In the past few weeks, the State Office for Torrent Control North has carried out bank maintenance on two tributaries of the Eisack in Brixen, thereby increasing flood safety.
The group of torrent workers with foreman Alex Messner carried out the regularly necessary bank maintenance in the Trametschbach and in the Thalhofergraben, reports project engineer and site manager Andreas Vettori from the State Office for Torrent and Avalanche Control North in the Agency for Civil Protection.
“River maintenance”, emphasizes Arnold Schuler, state councilor for civil protection, “makes a fundamentally important contribution to unhindered flood water drainage. Shrubs along the banks must be cut back or removed regularly so that they do not prevent drainage as driftwood. That is why bank maintenance is carried out regularly in all four torrent control zones.”
“In the Trametschbach (or Rutzengraben, as it’s officially called), the section near the Künette was cut free because the outflow diameter is very limited due to the obstruction and the flow area must therefore remain free so that there are no blockages,” emphasizes Site Manager Vettori.
At the right feeder road to the Thalhofergraben, it was also necessary to clear the Künette at the level of the children’s village and thus allow the flow to flow unhindered again. “The maintenance of the banks”, emphasizes Vettori, “must be carried out radically in the case of heavily built-up sections of the stream with restricted sections; no compromises can be made with a view to increasing flood safety”.
Photo(s): © 123RF.com and/or/with © Archive Die Neue Südtiroler Tageszeitung GmbH (if no reference is available)