Picture: Peter Wieser
The Danube barrage at Offingen: The BEW plan to rehabilitate the dams in an ecological way on a pilot line with a length of 500 meters. There will be no impact on the alluvial forest beyond the dam.
Pilot sites for dam restoration will be built at the barrages of Oberelchingen and Offingen until 2017. The Bavarian Elektrizitätswerke (BEW), a subsidiary of the Lechwerke AG and operator of the hydropower plants, plan an ecological dam rehabilitation. The measure will also improve flood protection. Instead of the concrete lining at the shores, ecological areas are created. The INADAR project – Innovative Approach for Dam Restoration has a total budget of around 1.4 million Euros. The measures in Oberelchingen and Offingen are funded by the European Union as part of its LIFE+ program with 655,000 Euros.
Ralf Klocke, head of the hydraulic engineering department of the BEW, presented the project at the meeting of the council of Offingen on Monday. Flood protection will be implemented directly in the water and not on the land side, where the riparian forests are growing, said Klocke. The eco-berms will be implemented on a length of about 500 meters, creating new habitats for flora and fauna. An impact on the alluvial forest can be avoided. Thus a nature like shore of the Danube is created and the river gets accessible again. The river Danube will continue to form its own riverbed in the storage space. “Not only for nature but also for the people”, as Klocke said. The goal is to create a nature like bank of the Danube with low and high water, Klocke answered the question of the local councilor Rüdiger Zischak (CSU) in relation to the existence of ecological structures after a flood. At the same time, he referred to the necessary provision of compensation areas in case of intervention in the riparian forest. The construction works should start in late summer 2016.Source: Augsburger-Allgemeine: New habitats on the barrage.
http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/guenzburg/Neue-Lebensraeume-an-der-Staustufe-id37176447.html