!!!Flüsse

Rivers: The river system in Austria is dominated by the four main 
rivers, the  Danube, River (Donau), Inn, River, Salzach and 
Drau/Drava; 96 % of the entire Austrian territory is drained into the 
Danube. The only exceptions are Vorarlberg (drained for the most part 
into the Rhine), border areas in northwestern Lower Austria and 
northern Upper Austria (drained by the Lainsitz and other Vltava 
tributaries into the North Sea). Most of Austria's rivers are mountain 
rivers so that water quantity depends on the melting snows in the 
glacier regions. Many rivers have been dammed up to form lakes, which 
naturally regulates the outflow and debris. Forest lands also regulate 
the outflow and minimise the danger of floods. In general the lowest 
water levels are in winter (in flatter regions also in late summer), 
the highest after the spring thaw (for rivers in the high mountains in 
the summer) ( Flood). River navigation is limited almost completely to 
the Danube. Traffic on other rivers played a significant role before 
other methods of transportation (primarily the railway system) were 
developed. As the gradient is relatively high in many areas, Austria's 
rivers offer favourable conditions for building hydroelectric plants. 
30 % of the hydraulic energy produced in Austria originates from 
storage power plants and 70 % from river power stations. 
Hydroelectric power meets around 70 % of Austria's electricity demand. 
In the 1980s and at the beginning of the 1990s the water quality of 
"extremely polluted" portions of Austria's rivers was improved; 
however, water quality still represents a serious problem in Austria. 
The most common causes of pollution are primarily waste water 
(discharges) from industries and households and "natural" discharges. 
The branches of industry which are responsible for most of the 
pollution of Austria's rivers are the chemical, sugar and food, pulps 
and paper industries, as well as the metal industry. The efficiency of 
municipal and private water treatment plants plays a decisive role, as 
does the percentage of waste water sources which have been connected 
with efficient treatment plants. Generally the rivers in Lower 
Austria, Vienna, Burgenland and in eastern Styria are more heavily 
polluted than in the other provinces. Examples of rivers with the 
poorest water quality standards II- III, III, and III- IV are the 
rivers Thaya, Kamp, Krems (Lower Austria), Pulkau, March/Morava, 
Traisen, Schwechat, Leitha and Danube (east of Vienna) as well as the 
Mur/Mura, Salzach and Inn (after flowing through the provincials 
capitals). With the exception of eastern Austria, the rivers with the 
best water quality standards, the categories I and I- II, are mainly 
smaller and medium-sized flowing bodies of water, and the upper 
reaches of larger rivers such as the Salzach, Mur, Drau, Gail and 
Gurk.

!Literature
W. Katzmann and H. Schrom (eds.), Umweltreport 
Oesterreich, 21991; Oesterreichische Raumordnungskonferenz (ed.), 
OeROK-Atlas zur raeumlichen Entwicklung Oesterreichs, 1988; Federal 
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (ed.), Gewaesserschutzbericht 
1993.

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''River''</TD>


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