Polder management near Altenheim, Germany > Barrier #1939

During ecological flooding, humans have to be kept out of the area and its surroundings. During the first test ecological flooding, animals could not escape from the polder area, as they were scared by the humans which were watching on the dykes. Many deers drowned in the flood that was hyped by German tabloids as scandal. The principle and usefulness of ecological flooding is often not understood by citizens. On other planned retention areas (polder Schwanau) of the Integrated Rhine Programme communities went to court against the state of Baden Wurtemberg. They fear for example that rising groundwater levels could damage their houses, or that dirty Rhine water could affect the drinking water aquifer.