Despite demonstration

Municipality sticks to strict swimming ban in lake

To prevent splashing around in the quarry lake, the municipality has taken tough action.

(Bild: Stefan Lirsch)

Association wants to hold a demonstration to obtain a legal visitor area in the Teufelstein-Fischerwiesen nature reserve. But their efforts will probably go unrewarded, as the municipality of Perchtoldsdorf is sticking to the existing bathing ban.

Just in time for the start of the bathing season, a long-standing debate has flared up again in Perchtoldsdorf in the district of Mödling. Specifically, it is about the opening of the quarry lake in the Teufelstein-Fischerwiesen nature reserve. "Krone" readers know: Because swimming is prohibited there, which has always been violated in the past, the municipality closed off the area last year and dredged the access to the lake.

The "SeeGemeinschaft" association then drew up a usage concept to regulate legal bathing under strict guidelines. However, the Perchtoldsdorf municipal council rejected it. "It will only deter visitors who are concerned about nature conservation," the initiative said angrily at the time.

Illegal bathers regularly left their mark on the nature reserve.

(Bild: zVg)

Out of anger against "keeping citizens away from their lake", the association organized a demonstration on the market square on 20 June. However, this protest is unlikely to be successful. According to Mayor Andrea Kö, the access ban remains in place in order to preserve the nature conservation status, for which a management plan has even been drawn up. "Three students and a security company are on duty to monitor compliance with the ban," says Kö.

Measures such as raising the water level have already had positive consequences for flora and fauna, for example for the brown cyper grass or amphibian larvae. Furthermore, an additional amphibian pool was created this year to improve the spawning situation. "By regenerating the banks and raising the water level, not only has the total area that can be used as an amphibian habitat been significantly increased, but the regenerating bank and shallow water vegetation has also significantly increased the diversity of structures and conditions in the lake," says the mayor.

Neighboring municipality also without aspirations
Incidentally, neighboring Kaltenleutgeben, on whose municipal territory the area is located (Perchtoldsdorf is the landowner), has also refrained from implementing a concept for legal bathing. "Other projects that are within our remit, such as the expansion of the kindergarten and the renovation of the gym and elementary school, are taking center stage. There are therefore currently no plans to build a bathing lake, which would be cost-intensive for us," says local mayor Bernadette Geieregger.