Cofunded by the European Union

Maturity Level : 
A.4. Individual Rls and Obs (regional or single-site) with established networking links
Institution/Coordinating Institution : 
University of Innsbruck, Institute of Ecology
Other partners : 
LTER-Austria network partners
Country : 
Austria
Current Status : 
Active
Location : 
Schottenfeldgasse 29, 1070 Wien, Austria
RI Type : 
Distributed RI (Central Hub and interlinked National Nodes RI)
Level of Access : 
Other
(Austrian RI database)
Cost of Access : 
Other
(Please contact the responsible person.)
Water4All Keywords : 
Ecosystem services - Ecohydrology - Climate changes - Resilience and sustainability
Domains and thematic area : 
Ecosystems - Sustainable Water Management
Services provided : 
Access monitoring sites - Access data and metadata - Knowledge transfer
Equipment : 
Observation networks and tools - Environmental analysis infrastructures - Cloud/Data Storage
Type of variables provided : 
Hydrological variables - Water quality variables - Biological and ecological variables - Meteorological and climatic variables - Geochemical variables
Frequency of Measurements : 
Continuous Monitoring (Real-time, 10-min. period, hourly, every few hours, daily etc.) - Periodic Sampling (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.)
Sustainability of funding : 
Yes
Type of funding : 
National
Governance Description : 
National organizational umbrella guidelines of LTER Austria
Fair Principles : 
Off
Source : 
Website
Links with other entries : 
LTER-Austria

Lake Piburger See is situated in the Oetz Valley in the Eastern Alps at 913 m asl. Its mainly forested catchment area is 1.7 km2 in size and spans up to 2400 m asl. The lake is a protected site since 1929 and part of a Natural Reserve since 1983. During the 1960s, Piburger See suffered from eutrophication due to increasing recreational activities and fertilizer application on nearby fields. In 1970, lake restoration started with exporting anoxic and nutrient rich hypolimnetic waters by a deep-water siphoning tube (Olszewski tube) and a reduction of external nutrient loading (fertilizers on nearby fields, domestic sewage from a public bath). Consequently, the oxygen regime of the lake improved. However, hypolimnetic oxygen saturation became worse again during the 1980s, probably due to a progressively reduced discharge of the Olszewski tube. The response of phytoplankton to lake restoration was delayed by approximately two decades. The restoration of Piburger See has been accompanied by a monitoring program and by a series of master and PhD theses, addressing topics like hydrology, water chemistry, sediment, phytoplankton, zooplankton, zoobenthos, fish ecology, microbial food webs. Funding comes from the Austrian Science Foundation FWF, the European Commission and the Community of Oetz. 3 long-term data records (2003-2014) are available on Pangea: Meteorological records: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.872095, Water temperature profiles: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.872154, Gauge data: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.872094

Part A: Research Infrastructures / Observatories

Other RI

See all RIs

The Water4All Partnership - Water Security for the Planet - is a funding programme for scientific research in freshwater. It aims to tackle water challenges to face climate change, help to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and boost the EU’s competitiveness and growth.

It is co-funded by the European Union within the frame of the Horizon Europe programme (a key funding programme for research and innovation). The Partnership duration is for seven years from 2022.

The Water4All objective is to enable water security at a large scale and in the long term. Its goal is also to tackle water issues in a holistic frame. 

All forms of life on earth need water. All human activities operate with this resource. Water is part of our everyday life. It is also integrated within urban and countryside landscapes. It is one of the most valuable elements we share with plants and animals.

These simple facts must be kept in mind to understand the Water4All ambition.

This resource is weakened in many places due to climate changes, and human habits. We know that we can improve the way we use water. Everyone has a role to play and especially the scientific research community.

Scientific research is the heart of the Partnership as It is a powerful tool to improve knowledge on preserving, restoring, and managing this essential resource. 

International cooperation is also needed as water has no borders on Earth and runs from one country to another.

Water4All brings together a broad and cohesive group of 90 partners from 33 countries in the European Union and beyond. This consortium gathers partners from the whole water Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) chain.