Kärnten considers multipurpose reservoirs for drought-hit farms

Carinthia is considering reservoirs that could supply water for farming while also generating electricity as drought and water shortages put increasing pressure on farmers, ORF reported on Friday.

Christoph Markus Aste, an expert in small hydropower plants, said reservoirs like the one serving the small Weißbriach ski area could serve several purposes. A 50,000-cubic-metre reservoir could collect water for agricultural irrigation while using the difference in elevation to generate power.

“In the Lavant Valley, for example, there are suitable slopes. We could position the reservoir somewhat higher and irrigate intensive fruit-growing areas and other vegetable crops,” Aste said.

Reservoirs could store water for summer

Such a facility would cost between three million and five million euros. It could collect water during snowmelt or heavy rainfall and release it when needed. The reservoirs could also be used as recreational areas and sources of water for firefighting.

Aste said a pilot project would be important to establish how the system works in practice. He estimated that Carinthia might need 50 to 70 such storage units, similar to the reservoirs used for snowmaking in winter.

Low water levels hinder construction

Reservoirs intended solely for agricultural water storage already exist in Lower Austria, but not yet in mountainous Carinthia. Building one requires approval from district authorities and the state, which must assess its impact on the water cycle, including the removal of water from streams.

“These withdrawals require approval, and a minimum flow for the stream is prescribed in any case. We now have barely more than that minimum flow in many places. That means reservoirs could currently be filled only with great difficulty, or not at all. We would have to do this when water levels are higher, and we do not have that at the moment,” said Elisabeth Gutschi of the state’s hydrography department.

According to Gutschi, the region has been in an exceptional situation since July 2025.

Carinthia’s agriculture authorities issued a guide five years ago on what must be considered when building such reservoirs. However, practical implementation of decentralised storage systems remains some way off. Siegfried Huber, president of the Chamber of Agriculture, said irrigation would become more difficult in grassland farming and that solutions would be needed for maize.

At present, only 50 hectares of the 10,000 hectares planted with maize are irrigated by a single farm, Huber said. Using the snowmaking reservoir in Weißbriach for agriculture would be possible, but that purpose was not considered when it was built several years ago.