The free flowing section of the Danube between Vienna (Freudenau power plant) and the Austrian-Slovakian border (river km 1921.00 – 1872.70) still has the character of a mountain river (high flow rates, frequently fluctuating water levels etc.).

It is characterised by an ongoing erosion of the riverbed at an average rate of 2.0 to 3.5 cm per year. This riverbed erosion seriously affects the ecological balance of the Danube Floodplain National Park.

In addition, inadequate and seasonally strongly fluctuating fairway depths in this section of the river substantially curtail the reliability and competitiveness of navigation over the course of the year.

For this reason, the Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology and via donau – Österreichische Wasserstraßen-Gesellschaft mbH have launched the “Integrated River Engineering Project on the Danube to the East of Vienna” to eliminate the ecological deficits and improve the fairway conditions in this section of the Danube.

Further information on the Integrated River Engineering Project and its pilot projects is provided on the project’s website “Integrated River Engineering Project on the to the East of Vienna”.