Hundertwasser-Therme Bad Blumau: Dispute on Greenhouse Project and Thermal Water

Some five kilometers away from Hundertwasser-Therme in Bad Blumau, Austria, plans are moving forward to build a massive, 260,000 square meter greenhouse operation for growing tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. The costs for the ambitious agricultural project stand at some 48 million Euros. The water from the region’s underground hot springs would heat the greenhouses. The project’s advocates point out that this type of locally-based, environmentally-friendly vegetable production would eliminate long travel distances from abroad and get the vegetables fresh into local households in a short time over short distances. However, Hundertwasser-Therme and its operator Robert Rogner counter that the increase in transport truck traffic associated with the vegetable production will hurt tourism traffic. But perhaps more importantly, they fear that removal of the hot springs water to heat the greenhouses will hurt their own hot spring water supply. The company behind the greenhouse project disputes this claim in an expert report it has commissioned. Now one expert report faces the other… (eap)