Federal government has to make Austria drought

On the occasion of tomorrow’s World Water Day, Greenpeace demands a quick package of measures from the new federal government to make Austria drought for the future. As a success, the environmental protection organization sees that some of its demands are in the government program. This includes a central registration register for more transparency about the water consumption of industry and agriculture as well as the further development of the toothless “drinking water security plan” of the Ministry of Agriculture for a national water strategy. Now the Federal Government has to quickly work out and implement a wide range of measures for water protection – for humans and nature.

Sebastian Theissing-Matei, water expert at Greenpeace: “One of the treacherous effects of the climate crisis is that the pendulum in both directions is increasingly more extreme. In the future, we have increasingly heavy rain and lifelong floods in the future, at the same time there is increasing drought and drought. We have to prepare for this better in Austria. Our country has to become a drought fit.”

The driest winter for almost three decades, the forest fire in the Rax area and the currently almost dried Nussian lake in the Salzkammergut have shown impressively in recent weeks that Austria is also not immune to dryness and drought. An analysis by Greenpeace (https://act.gp/Trockenheitsgemeinden) had already shown last summer that 470 municipalities in Austria have a particularly high risk of water shortages in 25 years. The majority of the communities with a particularly high risk is in Lower Austria, northern Burgenland and the southeast of Styria. But even in the water -rich alpine room, great drought can occur, for example if, as this year, a large part of the water is missing from the snow melt due to the lack of snow.

The production of our food is naturally particularly susceptible to Dürren, because nothing can grow on our fields and meadows without water. Austrian agriculture is already heavily affected by Dürren. According to hail insurance, the damage due to drought has been 150 million (2024) and 170 million euros in the past two years. “The federal government has to do drought. This is the only way to keep our life-giving water treasure for everyone. Both for us humans and for our irreplaceable nature”Theissing-Matei appeals to the new federal government on the occasion of World Water Day.

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