the floodplain was given back to the river. The agricultural land made way for a side channels, oxbow lakes and standing bodies of water. A tributary was also widened to give it more space during a flood event. This improved the water retention in that area, as the river was free to flood the wider floodplain. Hidden built-in breakwaters were constructed to protect the banks during floods.

    Monitoring

    Pre-restoration monitoring

    A pre-restoration monitoring scheme was carried out to assess the current state of the location. The monitoring focuses on:

    • Habitats and animals on the Habitat and Birds Directive
    • Fish (presence of species and number of individuals)
    • Carabid beetles and other macro-invertebrates (number of species)
    • Amphibians (number of individuals)
    • River morphology (soil depth and flow velocity)

    Post-restoration monitoring

    The same indicators were monitored during the post-monitoring program. Since it was combined with an earlier LIFE project, the monitoring for fish, macro-invertebrates, most of the river morphology was not done in Obergottesfeld since it was not yet finished. Only amphibians and the flow velocity were measured. No further monitoring results could be found for Obergottesfeld.

    Expectations and Response

    The exact response of the measures on Obergottesfeld are not known because the latest found monitoring report was from 2011, the same year the Obergottesfeld project was finished. It is known that the flow velocity in the main channel decreased because of the side channel and there was a high number of individuals of amphibians.

    Cooperation

    The project was carried out by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management in cooperation with the Carinthian State Government and Torrent and avalanche control, section Carinthia.

    The main stakeholders were the land owners of the agricultural lands bordering the Drau river.

    Communication

    The communication with stakeholders and the general public was diverse. The project was opened with a large ceremony with a large attendance from the general public and politicians. A total of 70 project team meetings, 13 action days and 25 excursions were carried out.

    Funding

    Approximate cost (total project): 4,600,000

    %EU Funding: 32.5 (1,500,000)

    %State: 58.5 (2,600,000) Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management

    %Regional authority: 4.5 (200,000) Carinthian State Government

    %other partners: 4.5 (200,000) Torrent and avalanche control

    Contact

    Name: Norbert Sereign

    Role: Project leader

    Organization Name:

    Organization Type:

    Phone-Number: + 43 14762 5301 62312

    Email: Norbert.Sereinig@ktn.gv.at


    References

    Unterlercher, M. and Petutschnig, W. (ed.) (2011) Lebensader Obere Drau: F2. Monitoring Synthesebericht, Amt der Kärntner Landesregierung

    Life vein – Upper Drau River (2011)


    Website

    http://www.life-drau.at/



    Related Measures

    Related Pressures