To mark the completion of the "Mitte-West" section, VERBUND hosted a ground-breaking ceremony with Provincial Councillor Stephan Pernkopf, Zwentendorf Mayor Hermann Kühtreiber, Plant Group Manager Heinz Allmer and Managing Director Michael Amerer from VERBUND Hydro Power GmbH as well as Provincial Fisheries Minister Karl Gravogel. Their common goal for 2020: a curved bypass channel should restore the Traisen to its original appearance and make it easier for fish to pass.
"It's been 15 years since my colleagues and I came up with the idea of renaturalizing the Traisen as part of a WWF project - but with a project of this size, the high costs and infrastructure are difficult to manage alone," explains BOKU Professor Mathias Jungwirth at the launch event, thanking the supporters. Planning has been underway for ten years and the project was successfully submitted to the EU in 2008. With the support of VERBUND, money from the EU Life+ Fund, the Niederösterreichischen Fischereiverband, Landschaftsfonds Niederösterreich, via donau, BMLFUW and the Bundeswasserbauverwaltung NÖ, the project was given the long-awaited go-ahead in 2009.
The straight riverbed has so far offered hardly any resting areas for aquatic life. But even current-loving fish species need their breaks. In future, fish will once again find protection from rapids in the shade of special trees. The trees have been relocated and anchored with steel cables to promote the development of young fish in particular and help to revitalize the watercourse. In addition to fish ecology measures, the project also included the planning of new cycle paths. The former Danube cycle path now runs undisturbed through Lower Austria's first cycle tunnel.
