As the infrastructure preservation body, via donau is responsible for the upkeep of the Danube waterway, the maintenance and protection of the riverbanks and embankment structures as well as flood protection. The regions for which via donau is responsible include the Danube, March and Thaya rivers.
Waterway management comprises the execution of the specific tasks relating to waterways on behalf of the federal government, with strategic planning, monitoring and control remaining within the scope of responsibility of the Austrian Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology. The detailed scope of responsibility of via donau is defined in the Waterways Act and includes the following areas:
- Regulation, maintenance and enlargement of waters
- Flood protection
- Protection of waters, monitoring the status of waters
- Landscaping of riverbanks, improvement of the habitat for animal and plant life
- Footpaths along the riverbanks
- Federal ports and jetties
- Hydrology, hydrography, measurement
- Executes the sovereign tasks of Donauhochwasserschutzkonkurrenz
- Ensures compliance with international commitments on Austria’s waterways (e.g. TEN Trans-European Network and Transboundary Water Commission)
- Management of waters and plots of land in public ownership
- Management of movable and immovable assets of the federal government
- Tasks according to the Hydraulic Engineering Assistance Act
There are a number of different teams and groups in the company responsible for these tasks:
- Planning, assignment and monitoring of water engineering works for waterway maintenance and ecological riverbank landscaping is done by the teams of Water Engineering Management and Ecology
- The Strategic Planning Team takes care of the River Engineering Project for the elimination of bottlenecks along the Danube waterway in accordance with the international agreement
- Maintenance of waterway sections by via donau’s branches
- Collection and evaluation of basic hydrologic data required by the Hydrology and Hydrography teams
- Administration of real properties
- Management of the Donauhochwasserschutzkonkurrenz (DHK)
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