Important decisions were taken during the last project meeting on 26 to 28 March 2019 in Munich. For example on the sediment balance: Since DanubeSediment only wants to publish solid results, the partners agreed to exclude values for certain sections of the Danube if the sediment data was not available in sufficient quality.

The team also took important decisions on the project timeline, for example to collect all good practice measures within the next weeks in order to prepare a draft catalogue of measures and a draft Manual for the project meeting in Ljubljana. This will enable the project team to prepare the documents in time for the national stakeholder workshops that will take place before the summer holidays. In this context, a first overview of innovative measures to improve the sediment balance was presented.

In the frame of our project meeting, the DanubeSediment project partners also took part in an excursion to the Water Laboratory of the Technical University of Munich in Obernach. Nestled into the Bavarian Alps, the lab builds and tests different river models, focusing on innovative power plants - with and without sediment. For example, TUM developed and tested the so-called “shaft hydropower plant” in an indoor as well as in an outdoor life-size pilot model. Since 2018, the first shaft hydropower plant is being built nearby in the river Loisach, downstream of the water laboratory. It is set to begin running in the summer of 2019, producing 450 KW, which should power about 800 homes. The turbine is located in a vertical shaft that is protected by a grid. A large amount of water runs into the shaft, while a portion passes the grid, carrying fish and debris into the downstream area of the river. A rake moves bedload sediment that rests on the grid into the downstream area as well.

For more pictures of the meeting and the excursion, check out our photo gallery.

At the water laboratory in Obernach in alpine landscape (Photo: LfU)