15 million euros for safe flood protection in Austria!

15 million euros for safe flood protection in Austria!

After the devastating flood events from last September, which have severely affected numerous regions in Austria, the government is now providing massive financial support. A total of 15 million euros will be made available for the restoration and expansion of the water infrastructure, as announced by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Regions and Water Management (BML). Minister Norbert Tettschnig emphasized that these funds are used in the fields that suffered particularly from the extreme weather events in order to renovate the systems for drinking water and waste water. According to ots.at , support is triggered by a total investment of 34 million euros, which includes 74 projects throughout Austria.

But that's not all! In a further decision during the Water Management Commission meeting, additional funding of 144 million euros was approved to support a total of 1,185 projects in the field of water infrastructure. These measures not only aim at direct flood provision, but also to adapt to the challenges of climate change. The importance of investments in municipal drinking water supply and waste water disposal, which are particularly priority when adapting to climatic changes, was particularly emphasized. As info.bml.gv.at , this funding program specifically supports 599 projects, which will lead to total investments of around 222 million euros.

protection against natural dangers

The need to improve the water infrastructure is underlined by the recent heavy rain events, which caused devastating floods in large parts of Eastern Austria. Complete explained that over 62 million euros for preventive flood protection and for maintenance of existing systems will be provided in order to effectively reduce the flood risk in the future. One of the central projects is located in Vienna on Liesingbach, where an ecological redesign of the water banks is carried out in order to increase the retention ability and to improve security against floods.