WP 5 Analysis of present IWRM practices - Brahmatwinn

northern alpine slope, like happened in summer 2002 as much as $ 20 billion of damage were
caused, and more than 100 people were killed in Germany, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and
Russia. Especially in early summer the south flank tributaries from the Alps bring large amounts of
water due to the snowmelt into the Danube River Basin.
For example the city Salzburg in Austria is affected by floods many times. While walking through the
cities houses are characterized by historical flood marks. To mitigate the hazard of flooding and
destruction, the HQ 100 is calculated and respective river embankments and protection structures
were established for the case of a new event achieving the scale of a HQ100 and a 50 cm buffer.
Fig. 3: Flood protection structures in Salzburg
(WIESENEGGER, 2008).
A monitoring and early warning system for floods is leaded by the hydrological service in Austria.
The twenty large reservoirs with a total volume of more than 1 billion m 3 are next to energy
production, sediment control and for the securing of drinking water supply also needed for flood
protection.
Increasing impermeability through industry, housing and infrastructure in the basin is also likely to
increase the risks of flash floods.
To limit damage, impending floods are identified and announced by the Bavarian and the Baden-
Wuerttemberg Environment Agencies. Risk management, protection forecasting systems and public
information were driven e.g. by the Bavarian “Hochwassernachrichtendienst” or the Austrian
“Hydrographischer Dienst” (BAYERISCHES LANDESAMT FÜR WASSERWIRTSCHAFT 2004, ICPDR 2004). Flood
forecasts are constantly improved thanks to state-of-the-art technology and support from the
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