Ager (river)

The Ager below Swan City

The Ager is a river in Upper Austria; it is the outflow of Lake Attersee and ends after 34 km between Lambach and barn -Paura in the Traun River. The Ager drains the entire northwestern Salzkammergut. Its catchment area is about 1260 km ².

Course

The Ager leaves the Attersee at its northeastern end, between Attersee and Seewalchen and then flows north through Lenzing. From Timelkam it extends to the east and takes in Vöcklabruck the Vöckla on. She continues to flow in a northeasterly direction, passing Regau, Puchheim and swan city until it opens as a border river between the towns of barn -Paura and Lambach in the Traun River.

Inflows

By far the most important feeder is the Vöckla which opens at Vöcklabruck. You drained more than 35% of the Ager basin. Other tributaries are downstream the drought in Herzogenaurach Preising, the Herzogenaurach in Wankham, the Ottnanger Redlbach just before Swan City and Staiger Bach at Swan City. About the Attersee drains the Ager also of the lake, Zeller See ( Mondsee ) and Lake Fuschl, which are connected by relatively short streams.

Geology and landscape

The result is the Ager end of the Würm Ice Age, when the huge eastern Alps glaciers began to melt. The Attersee is a typical Gletscherendsee, as are lunar and Mondsee, but in opposite directions, drain south to the Attersee, because this cross breakthrough came before the lakes were able to break out to the north, as well as the Lake Fuschl, flowing across the glacier groove of Thalgau, the in the confluence area of Traun glacier and Salzach glacier originated. The Talung the Ager itself is already in the foothills of the Alps, and forms the Talzug Vöckla - Agertal, streaking across the front of the Alps east. This is surrounded by Ager - Traun - terrace country, as post-glacial river terraces in the Vorlandmolasse, and therefore the Vöckla - Ager Hill Country as a residual landscape. To the south lies flysch zone, north of the sediment mass of the house jerk.

Water management

The average discharge at the level Fischerau is 33.5 m³ / s, which corresponds to a runoff of 26.7 l / s · km ². The Ager has a very even flow regime, the mean discharge is in the outflow richest month of March ( 46.7 m³ / s ) is just twice as high as in the outflow poorest month of October ( 24.0 m³ / s). The natural runoff is influenced by the Klaus weir at the discharge from the Attersee, which will delay during the dry season, a drop in the lake level and aufhöhen the low water of Ager.

Economic use

The rich and the year relatively constant water flow favored the settlement of farms along the river. So there were hammer and saw mills, grain and paper mills and Lohstampfen. Alone at the top Ager between Seewalchen and Lenzing once stood seven windmills. In today's municipality of Lenzing settled subsequently wood processing plants and two paper factories. 1938 viscose staple fiber factory was founded in Lenzing, the forerunner of today's Lenzing AG. Until the early 20th century, the rafting on the Ager played an important role. Wood from the Attergau was transported to the factories at the Ager and continue to towns along the Danube to Hungary.

The Ager is used by several run power plants for energy production. The 1897 went into operation in run-of- Dürnau at Vöcklabruck uses a drop height of 4.6 m for power generation with a standard capacity of 1.9 GWh per year. Five other small power plants ( Wankham, Deutenham, Mühlwang, Kaufing and Hart) together generate around 36 GWh of electricity per year.

Environment

Landscape

The valley of the Ager is densely populated and dominated by industry, in between there are intense, dominated by arable agriculture. Accordingly, the natural course of the river is heavily affected by weirs, regulations and bank stabilization. Below Vöcklabruck the Ager has a more natural, meandering character, here are also riparian areas receive, some of which ( Fasanenau in Vöcklabruck, Schalchhamer Au, Puchheimer Au) have been designated as conservation areas.

Water quality

In the postwar period the Ager was heavily polluted by industries located on the website, including in particular the pulp production of Lenzing AG. Today that is no longer so much the case, as several treatment plants were created. Had the Ager until the mid -1980s, only grade III to IV, as it has in 2007 after discharge from the Attersee Class I, otherwise continuous grade II. As an outflow of several lakes and due to the use as cooling water, the Ager is a relatively warm for this region rivers with an average temperature of 17.1 ° C in summer and 6.6 ° C in winter.

Fauna

The in Ager mainly fish species are brown trout, rainbow trout, grayling, chub, and barbel. The unaffected parts of the river and its banks are an important habitat for various species of birds like the sandpiper, the ringed plover or the kingfisher. In the floodplain, there are bird species such as the mergansers and the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, as well as numerous species of amphibians like toad, frog, jumping frog and yellow-bellied toad.

Name

The name derives from the Celtic Ager Agria. Agria means " fast driving " - a reference to the initial strong current of the river.