Water Management in Austria and Security of Water Supply

Abstract

Water Management in Austria is based on a real abundance of water in great parts of the country. Related to the water availability per capita, Austria is ranked in the upper range in Europe. However, the distribution of precipitation and thus the availability of the resource is not even. In the eastern and south-eastern regions of the country, temporal problems with regard to water quantity can occur in dry years. To remedy these problems, interregional water supply systems were installed. Comprehensive and substantial water policy activities guarantee the availability of water resources in terms of sufficient quality and quantity. In Austria, domestic water supply is exclusively based on groundwater resources which usually do not require a prior removal of pollutants. The ground water abstracted includes water in porous geological formations as well as spring water from karst massifs. Drinking water can be extracted nearly everywhere in sufficient quality and quantity. This fact is leading to the existing structure of water supply in Austria, which is characterized by only few large but a high number of small water supply facilities. Domestic water supply is largely in the hands of the public sector and carried out by the municipalities. Water supply must be considered at least regionally as a critical infrastructure. Potential threats for water supply can be various and include accidents, involving water-polluting shubstances which are transported on roads and railways contaminations of catchment areas from landfills or industrial facilities contaminations of catchment areas or parts of the water supply infrastructure as a result from natural hazards like floods destruction of pipelines and installations by floods or mudflows power blackout, failures or misuse of data transfers and telecontrol intentional attacks on water supply facilities with criminal or terroristic background contamination by unclear fallout caused by nuclear reactor accidents Of course, the mentioned potential threats show different probabilities of occurrence and different dimensions in the expected effects and impacts. Provisions by law only cover the precautions against possible conventional negative impacts on water quality and quantity. This is also reflected by the establishment of protected areas, which are aiming to prevent water from deterioration by such conventional threats. Drinking water protection zones in particular proved to be successful for the preservation of the quality of drinking water. With regard to exceptional threats, no legal precautionary provisions are in place. However, the guideline "Drinking Water Emergency Supply" was elaborated in the framework of the Austrian Association for Gas and Water (OVGW), enacted in the year 1988 and revised in the year 2006. This guideline covers the entire spectrum of potential exceptional threats with tailor made measures. The implementation of those measures is within the direct responsibility of the operator of the water supply facility. The guidelines proved to be successful in terms of water suppliers being prepared for worstcase scenarios. Planning was completed, the necessary equipment purchased and agreements with the emergency services concretised. In general, large water suppliers are usually prepared in a better way for exceptional scenarios compared to small facilities. This is caused by the larger financial potential and the availability of qualified human resources. Cooperation of water suppliers and sharing experiences can help to improve performance. Emergency organizations, in particular specialized units of the federal army, NGOs and firefighters are of high importance in this context. These organisations are able to offer substantial support to water suppliers in case of exceptional and extreme situations. Furthermore, the federal army and the Red Cross have experience in successfully supporting the installation of autonomously operating water supply units at international missions. Therefore, special knowledge and understanding wih regard to this sector was gained by these organisations. Based on that experience it was possible to provide Austria's population with drinking water meeting drinking water standards also in exceptional situations like the floods in the year 2002. Implementation of the measures, as listed in the "Drinking Water Emergency Directive", into practice has fully proven its efficiency in Austria. The emergency response in 2002 covered for instance the whole range of measures from the provision of packaged drinking water, the operating of mobile drinking water facilities up to the remediation of impacted installations in place. Last but not least one important aspect has to be addressed the permanent practical training and the periodical check and review of emergency operations at a larger scale. Especially the federal army and emergency organizations cover and deal with this issue. However, emergency exercises and co-operation with water supply enterprises take place very rerely on national but also on internaional level. There is the clear need to deal with the issue of emergency water supply within exercises and practical training at all levels and in all dimensions. One of the most important aims of training should be to raise awareness of water suppliers for emergency situations and to improve the co-operation of water supply operators with emergency organisations.