Danube water levels 2024 and similar topics - plus tips and info

[notamermaid]

Coming back to the question I was asked in June about river levels in November. @MAKMich is going on the Viking Skirnir and their question prompted me to put a list of historical river levels together. I gathered that the more likely problems would occur at Pfelling, i.e. low water rather than flooding. Note that such problems obviously do not concern those that sail from Vilshofen downstream. On a Grand European journey you face that problem, as you really need to bridge that area, on a Danube itinerary you can just cut the journey short.

 

So this is the list. A lot of figures. I have compiled 2000 to 2023, 1 November to 30 November always. The figures cover the range of minimum to maximum at Pfelling gauge in every given year as they occurred in the month without a specific date given. Here goes:

 

Pfelling gauge November range

year minimum maximum

2000 317 389

2001 304 502

2002 497 720

2003 262 345

2004 300 412

2005 274 311

2006 281 375

2007 285 568

2008 278 431

2009 291 425

2010 318 435

2011 258 303

2012 300 492

2013 336 516

2014 318 428

2015 258 531

2016 287 482

2017 305 560

2018 236 283

2019 272 379

2020 258 423

2021 264 366

2022 272 404

2023 296 642

 

Explanation: Below 290cm getting too low, 620 HSW (just before that problems at Passau suspension bridge and Bogen railway bridge)

At HSW river traffic is suspended (Höchster Schifffahrtswasserstand).

 

In 13 of those years the level fell below 290cm so river cruise ships will have faced problems with low water either minimally and the situation lasted a few hours or they faced massive problems for - a whole month! Look at 2018. In that year all figures of November were below 290cm. And the 283cm was only reached for less that 24 hours.

 

I hope this shows the huge range of levels that is possible. And there is a more than 50 percent risk of low levels occurring, more so in the first half of the month than in the second half.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

13 minutes ago, tarheel423 said:

We’re home now having traveled from the Black Sea to the North Sea. No issues on any of the rivers.

Thank you for reporting. I hope you have had a splendid time.

 

notamermaid

 

[moonriver54]

15 minutes ago, tarheel423 said:

We’re home now having traveled from the Black Sea to the North Sea. No issues on any of the rivers.

I can only imagine how interesting that cruise must've been!  Good on you.  My wife and I are doing a mid-October lower Danube cruise aboard Avalon from Oltenita, Romania to Budapest.  We're spending a few extra nights in Bucharest before boarding the ship.  Do you have any comments and/or recommendations you could offer regarding travel through the Balkans?

[tarheel423]

I don’t know if you are staying on an Avalon extension or on your own. We enjoyed seeing Peleş Castle but that was an option on our cruise. On our free day in Bucharest, we went to see the Palace of Parliament. You can only get tickets 24 hours in advance. I had contacted our hotel’s concierge in advance and she was able to get the tickets for me. If you go, just be sure to take your passport with you - you will have to show it to enter.

[moonriver54]

12 hours ago, tarheel423 said:

I don’t know if you are staying on an Avalon extension or on your own. We enjoyed seeing Peleş Castle but that was an option on our cruise. On our free day in Bucharest, we went to see the Palace of Parliament. You can only get tickets 24 hours in advance. I had contacted our hotel’s concierge in advance and she was able to get the tickets for me. If you go, just be sure to take your passport with you - you will have to show it to enter.

Thank you!  We're arriving in Bucharest three days prior to boarding the Avalon Passion, and will spend two nights in a hotel we chose and the final night in the Avalon-selected hotel.  We'll add the Palace of Parliament to our list.  

 

This will be our fourth Avalon cruise.  We're hoping we don't run in to any Lower Danube low water level issues during mid-October...so fingers crossed.  We did an Avalon Moselle River cruise in May and never touched the Moselle due to flooding. That said, Avalon did a SUPERB JOB essentially creating an entirely new cruise beginning on the Rhine in Koblenz where our ship awaited us...after a very nice land tour of Luxembourg, Trier and the Moselle River Valley.  IMV it turned out to be a BETTER CRUISE than originally planned.  LOL!  Avalon went way beyond the call to ensure we weren't disappointed, and then gave us a significant credit towards our next cruise.  I know I probably sound like an Avalon shill, however I assure you I'm not.  They do a wonderful job!

Edited July 29 by moonriver54

[steamboats]

On 7/23/2024 at 10:22 PM, notamermaid said:

That ship in Regensburg from post #773. I may have found which one it is. If so, it is still "namenlos" but is supposed to be for Scylla and was built in Romania. Launched on 12 July, this short vessel was towed by a barge. I have cropped a photo for future reference:

 

See the shipyard's website: https://www.snorsova.ro/portofoliu-imagini/

 

Again, the hint for where it was built came from Binnenschifferforum.

 

notamermaid

 

I just saw a reel on IG showing a nameless kasko for Riviera by Scylla for the Douro river which looks exactly like the one on your photo. Riviera is promoting a new ship for the Douro called Riviera Rose.

