As the snow masses that blanketed Europe late last year start to melt, the water gauges in numerous European cities are beginning to rise to dangerously high levels. To prevent widespread flooding, the German metropolis Frankfurt is banking on a homemade solution, co-invented by Reinhard Ries, head of the city’s fire and emergency services.

Prototypes of Ries’ “Aquariwa” system now are gracing the banks of the Main river. The patented system consists of a sheet made of glass-fibre reinforced polyester and a bag made of PVC film. The 4 mm thick sheet measuring 1.20 x 4.10 metres is folded into a cylinder and adjusted with a simple fixture. Running along one side of the sheet is a stretch of film that constitutes the cylinder's base. Once the contraption is built, the PVC bag is introduced as a weight to stabilise and keep in place the cylinder. An interesting feat is that said bag is filled with water and not sand, which not only saves time in system assembly and disassembly, but also storage and transportation space.

The sheets currently in use were manufactured by a Polish boat designer although Ries reports that Aquariwa (Munich / Germany; www.aquariwa.de) currently is on the lookout for a producer. He added that the company still is making improvements to the film bag as well as the fixtures but that even now, the cylinders can be put into place easily by one individual. The system’s costs are not expected to exceed EUR 200 per metre; existing flood control systems come at between EUR 300-500 per metre.