Advancing freshwater restoration

My Projects

Aqua Pinka – Interreg ATHU115 - Key project facts:

The Pinka is a watercourse along the Hungarian-Austrian border that crosses and defines the border multiple times. Its water resources are utilized by both Austria and Hungary; however, the framework for water use is not supported by studies based on sufficiently detailed data. In the case of the Pinka, water management is only feasible based on jointly agreed principles, both in terms of quantity and quality. For the Pinka, it is primarily necessary to define the quantitative and qualitative expectations for inflowing and outflowing water at the border sections, from Woppendorf to the confluence. To maintain the good ecological status of the Pinka, a low-flow water management concept needs to be developed. This would enable the planning and preparation of best practices for the operation of fish passes, bypass channels, backwater replenishment, and power plants.

An important objective of the joint strategic plan for the border section of the Pinka is to prepare a unified management plan, which will allow both Parties to manage water resources, water uses, ecological requirements, flood protection, and interventions according to a common methodology.

The main outcomes of the project include, on the one hand, the assessment of the current water resources of the Pinka and the impacts of interventions affecting these resources, as well as the exploration of the relationship between the Pinka and the valley’s groundwater, and the documentation of pollutant loads and physico-chemical conditions of the watercourse. On the other hand, the project will provide a foundation for regulatory measures supporting bilateral water resource management.

• What impact did these projects have on biodiversity, if any?
  The aim of the project is to provide guidance for increasingly frequent low-flow periods on how to ensure, in the future, the quantity of ecological water resources necessary to maintain good water quality. From the biodiversity pint of view, the project primarily focuses on fish.
• What work challenges did you face and what approach did you take to solve them?
  The greatest challenge was that the Pinka is a transboundary river. Water resource management must be carried out jointly, but until now, there were no coordinated measurement series or shared databases upon which such management could be based. 
  
  Some measures have already been successfully established based on the unified knowledge of the two countries — for example, hydromorphological status improvement measures. However, financing their implementation will pose a major challenge.
  
  There are also regulatory action proposals that will need to be approved by the bilateral transboundary water commissions. Differences exist between the two countries' regulations — for instance, in matters concerning ecological water reserves — which require significant professional harmonization efforts. These include tasks such as the management and review of fish passes, the revision and issuance of operational permits, the development of appropriate methodologies, and the monitoring of compliance with the conditions defined in operational permits. .
• What lessons learned are transferable to other places/projects?
  We collected all available knowledge (data) on the river. This allowed us to filter out the most important factors for the modelling and to identify the key issues. A competent expert team is needed together with the professional enthusiasm within the expert groups.