Advances in Managing Austria’s Water Resources

Abstract

Austria has abundant natural water resources and belongs to three major river basins (namely the Danube, Elbe and Rhine). Ninety-nine percent of the Austrian population is supplied with spring and groundwater, whereas the share of treated surface water of 1% is very small compared to many other European countries. At present, 89% of the population is connected to public sewerage systems with corresponding wastewater treatment. Besides protecting lakes, rivers and streams, particular emphasis placed on the protection of groundwater which is used as important drinking water resource. Results show that most parameters related to drinking water quality are well below the specified limit values. In general, Austria applies the principle of country-wide groundwater protection. About 9% of the territory of Austria is subject to specific water supply protection regulations. The current status of the EU Water Framework Directive implementation in Austria includes the analysis and status assessment of the Austrian river basin districts which were rated and classified by the level of risk of failing to reach the required good status. The next activities will include the drawing up of the first national river basin management plans, adapting the water quality monitoring network and restoring those water bodies failing to meet the defined objectives.