Reducing flood risks: EUR 6.6 million in EU funds for flood protection in the Vipava River basin

Ljubljana, 1 September 2021 - Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has approved EU funding for the project Reducing flood risks in the Vipava River basin – Phase I. The EUR 7.8 million flood protection project that will be implemented by the Slovenian Water Agency under the Agreement on the development of the Goriška region will be supported by the EU, with the contribution from the Cohesion Fund amounting to EUR 6.6 million.

As part of the first phase of this comprehensive flood protection project, the Slovenian Water Agency intends to carry out a number of anti-flood measures in areas with significant flood risk in the scope of tributaries Bela and Vrtojbica. The project will also include the design of a comprehensive hydrologic and hydraulic study for the entire Vipava River basin. As a result, it will help improve the security of 201 residents living in flood-prone areas in municipalities Vipava, Šempeter-Vrtojba and Renče-Vogrsko, with 40 buildings no longer at risk of flooding thanks to structural measures that will be put in place.

The measures falling in the scope of the second phase of the project will be identified after the design of the comprehensive hydrologic and hydraulic study and carried out in the programming period 2021-2027.