Vienna as a model environmental city – Nature in Vienna – 50% green space

Vienna always holds a top place in international rankings assessing urban quality of life. Vienna is a model environmental city. What is it, though, that makes Vienna such a model environmental city and how is environmental protection organised in Vienna?

Throughout the world more and more people are moving from the country into the city because there are more jobs there and farming does not bring enough earnings. As a result cities are constantly expanding. Open, unspoiled nature is lost. Whereas in 1900 only about 15% of the population lived in cities, in 2000, for the first time, more than half of the world’s population lived in cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants. And the tendency is rising. If the cities grow faster than the world’s population urban quality of life will fall and it will be hard to keep environmental problems in check. But it is different in Vienna, which ranks 209th in the list of 437 cities numbering one million persons or more (according to www.citypopulation.de).

Vienna is different

The Urban Audit project (www.urbanaudit.org) conducted by Eurostat (Eurostat is responsible for providing detailed statistical information services to the European Union) assesses urban quality of life in Europe on the basis of 258 cities in the EU. It has found that Vienna is in an advanced position in most sectors related to urban quality of life.




This includes the use of public transport and fast access to inner-city green spaces. Indicators which justify Vienna calling itself an model environmental city. What is it, though, that makes Vienna an model environmental city and how is environmental protection organised in Vienna? The green space mentioned above certainly plays a major role for environmental quality in Vienna; approximately half of the surface area of Vienna consists of green space. Furthermore, air quality is very good thanks to measures of climate protection, efficient waste management and sustainable wastewater management.

The constant supply of absolutely pure drinking water from the mountains via the First and Second Vienna Mountain Spring Pipelines, built in 1873 and 1910 respectively, is an invaluable asset in this respect. As far as organisation is concerned separate Administrative Groups are responsible for the environment. These bring together various municipal departments of the City of Vienna which are directly concerned with nature and the environment, such as MA 22 (Environmental Protection), MA 30 (Waste Water Management), MA 31 (Waterworks), MA 48 (Waste Management) and MA 49 (Forestry Office). Furthermore, a special Climate Protection Unit has been installed in the Chief Executive Office of the City of Vienna.

The Department of Environmental Protection has a staff of around 100 persons, including experts on environmental law, noise control, nature protection, air pollution control etc., and is concerned with the legal and technical aspects of environmental protection. The main concern of the experts is to position present-day Vienna in such a way that in 50 or 100 years it will offer equally good, if not better, living and environmental conditions.

The Green City

In Vienna you find 18 nature conservation areas, covering about 15,000 hectares, from national park to protected biotope as well as more than 400 nature memorials. Vienna‘s oldest existing natural memorials is the 1,000 year old yew-tree (Taxus baccata) standing at Am Rennweg 12 (3rd district), believed to be the relic of an ancient yew grove dating from Roman times. Altogether 30.66% of the total area of Vienna is under nature protection.

The largest single protected area in Vienna is the Lainzer Tiergarten (Lainz Animal Reserve), almost equal with the Donau-Auen National Park (Danube wetlands), the only national park in Vienna. Each of them account for about 5.5% of the total area. By far the best-known landscape conservation area in the city is the Prater in the 2nd district which includes a stretch of the increasingly popular Vienna City Marathon. It lies right inside Vienna and forms part of the approximately 7,500 hectares of woods (as defined by the Forestry Law); they are home to 80 or so rare animals and plants listed in the Wildlife and Nature Conservation Programme that are threatened with extinction.

Clean air and climate protection

Ensuring clean air in big cities is a difficult issue – all the more so when car traffic continues to grow or, at best, stagnates at a high level. In order to reduce CO2 emissions the City of Vienna acceded to the Climate Alliance in 1991. Within the framework of the Climate Protection Programme a plan was drawn up for the reduction of greenhouse gases by 14% between 1990 and 2010 – a goal that will not be achieved if the present trend persists. The reasons for this are the above-mentioned increasing traffic and the growing demand for electricity.

It is up to every one of us to avoid producing greenhouse gases so as to save the climate. The most important steps to take, and the easiest to initiate, are those to save energy because not every appliance, for example, has to be kept on stand-by all the time. It is also helpful to avoid products that are made of aluminium or by using (H)CFCs and, generally, to opt for local products with a long lifespan. Giving preference to food from organic farming is just as advantageous as switching from meat to vegetables, or eating river-trout rather than seafish and shrimps.

The most difficult step is presumably that of making a point of using public transport or bicycles. Brief service intervals and the introduction of all-night buses, as well  as an extensive network of cycle routes, provide a good alternative to private cars. These options should be increasingly used by everyone if only because traffic is one of the main emitters of ozone and nitric dioxide (NO2).

Air quality in the city is measured at 17 stationary centres and by a mobile measurement bus. Air quality is assessed according to the Vienna Air Quality Index, based on the highest concentration of pollutants measured in Vienna. Measured values are also flagged when they exceed the thresholds set by the relevant legislation on emission protection, air pollution control or ozone. Measurements are taken of ozone concentration, particulate matter (PM10), nitric dioxide, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide. The results are analysed on an hourly basis and can be accessed at any time on the City of Vienna website (www.wien.at).

