Water law

Austrian-German dispute over flooding

In Hörbranz, flood protection measures were implemented that not everyone agreed with.(Bild: Gemeinde Hörbranz)

German residents submit an application to the district authority of Bregenz (Vorarlberg) to excavate the Leiblach - due to the damage caused by the floods in May. 

It is a legal dispute that has been going on for years, but now there is another chapter to it. The trigger for the new developments is the flood that formed in the Leiblach (border river between Germany and Vorarlberg) at the end of May. At that time, several properties were flooded, including on German territory. Some German residents are at least partly responsible for the flood protection measures that the Vorarlberg authorities have initiated in recent years.

According to lawyer Ludwig Weh, who is representing the aggrieved residents, these are said to be conversions on the Hörbranz side that were carried out without consultation with those responsible on the other side of the Leiblach. As a result, Weh explained in a press release, even more water had reached the Sigmarszell side, which had exacerbated the flood situation there.

Leiblach is to be dredged
Back in 2015, the three German residents tried to take legal action against the Vorarlberg authorities' construction measures on the Leiblach - but were unsuccessful. Even back then, they feared that the alterations would cause the bed of the Leiblach to rise by several meters and thus promote flooding. The Bregenz district authority is now demanding that the bed of the stream be excavated and that the alterations be reversed.