Gießgraben

The Gießgraben is a river on the Wagram in Lower Austria. It has no single source but forms below Hohenwarth when rain-fed ditches join. The stream flows through several villages—Großriedenthal, Ottenthal, Ober-, Mitter- and Unterstockstall—and across the Tullnerfeld towards the Danube. In dry spells it dwindles or vanishes entirely, yet after heavy rain it rises noticeably. The river’s name changes along its course. Upstream it is barely visible, but from Ottenthal the valley deepens and it becomes the Gießgraben or Krampugraben. Once it reaches Unterstockstall and enters the Tullnerfeld plain it is called the Gießbach. Its two main tributaries, the Neudegggraben and the Wiesengraben, behave the same way, carrying water only when it rains. Visitors see a landscape that shifts with the seasons. In summer the bed is often dry and dusty, while after storms the water races through the villages. In 1962 a violent storm sent the Gießgraben surging over Oberstockstall, then breached a mill dam at Mitterstockstall, carrying mud as far as Unterstockstall. The river finally empties into the Rondellenwasser, an old Danube arm also known as Krumpenwasser.