Lake Lüner to get a facelift

One of Austria’s most beautiful lakes is set to lose most of its water – at least temporarily so that repair and renovation work can take place on the wall of a dam.

The famous Lüner Lake (German Lünersee) is a large lake near the town of Bludenz in Vorarlberg famous for its crystal blue waters and it is frequently photographed.

The lake’s depth was raised by 72 metres by the construction of the hydroelectric dam in 1958 but this now needs to be renovated with a 21 million euro investment . The dam supplies water to four local power plants, Lünersee, Rodund I, Rodund II and Walgau. The lake is linked to the village of Brand by a cable car system, the Lünerseebahn.

Instead of its usual level of around one and a half cubic kilometres of water the lake will have only a half of a cubic kilometre between May and August.

But project manager Markus Buder said it’s unlikely that the fish population will be affected as the will still be 50 metres of water at the centre of the lake.

The water will be freed slowly – and wherever possible used to generate electricity in the process. Releasing the water slowly also reduces the risk that mud and other debris at the bottom of the lake gets washed away into the local rivers.