Lower Inn Valley flood protection plans completed

The Lower Inn Valley Flood Protection Association has completed detailed plans for a flood protection project designed to safeguard more than 1,000 buildings and about 260 hectares of building land. ORF reported that the plans also take account of regional infrastructure and the interests of affected landowners.

The project is intended to protect 806 homes, 224 businesses and 26 public buildings from a flood expected statistically once every 100 years. Controlled retention would reduce the effects of more than 12 million cubic metres of floodwater, using retention areas with a combined capacity of about eight million cubic metres. The association said the plans also give particular attention to groundwater.

The project is expected to improve the ecological condition of the Inn and its surrounding habitats. Detailed planning documents are now available for all technical structures, providing a basis for further approval steps, said Paul Koller, the association’s managing director.

The detailed plans have also allowed the association to assess effects on individual properties. A model agreement, developed with the legal department of the Tyrolean Chamber of Agriculture, is intended to set out landowners’ and the association’s rights and obligations, including necessary easements.

The plans aim to preserve agricultural use of affected land as far as possible. The association said crops or grazing should remain possible on gently sloped embankments, which have a gradient of one to 10. A compensation model developed by experts and confirmed by a court will be used to assess restrictions on use and reductions in land value. The state of Tyrol has also launched a solidarity fund to reimburse municipalities and water associations.

In the coming weeks, the association will hold consultation sessions where landowners can review documents relating to their properties and discuss questions with specialists. Association chairman Michael Riedhart said it wanted to find fair and transparent solutions with those affected.