Augsburg authorities have announced a series of measures to ensure next week’s ICF Canoe and Extreme Slalom World Championships will be able to go ahead despite the current heatwave reducing the level of Bavaria’s rivers.

The low water levels also has an effect on the river lake and has consequences for Augsburg’s canals and power plants. But municipal authorities on Wednesday announced measures which will guarantee the world championships will proceed.

Next week’s ICF Canoe and Extreme Slalom World Championships is the biggest event on the slalom calendar this year, and will also mark 50 years since the sport made its Olympic debut at the same venue in 1972.

Augsburg’s Eiskanal is fed with water from the river Lech. If the streams are full, the water is automatically pushed into the Eiskanal, but this effect does not work if there is low water.

On Wednesday three concrete barriers were installed in the Hauptstadtbach, a stream that runs parallel to the Eiskanal. The resulting backwater provides the Eiskanal with additional water.

“When deciding about the measure, the safety of nature and animals had the highest priority,” Mayor Eva Weber said.

“The eco system will not be affected. We were also aware of the stream system through the inner city on which the measure will not have any affect as well.”

The current dry summer is the reason for the low water level in many streams and canals.

“We are on the right track,” Markus Haller from the municipal engineering office, who arranged the concrete barriers together with his team under high time pressure, said.

“During the day we will readjust the construction. Probably the athletes can get on Eiskanal by tomorrow,” he predicted. However the work proved successful, and athletes were able to return to the water at 4pm Wednesday.

“We have done what we can and remain confident. The municipal administration is in close contact with the power plant operators and the affected companies along the canals,” project lead Johannes Heiß said.