It could be wonderful in the Augsburg Lechauen. The dredging landscape during the renovation of the Olympic Park is a thing of the past, the green flowering terraces are back. And the ice channel, home of the slalom canoeists – normally flows through the middle. But last week, the Olympic route from 1972 had to be closed due to a lack of water: The Lech, as a tributary river, has low water. This is dramatic because the World Cup is scheduled to take place there from Tuesday. Athletes from all over the world have already arrived. The World Cup is in jeopardy due to the ongoing drought.
The hot spell of summer has a direct impact on sport. The title fights (July 26th to 31st) are probably the first World Cup “which is on the brink because of the climate crisis,” said World Association President Thomas Konietzko on Deutschlandfunk. However, he now sees the situation as “cautiously optimistic”. Johannes Heiss, World Cup project manager for the city of Augsburg, also speaks of a positive trend towards being able to host the World Games.
Heiss explained the problem during a site visit at the weekend: the ice track needs 10,000 liters per second to be passable, around 300 billion liters a year. The water is diverted from the Lech (and later returned again), making the route one of the few that does not require an electric pump.
The situation has eased somewhat at the Canoe Slalom World Championships
The situation eased on Saturday. Because: The water is flowing again – at least for the time being. The 380 athletes from 70 nations can complete their official training sessions after a forced break of almost two days. The helpers from the organization office are also confident again, despite 26 degrees, sunshine and a lack of precipitation on a large scale.
“We were at City Hall last Monday to discuss the situation,” says Heiss. A short-term local shift of the competitions, for example to Saxony, was no longer possible at this point in time, “we would have needed about a month’s notice for that,” says the project manager. A night-time traffic jam was discussed – i.e. night-time water storage in order to be able to flood the canal sufficiently during the day. From an ecological point of view, however, this was rejected. Ultimately, on Tuesday, employees of the Augsburg Civil Engineering Office arrived with heavy equipment.
They used concrete pillars from road construction in the youth track, which is located right next to the ice track. Wooden beams were built over them and processed with chainsaws. The aim of the action, which was as short-term as it was complex: to dam water in order to be able to provide the main canal with sufficient water.
But another aspect also had to be considered: nature conservation. Augsburg advertises with the sustainability claim, the ice channel is part of the Augsburg water management system Unesco World Heritage. In order to avoid drying out and thus depriving the fish culture of its habitat, officially prescribed amounts of water must be available both in the Lech and in all canals.
So is everything secured with this measure? Probably not quite. Augsburg’s Mayor Eva Weber is still reticent: “The symbolic cow is not out of the Lech yet, we have no influence on the weather.” The World Cup project manager, on the other hand, is optimistic: “We can only make two-day forecasts, but it’s looking good,” says Heiss, “we still have a storage facility in Forggensee, and it rained a bit.” This storage is enough to ensure the water supply for one and a half to two days. If you get through by Wednesday, the World Cup could just avoid a cancellation.
After all, it is the first world championship for slalom canoeists in Augsburg for 19 years. Ticket sales went well, guests from politics and sport are expected, and visitors from the IOC have also been announced for the weekend. Until then, the ice channel should lead whitewater – and not just a small stream.
