Carinthia plans water register to improve shortage planning
Sunday 11th October 2026 on 12:30 in
Austria
Carinthia plans to introduce a central register of water withdrawals to improve long-term planning for drinking-water supplies, ORF reports. The move follows a summer with 55 heat days and the driest 12-month period in the region since 1850. Private households will generally not have to report their water use.
Eight municipalities introduced water-saving measures this summer, including bans on filling pools and watering gardens. There have been no acute supply shortages, but groundwater levels remain very low.
Rainfall patterns are also changing, according to the state’s water balance. Longer dry spells are more often interrupted by short periods of heavy rain. Carinthia received about 20 percent less rain than the long-term average in 2025, while higher temperatures are increasing evaporation.
The water supply is not currently at risk. In Villach, about 80 percent of drinking water comes to the surface through the Union and Thomas springs, which have a flow rate of 400 litres per second. But heat spells are putting pressure on groundwater levels. Meltwater from Carinthia’s glaciers is still making up for some of the missing rainfall, though that buffer is shrinking.
Andreas Mansberger of GeoSphere Austria said a warmer atmosphere can hold more water vapour, but evaporation also increases. Even when more rain falls, as it did in June this year, heatwaves can dry out the soil and leave little moisture behind.
The digital public Carinthian Water Register already provides estimates of who draws water from groundwater and local waterways, where they do so and for what purpose, said Gernot Koboltschnig of the Carinthian water management department. The new register is intended to record actual withdrawal volumes.
From July 2029, large groundwater users, including drinking-water suppliers, major industrial businesses and agricultural water cooperatives, will have to report their withdrawals. About 70 users are expected to be affected in the first stage. From 2032, around 800 more are due to be included, bringing about 80 percent of water withdrawals in Carinthia into the register.
Koboltschnig said the data would help officials plan measures for water shortages more accurately. He described the register as a planning tool, not a monitoring instrument. The draft regulation is still under review.