The European Water Framework Directive forms the basis for the protection, restoration and sustainable use of water bodies. Oesterreichs Energie, the Austrian e-business association, has now published the improvement measures that the Austrian hydropower companies have already taken as part of the National Water Management Plan in the form of a digital map.
In addition to combating global warming, the issue of biodiversity is becoming increasingly important at the European level as the second major challenge of our time. In the area of hydropower, which is often associated with interventions in existing ecosystems, Austrian companies have already taken numerous measures to improve the water balance and the continuity of our waters and thus preserve the livelihood of the aquatic fauna and flora.
Map with 170 improvement measures
Oesterreichs Energie has now published an overview of the measures already taken to improve the ecological status of Austrian waters in the form of a digital, interactive map. This presentation currently includes around 170 projects to improve water ecology – from fish passage aids and residual water adjustments to renaturation and structuring measures. The map is continuously updated and thus shows the progress in the implementation of the program of measures for aquatic ecosystems. In total, hydropower producers have invested more than 300 million euros in water ecology in Austria when implementing these measures.
In this context, Karl Heinz Gruber, spokesman for the generation department at Oesterreichs Energie, emphasizes the importance of hydropower for domestic electricity supply: “Currently around 60 percent of our electricity comes from hydroelectric power plants. Due to the changes in the climate and the restructuring of the energy system, hydropower will continue to play a central role in our energy system in the coming years. In order to bring hydropower generation even better into harmony with water ecology in the future, we are involved in numerous research projects and are constantly implementing improvement measures. We are convinced that with an intelligent expansion of hydropower we can also make a positive contribution to the ecological condition of our local waters.”
You can find the water measures map online at https://oesterreichsenergie.at/wassermassnahmen
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