Totschnig: Wasser.Wander.Wunder-Weg in Styria is awarded the main prize at the Neptun State Prize for Water

Austria’s most sustainable water projects were awarded the Neptun State Prize for Water by Federal Minister Totschnig and the Neptun partners.

Vienna (OTS) – The winners of the Neptun State Prize for Water have been determined: On March 15, 2023, Federal Minister Norbert Totschnig and the partners of the Neptun State Prize for Water announced the winning projects in the five categories WasserGEMEINDE, WasserWIEN, WasserFORSCHT, WasserBILDUNG and WasserKREATIV as well as the winners of the known as the main prize.

“Year after year, many people, institutions and companies in Austria are committed to our valuable water resource with passion and innovative ideas. These projects have been awarded the Neptun Water Prize since 1999, this year for the first time with the highest recognition – the 1st Neptun State Prize for Water. This underlines the great importance of water as a resource in Austria and the high quality of the prize. Technical innovations, the great commitment of the communities to water, important water education projects and unique works of art are recognized. The Neptun State Prize for Water is supported by the entire Austrian water scene and this year for the first time by all nine federal states, which makes me particularly happy. I warmly congratulate the State Prize winners and hope that these great showcase projects will inspire and motivate people to do more for the careful use of water as a resource, which is currently so important,” said Federal Minister Norbert Totschnig at the award ceremony for the Neptune State Prize for Water .

The main prize goes to the Wasser.Wander.Munder-Weg of the Central Water Supply Hochschwab South

In a tight race, the Wasser.Wander.Wunder-Weg of the central water supply Hochschwab Süd was able to assert itself in the public online voting and was thus awarded the main prize at the Neptun State Prize for Water.

For 30 years, the central water supply Hochschwab Süd (ZWHS) has been supplying the Styrian central area with drinking water of the best quality from the Hochschwab region. The Wasser.Wander.Wunder-Weg of the ZWHS, with its currently eight experience stations, provides visitors with interesting facts about drinking water in a playful way and attaches great importance to being an inclusive water experience place for everyone.

Wolfgang Nöstlinger, President of the Austrian Association for Gas and Water (ÖVGW), underlines the social value of the hiking trail: “As a representative of the drinking water supply in Austria, it is particularly important to me to raise awareness of the population’s use of drinking water, especially in times like these sharpening sinking groundwater levels and that’s what our main award winner, the Wasser.Wander.Wunder-Weg, manages with a lot of motivation and great ideas.”

Roland Hohenauer, President of the Austrian Water and Waste Management Association (ÖWAV), warmly congratulates the central water supply in Hochschwab Süd: “The Wasser.Wander.Munder-Weg shows very impressively how the subject of water can be made understandable and understandable, especially for young people and children can prepare for a short time. Thank you for your commitment and congratulations on the Neptun main prize.”

Further awards for sustainable research, art and (awareness) education on water

In the WasserFORSCHT category, the Interreg project “Malše mussel” was honored as the winning project. This brings together questions on erosion, human-induced increased fine sediment and sand inputs, water ecology, fisheries management and flood protection, water management and climate change adaptation.

First place in the CREATIVE Water category went to the Swiss artist Regina Hügli with “Auf des Wassers Scheide – Light Drawings of the Main European Watershed”. In her photographic long-term exposures, the invisible line of the main European watershed was made visible through lighting in a brilliant artistic realization. In addition, in a large dialogue project entitled “Sharing water”, it is comprehensively dealing with the resource of water together with museums, students and other important stakeholders.
The market town of Öblarn was able to assert itself in the category WATER EDUCATION with the “Water Experience Öblarn”. The demonstration model “Water Experience Öblarn” increases awareness and sensitization to natural hazards and creates a playful way of imparting knowledge for all age groups.

Municipal services and photo competition WasserWIEN

The category waterCOMMUNITY is all about regionality and recognizes commitment to water at the municipal level. As WasserGEMEINDE 2023, the Municipality of St. Michael in Lungau awarded with renaturation of the Mur (Murinsel, Mur widening and Murmäander). Thanks to these water-ecological measures, the Mur appears again in a more original, more natural guise after decades of regulation.
In the category waterVIENNA Lukas Ortner-Bast took first place with the photograph “Drinking fountain in the Augarten”.

About the price

Austria’s most important environmental and innovation prize for sustainable water projects has been awarded since 1999 and was awarded this year for the first time as a state prize and to pay the highest tribute to Gut Wasser from the Republic of Austria. The aim of the Neptune State Prize for Water is to create greater awareness of the importance of water as a resource and to support innovative ideas for the careful use of this precious resource. The Neptun State Prize for Water is sponsored for the first time by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Regions and Water Management (BML), the Austrian Association for the Gas and Water Industry (ÖVGW), the Austrian Water and Waste Management Association (ÖWAV) and the participating federal states all nine states.

Well-known sponsors take on sponsorships for the individual categories: The City of Vienna / MA 31 – Wiener Wasser awards the categories WasserWIEN and WasserFORSCHT, the private brewery Zwettl takes on the sponsorship for the art category WasserKREATIV. VERBUND AG has taken on the sponsorship for the WATER EDUCATION category and Kommunalkredit Public Consulting GmbH has been the sponsor of the WATER COMMUNITY category for many years.

This time, more than 560 submissions were received for the Neptun State Prize for Water, 280 of them in the three specialist categories, each endowed with €5,000: WasserFORSCHT, WasserBILDUNG and WasserKREATIV.

More information on the award-winning projects:

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