 

steamboats 

[notamermaid]

14 hours ago, steamboats said:

I just saw a reel on IG showing a nameless kasko for Riviera by Scylla for the Douro river which looks exactly like the one on your photo. Riviera is promoting a new ship for the Douro called Riviera Rose.

Thank you. I remember reading about Riviera Travel's new ships not being given a British author's name. And I briefly posted about it. So this hull will go the Netherlands and sent to the Douro on a carrier via the Atlantic most likely.

 

The Paula looks to have dropped off her hull and is now returning to the Danube. The Zasavica has arrived in Gustavsburg on the Main. That is the typical port where the ships unload their cargo, I mean the hull, and hand them over to other ships that do the Rhine journey to the shipyards in the Netherlands.

 

notamermaid

 

[tarheel423]

One final note on our Black Sea to North Sea cruise before signing off:

 

According to our captain’s farewell remarks, we covered 2,030 miles, 72 locks, 300 sailing hours, and 3 rivers.

[notamermaid]

Both hulls are on the Rhine and have been spotted! A couple of more words in that thread on that.

 

Pfelling gauge: down to 346cm. All good. Rain forecast for during the night on the Upper Danube (upstream from Kelheim).

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

It is raining along the Upper Danube (and in Munich) which should provide fresher air and a cooler night. The additional volume of water will get to Kelheim tomorrow evening.

 

In the list of historic water levels I posted on Monday I have noticed that the biggest jump in water levels was actually last year. It went from almost low and problematic for river cruise ships to the other end of problematic and too high for river traffic as per the authorities. Absolutely unexpected. This what it looked like in the graph:

 

Thankfully after a difficult June, this July has been more uneventful.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

As it has been so hot the city of Vienna has been suffering especially and has had a night temperature record (number of tropical nights) this July. The Danube is of course also warm and that favours larvae in the water. Bathers in the Old Danube (not the river traffic channel) have been complaining of skin disorders as a result. [Eeekk!] Better use the swimming pool on the ship...

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

Work has been completed at Melk and Krems as a part of a larger infrastructure project for the Austrian Danube ports, so now both towns together are able to provide shore power for up to eleven vessels, according to Austrian newspaper reports from day before yesterday. This reduces Diesel consumption (ideally to zero) when docking and air and noise pollution.

 

Pfelling gauge has risen and will soon peak, now at 401cm. A good figure to keep the river going through drier days and a promising start to August.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

It is August, time to have a brief look at a thankfully (almost) uneventful July. This is Pfelling gauge:

 

The month started with the river being still well above the mean so any decent amount of rain would put the river close to a level that could present a problem at the low bridges.

 

We see this at Passau:

 

That peak close to the middle of the month was above 630cm. That the authorities give as the marker for the passage under Luitpold Bridge getting tricky. Likewise at the railway bridge at Bogen this could have been tight. If so, the problems were short and I did not hear about them.

 

Now we see the river around the mean. The relatively high levels in July and the rain that has been feeding the Danube in the last 48 hours give a good basis for the coming week. The weather will be hot but a mix of sunny and cloudy with rain not too far away into the future.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

The rain gave the river levels a boost so Pfelling gauge is still looking very good. It is now at 371cm. The level will of course fall but a bit of rain is forecast for Wednesday. By the way it is hot but these are standard summer temperatures, with the Rhine valley slightly warmer than the Danube valley in Germany. All looking pleasant basically.

 

One problem is arising in Hungary. The Danube has warmed up a lot and there are limits as to how much warm water from the cooling towers of power stations can go into the river. The authorities in Budapest may allow a higher temperature of the river temporarily at a nuclear power plant site. Too high temperatures are stress for fish (which is made worse when the river levels are low).

 

notamermaid

 

[Izengolf]

Speaking of heat, for those on a Lower Danube cruise, it will be VERY hot (over 30C with days hitting 38 or 39C next week as the forecast I use has projected) starting tomorrow in Bucharest for the next 2 weeks and starting this weekend as you head west towards Budapest. Wear hats, take water and choose your excursions wisely 🥵 

[notamermaid]

That is really hot. The German Danube is now seeing some rain. Pfelling gauge has fallen to 350cm. The additional water will of course help to keep the level from falling (much) further.

 

The Paris water quality has made the news in Germany and elsewhere so people have been wondering what other rivers are like and the authorities have been questioned and interviewed. One thing to remember is that no matter how often you test a fast-flowing river (if you actually test a specific section) you will have a changed river very soon again. But more on that in another post.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

About water quality and swimming in rivers. Few places in Europe are bigger than Paris and have so many people using the river for disposing off of all sorts of stuff than the Seine. We do not even need to talk about the gruesome things of yesteryear. The Seine is a relatively big river but there is only so much a stream of even strongly flowing water can take or dilute. So the Danube where it does not flow through an agglomeration or industrial site is not a fair comparison - I mean that is too harsh on the Seine. But the problem of course lies in the fact that in Paris there is no sewage treatment system that compares to anything we have on the Danube in Germany or Austria. Nevertheless, it our Danube is a working river and waterway.