Drinking water from the tap

The per capita consumption of water in Vienna is 150 litres per day. In 2007, the average daily consumption of drinking water in Vienna amounted to 380,000 cubic metres – but this demand is easily met since, thanks to the Vienna Mountain Spring Pipelines I and II, about 95% of annual water supplies come from springs in the Rax, Schneeberg, Schneealpe mountains and from the Hochschwab mountain massif. With great foresight the Vienna City Constitution put Vienna’s water and the forests surrounding the springs under protection orders so that every Viennese household can be sure to receive pure drinking water at any time.

Only in the event of repairs to the Vienna Mountain Spring Pipelines, during serious mains bursts or at periods of extreme water consumption in hot seasons does Vienna resort to groundwater supplies. The water reaches the city under its own momentum in free flow through galleries without the assistance of even a single pump, and without any processing. On account of its gravitational power it is also used for the production of electric energy.

The First Vienna Mountain Spring Pipeline was ceremoniously opened, after three years of construction, with the inauguration of the Hochstrahlbrunnen fountain on Schwarzenbergplatz on 24 October 1873. It was 120 kilometres in length and soon became a symbol for liberation from water shortage and the danger of epidemics. By 1888 more than 90% of all inhabited houses in the then municipal area were served by direct waterpiping. However, because of the addition of numerous suburbs to the formal city area at the end of the 19th century the construction of the Second Vienna Mountain Spring Pipeline became necessary. Since 2 December 1910 this 180 km long conduit transports water in 36 hours from the Hochschwab to Vienna, more specifically from the spring waters in Salzatal, Styria, in the Hochschwalb region. In order to guarantee a supply of best quality drinking water for the people of Vienna water protection areas and preservation areas were proclaimed around the supply sources of the First and Second Mountain Spring Pipelines.

In 1965, for instance, the whole Rax-Schneeberg-Schneealpen massif was declared a water protection area. In December 1988 the Pfannbauern spring in the Aschbach valley on the Mariazell federal road was added to the pipeline network of the First Vienna Mountain Spring Pipeline. Since the addition of this new spring the whole of Vienna can be supplied with spring water in normal circumstances. Furthermore, the Forestry Office of the City of Vienna administers a total area of approximately 32,000 hectares of forest, mountain pastures and meadows in the Rax and Schneeberg area as well as in the Hochschwab massif, enabling it to coordinate the use of all country area, tourism, hunting and fishing activities with the requirements of spring protection. From the terminals of the Mountain Spring Pipelines water is fed from high-placed reservoirs into the municipal network. According to statistics published in 2004, the network has a total pipe-length of 3,237 km and 101,670 connecting pipes into flats and houses.

Wastewater disposal and water protection

As far as wastewater management is concerned Vienna holds one of the international top places. 98% of the Viennese population is connected to the public sewerage system which, as everyone knows, plays a decisive role in guaranteeing quality of life in a major city. Vienna’s public network of sewers, about 2,300 km in length, has to cope every year with more than 220 million cubic metres of water. The network of household sewers is more than 6,300 km long.

Vienna’s top place is also due to the fact that wastewater disposal and water protection are considered together and not separately. The concept of “ecological and economical optimisation for wastewater disposal and water protection in Vienna” accordingly takes into account not only sewerage and the building of purification plants but also extensive hydro-ecological circumstances. Permanent control and supervision of the 3,000 or so water usage plants as well as disposal sites for waste and excavated material, particularly as regards observance of appropriate regulations, are a matter of course in a big city like Vienna – just like having a sewage treatment plant that uses the latest technology.

Efficient waste management

How much waste do the inhabitants of a city with a population of over a million actually produce, and how is this waste utilised? Well, in the case of Vienna the answer to the first question is: 965,000 tons a year with an annual increase of 0.6–3.5%; and to the second question: nearly half of it is thermally utilised in the two incineration plants at Flötzersteig and Spittelau.  A further 30% or so is used materially (i.e., recycled), the rest is either sent to landfills outside Vienna or is composted.

In order to cope as well as possible with the waste produced every year in Vienna a master plan has been drawn up within the framework of a strategic environmental audit. This postulates two essential preconditions for a sustainable improvement in the effects on the environment of Vienna’s waste management system especially with respect to waste avoidance. These relate to the beginning of the waste disposal chain and are deemed to have special importance. They are: separate collection and basic recycling.

Of course the best path towards sustainable waste management – but hardly a realistic one – is not to produce any waste at all. The City of Vienna does its best in this respect to enlighten the public in order to at least reduce waste quantities and to bring down the long-term presence of dangerous waste. On the other hand the intention is to increase the proportion of high-quality compost. The City of Vienna’s composting plants have a current handling capacity of about 100,000 tons a year. About 60,000 bio-waste containers are distributed around the city; organic waste matter is assembled at 19 collection points and handled by means of so-called direct deliveries.

Therefore, collection via bio-waste containers is less evident now in the city centre than in the outer districts of Vienna. As a consequence, however, an additional handling facility is necessary for non-compostable biogenic waste (e.g., leftover food). To meet this need a biogas plant for energy generation is at the planning stage. Additional waste incineration capacity is required in order to cope with the waste quantities and their disposal not only up until 2010 but also well beyond in an environmentally friendly way.

In 2006 a forest biomass power station was put into operation in Simmering, Vienna’s 11th district. It generates electricity for 48,000 households and heats 12,000 households. Through incineration of 200,000 tons of forest wood chips and bark, 47,000 tons of heating oil or 72,000 tons of hard coal are saved each year.

Link tipp

Air quality report of the City of Vienna, updated every hour Network for Nature in Vienna