On Monday, October 16th, experts from viadonau, including their waterway department; Navigation Surveillance, Hainburg; National Park Donau-Auen; and the engineering company RIOCOM sat together to discuss the final aspects 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 the results of the recalculations done after the optimizations suggested at the previous meeting and the conclusions on the expected impact of the hydrological regime following the provided revitalization measures of embankment removal and groyne adaptation. We discussed the exact location and size of the groyne opening and the number of groynes that will be lowered and adapted. The LIFE WILDisland team was pleased to see that in the second version as well, the groyne interventions suggested are expected to result in considerable improvements upstream the Schwalbeninsel complex with no major effect on the navigation channel. In the meantime, the project team took part in several meetings with local mayors and stakeholders to inform them about our restoration intentions and future construction works.
The technical plans will now be finalized with the agreed parameters, so the plans can be submitted to the relevant authorities for approval. Soon, on-site sampling will also start in order to assess the quantity of stones that will be removed and precise the construction costs.
We remain optimistic that we will obtain the permits and be able to start with the construction works in the winter of 2024.
