Diessen bathing raft becomes a life raft

Created: 09/28/2022, 14:05

By: Dieter Roettig

The old swimming raft in St. Alban was pulled ashore and disposed of in 2019 by the water rescue service with the help of the then mayor Herbert Kirsch.

Now there is hope for a new "life raft" for next season.

© Roettig

Dießen – When the municipal lido in St. Alban was rededicated in spring 2019 to a “leisure area with bathing area” without entry and supervision, the slide and the swimming raft at the water rescue jetty had to be removed.

Reason was a possible criminal liability of the market community after accidents.

Now there could be a raft comeback at the start of the 2023 bathing season.

At the most recent municipal council meeting, the Alliance 90/The Greens and CSU parliamentary groups applied for the reinstatement of a bathing raft.

However, after a prior “assessment of the dangerous situation by a knowledgeable expert”.

If necessary, the existing leisure facility statutes should be replaced by house rules.

The parliamentary groups referred to the guide "Traffic safety obligation at bathing waters".

According to managing director Karl Heinz Springer, it is important to assess the same risks as before the removal.

At that time, for example, a young person suffered a laceration when jumping off the platform because the water under the raft was no longer deep enough due to the low sea level.

In addition, young people would have made it fun to make the raft swing by jumping.

Springer: "In order to ensure sufficient water depth under the raft, the level would have to be checked regularly and, if necessary, the raft pulled further out into the lake." It follows from this that it must first be clarified who will reliably take over the control, displacement and anchoring of the raft could.

Irrespective of this, the introduction of a new raft requires the approval of the Castles and Lakes Administration.

This has not yet answered a corresponding request.

Mayor Sandra Perzul added that her counterpart in Weilheim was being advised on a security concept by a Munich law firm and municipal liability insurance.

After that, a life raft and a rescue cross could be brought into the Dietlhofer See.

With the new name, the bathing raft became a life raft for swimmers who need to rest...

After the unanimous decision of the market town council, the administration will now also seek expert advice in order to possibly install a life raft for next season.

Unsuitable for birds

The old raft, weighing eight tons, was pulled ashore in May 2019 by the water rescue service with the active help of the then mayor Herbert Kirsch and professionally dismantled and disposed of in the building yard.

The community had tried to get the raft with a completely different purpose: as a breeding area for birds in the nature reserve.

With a negative decision from the lower nature conservation authority in the district office and the state association for bird protection.

The five by five meter platform offers nesting birds neither protection nor camouflage for predators.