Exactly fulfilling the wishes of the Kaiser who as early as 1866 had already envisaged the Prater as the site of the unrealised 1870 World Exposition, the former imperial hunting park was officially designated the Exposition Site in 1869. The critics considered the long distance from the park to the city centre to be a major disadvantage - not to mention the danger of the area being flooded by the river Danube. Despite these reservations, the area around the Prater became an integral part of the city reconstruction measures.
A new river bed was excavated for the Danube to finally remove the centuries old risk of flooding of the city and the Prater. The Danube control measures - themselves one of the World Exposition exhibits - made it possible to construct the northern station in the northern part of the Prater from which railway tracks were laid into each of the exposition buildings during the construction phase. The lowering of the ground water level, which was another consequence of the Danube control measures, allowed Vienna's drinking water supply to be improved. In combination with the construction of new hospitals, the improvement of the water supply was a major weapon in the fight against the regular risk of epidemics such as