 

Here is a video by BR regional television. They have interviewed bathers along the shore between Metten and Deggendorf, a pleasant sandy area of about five kilometres. The people speak with a strong Bavarian accent (one may actually be Dutch or something else) so it is a bit tricky. They all enjoy the area, but one of them does not swim in the river. His comment is "zu dreckig". Too dirty. Is it? The Danube is not tested as such, but lakes are. The guy from the authorities suggests using your sight, taste and smell. You senses will guide you if the water is good enough for you to swim in. But it is often dangerous and the patrols check the area as swimmers can underestimate the effect of the wake of the ships or the sudden change in current. So what do the rescue patrol people think about the water quality in the area? They think the Danube is "basically" clean.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZoSIP9TZWM

 

Okay, easy and mostly pleasant. What about Munich and the Isar? Munich's water goes through the sewage treatment plants and as people regularly swim in the river, what water goes into the Isar there is additionally treated for bacteria and viruses that still remain after the sewage treatment plants have done their work. [info gathered from SWR regional broadcaster]

 

The one thing to avoid is to bath in rivers after they have flooded or there has been recent heavy rain. Some water has to bypass the sewage treatment plants as they cannot take all the additional volume of water.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

Edited August 9 by notamermaid
grammar

[notamermaid]

So that rain added a couple of centimetres at Pfelling Wednesday into Thursday. The level is now going down again. 349cm.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

It is hot and the river is now loosing valuable centimetres. Pfelling gauge has dropped to 319cm. Little rain forecast. The thunderstorms may increase on Wednesday.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

Let us stay a bit more with ecological aspects. Shore power for ships, cleaner ships, electrical ferries (on the Danube and also on the Moselle for example) reduce emissions but solar energy is not an option - or is it? It is as the propulsion of the solar/electricity excursion boat called "MS Staffelseerin". It sails on the small Staffelsee in Bavaria and earlier this year did a record 137km just with solar energy. BR television wrote this: https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/rekord-auf-dem-staffelsee-137-kilometer-nur-mit-sonnenenergie,UB8zCYm

 

This is the boat: https://www.staffelsee.org/staffelseerin.php

A few pages of the website are in English. Far away from the Danube, it is more of a land trip area but if you are interested in exploring a different part of Bavaria it is worth looking into that region with lakes. You could combine that with a trip from Munich to Neuschwanstein Castle.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[RDVIK2016]

9 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Let us stay a bit more with ecological aspects. Shore power for ships, cleaner ships, electrical ferries (on the Danube and also on the Moselle for example) reduce emissions but solar energy is not an option - or is it? It is as the propulsion of the solar/electricity excursion boat called "MS Staffelseerin". It sails on the small Staffelsee in Bavaria and earlier this year did a record 137km just with solar energy. BR television wrote this: https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/rekord-auf-dem-staffelsee-137-kilometer-nur-mit-sonnenenergie,UB8zCYm

 

This is the boat: https://www.staffelsee.org/staffelseerin.php

A few pages of the website are in English. Far away from the Danube, it is more of a land trip area but if you are interested in exploring a different part of Bavaria it is worth looking into that region with lakes. You could combine that with a trip from Munich to Neuschwanstein Castle.

 

notamermaid

 

 

This certainly is a part of Bavaria worth exploring. Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Oberammergau are very close. I spent a month in Murnau am Staffelsee many years ago where I had a room in a farmhouse at the northern edge of the Murnauer Moos with an unobstructed view of the Zugspitze - beautiful.

RDVIK

[notamermaid]

According to regional news a 110m river cruise ship hit the bridge construction over the lock at Riedenburg on the Main Danube Canal. Of the 136 passengers and 36 crew members no one was injured. The canal section was briefly closed to traffic while the police were on the scene. The ship's bridge was too far up. The captain is facing a fine.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Pfelling gauge is now at 314cm and forecast to go down further. Localized thunderstorms in Bavaria during Tuesday. More widespread rain coming Wednesday.

 

notamermaid

 

[Izengolf]

8 hours ago, notamermaid said:

According to regional news a 110m river cruise ship hit the bridge construction over the lock at Riedenburg on the Main Danube Canal. Of the 136 passengers and 36 crew members no one was injured. The canal section was briefly closed to traffic while the police were on the scene. The ship's bridge was too far up. The captain is facing a fine.

 

notamermaid

 

Hmm, the River Princess fits the description and is the closest ship in the Amsterdam direction. Glad no one was injured! Our favourite server on the SS Victoria was a young man named Bruno, there for a week of training before going to the River Princess.

[notamermaid]

Had a look myself, but it is unclear to me which ship it may have been, seeing that the police report states that the ship is sailing under Dutch flag. The River Princess is Swiss and I could not see a 110m ship that is Dutch anywhere near.

 

notamermaid