The controversial flood polders for flood protection along the Danube are to come. The Bavarian cabinet decided on Tuesday to implement a corresponding proposal by Environment Minister Thorsten Glauber (Free Voters).
Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) said: “We don’t want to lose any time.” Glauber had relied on a study by the State Office for the Environment (LfU), especially at the controversial locations of Eltheim and Wörthhof in the Regensburg district and Bertoldsheim (Neuburg-Schrobenhausen district). Accordingly, the polders are without an alternative when it comes to flood protection.
The polders make a decisive contribution to protecting areas downstream of the Danube even during extreme floods. All Söder said now was that the two polder of Wörthhof and Bertoldsheim should be the last to come.
Criticism from conservationists and farmers
Flood polders are retention basins that are flooded in the event of an impending flood and thus take considerable amounts of water out of the rivers. Overall, it is about a flood polders chain with – according to the presented study – the nine locations Leipheim, Helmeringen, Neugeschüttwörth, Bertoldsheim, Riedensheim, Großmehring, Katzau, Wörthhof-gross and Öberauer Runde.
The polder chain would protect around 120,000 people better in extreme floods. However, conservationists and farmers prefer decentralized, more natural solutions.