Lavant (river)

The Lavant at St. Paul

The Lavant (Slovenian: Labotnica ) is a left tributary of the Drava river in Carinthia. The origin of the name dates back to the pre-Celtic times, meaning in Indo-European as much as gloss white river. The Lavant 64 km long and its catchment area covers an area of 969 km ².

The origin of the river is below the Styrian Zirbitzkogel in the Seetaler Alps at about 2170 meters above sea level ( Lavantsee ). After 11.2 km you reach Carinthia. The Lavant flows through the upper Lavant Valley, the Twimberger ditch the Lower Lavant Valley and empties after a brief further constriction below Krottendorf in Lavamünd at an altitude of 348 m in the Drava. Shortly before the mouth, it has an average flow rate of 12.5 m³ / s.

Hydrological the Lavant is characterized by a nivo - pluvial regime with peak flows in May and minima in January. The water quality of the headwaters to about Frantschach -St. Gertraud quality class I, then grade II until the 1980s, strong pollution from a pulp mill and the Greater Wolfsberg with grade IV could be dramatically improved by the startup of the plant of the Pollution Control Association Mid Lavant in Mettersdorf from 1988. Two more sewage treatment plants exist in Bad St. Leonhard and in Lavamünd.

The ecomorphological state of Lavant is conditioned by the relative flow regulation 1934-1986 bad. The flow control was used primarily for flood protection, but also the extraction of farmland. In the upper reaches, and the last few kilometers the Lavant is considered natural to semi-natural. Between Twimberger Graben and St. Paul it is considered as significantly impaired. An exception is a short distance at Mettersdorf, which was renatured 1990. As of 2005 surveys are under way, which should lead to a contemporary flood protection through natural as possible obstruction. Along the Lavant there, including seven power stations, 15 dams. By 2015, they must be made ​​passable, according to the WFD.

From the Lavant and its tributaries 25 fish species are known. Dominant is the brown trout, rainbow trout and are often chub. For Carinthia rare species zingel, nerd, gobio and wolffish are mentioned.

Due to river regulation is now the majority of the Lavant important fishery of trout region associate ( with transition to the grayling zone in the lower course of the river ). Only the lowermost portion near Lavamünd belongs to the barbel region. Before straightening the grayling zone reached to Wolfsberg, the barbel region to St. Paul.