The LIFE Network Danube Plus project

VERBUND and its partners are improving the quality of the waterbodies along the Danube between the power plants at Altenwörth and Greifenstein with the LIFE Network Danube Plus project.

Altenwörth fish bypass

Map of project area: river Danube in the middel, above the fish bypass — Lower Austria's longest fish bypass just short of 12.5 km. It is the core piece of the LIFE Network Danube Plus project.

Details from the Altenwörth bypass flow

A 2 km long new bypass was created between the reservoir of the power plant and the Krems chute.

Krems Camp Bypass

A 2 km long new bypass was created between the reservoir of the power plant and the Krems chute.
On an 8 km-long stretch of the Krems and Kamp rivers, the so-called "Kamp-Krems channel", weirs were removed and the riverbed was widened and furnished with gravel and sand banks and wooden structures.

Semi-natural Krems-Kamp channel

On an 8 km-long stretch of the Krems and Kamp rivers, the so-called "Kamp-Krems channel", weirs were removed and the riverbed was widened and furnished with gravel and sand banks and wooden structures.
Downstream towards the mouth of the Danube, a 3 km-long, semi-natural section of the river was completely rebuilt.

Estuary of the fish bypass

Downstream towards the mouth of the Danube, a 3 km-long, semi-natural section of the river was completely rebuilt.

Fish-friendly measures at the Greifenstein power plant

During construction of the Greifenstein power plant, the neighbouring part of the wetland was kept from drying out by a river with artificial dams. This "Gießgang" together with the wetland is today a protected area with a wealth of typical animal and plant species. As the dam structures are not completely passable for fish, Verbund provided four ramps with fish bypasses. These four systems now constitute an improvement for fish migrating between the Danube and “Giessgang”. The fish bypasses connect the Danube with the northern tributaries Göllersbach and Schmida.

Improvement for the oxbow lake

In the artificially constructed Danube oxbow lake, VERBUND improved the ecology of the riparian zone and also created zones for leisure use. These include deadwood structures, sand banks and pebble shores. Flat shore zones and artificially introduced tree trunks improve spawning conditions. The so-called constructed wetland brings about natural purification of the backwater lake.