On Thursday, September 13th, experts from viadonau, including their waterway department; Navigation Surveillance, Hainburg; National Park Donau-Auen; and the engineering company RIOCOM and Blattfish sat together to discuss the progress of the technical planning of the restoration actions targeting the Schwalbeninsel island complex in Austria. The meeting was hosted by the experts of viadonau, the Austrian waterway operator and LIFE WILDisland project partner responsible for the implementation of the restoration works and RIOCOM is the company, which was selected to prepare the technical plans for the up-coming construction works.
RIOCOM presented their very first results and conclusions on the expected impact of the hydrological regime following the provided revitalization measures of embankment removal and groyne adaptation. The LIFE WILDisland team was pleased to see that the groyne interventions suggested are expected to result in considerable improvements upstream the Schwalbeninsel complex with no major effect on the navigation channel. Several optimizations were discussed and the designers will now include the proposed measures, re-run the models and present the new results shortly. Once the impact is assessed and the technical plans and cost calculations are finished, the plans will be submitted to the relevant authorities for approval.
We remain optimistic that we will obtain the permits and be able to start with the construction works in the winter of 2024.
