Some may have wondered during the autumn walk of the past few days: The Isar barely carries water in some places. Sometimes it is possible to cross the river on foot without any problems. And at the height of the Cornelius bridge and the Lukaskirche there are two large excavators in the river bed. What does this have to do with each other? It’s time for the stream sweep again, which takes place regularly in spring and autumn.
This time it is the turn of the sidearm between the west bank of the Isar and the Museum Island, the city relations, the Wehrsteg and the Praterinsel as well as the Fabrikbach, the Eisbach and the Schwabinger Bach. The barrage of the Prater and the barrage in front of the Lukaskirche have been opened so that the Great Isar can also be cleared.
When it sweeps away, the stream bed is cleaned, as it were, freed of garbage and sediment. To do this, the water level must be significantly lowered. On this occasion, not only is it cleaned up, but also the structures on the river and in the river are examined and repaired if necessary, because it often happens that the wrecks that are taken away cause damage.
Excavators dig the gravel.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
And what are excavators for? According to the city, a lot of gravel has been deposited in the Great Isar over the years. This was to be reported in the Kleine Isar “for precautionary flood protection reasons”. At the Corneliusbrücke, a gravel dam is first piled up to carry water into the Kleine Isar. At the barrage in front of the Lukaskirche, a second excavator then shovels the gravel from the Great Isar onto the gravel bank below the barrage.
To protect the fish, there is always at least a small amount of water left in the river. The largest specimens are carefully fished out and transferred to other waters. The reclamation work on the Isar is expected to last until 28 October.
