River Restoration: a European picture

Transcription

1 River Restoration: a European picture Bruna GUMIERO ECRR (European Centre for River Restoration) CIRF (Italian Centre for River Restoration)

2 ECRR who are we? A researchers and practitioners network MISSION Enhance Ecological river restoration throughout Europe. VISION RR is an integral part of sustainable water management. ACTIONS ECRR is connecting people and organizations working on river restoration (network / platform) ECRR supports development of good practices of river restoration.

3 EUROPEAN DIRECTIVES WFD 2000/60 91/676/EEC (Nitrates) 2006/118/EC (Groundwater) 92/43/EEC (Habitat) 2007/60/EC (Flood risk) 79/409/EEC (Birds) 2008/56/EC (Marine strategy)

4 WFD-objectives Prevent deterioration and achieve a GES Work with the river and not against it Water management based on river basins Participatory planning and Socio-economic analyses Set specific deadlines for Member States to protect aquatic ecosystems Basin Branch Floodplain Ecotope 4

5 The WFD management approach Three Six Year Cycles Monitor Implementation Evaluate state of environment Continual Assess pressures & impacts Enact measures Asses risks, costs & benefits Finalise Programme of Measures 2009 Propose Actions Determine objectives 2008

6 PROBLEMS AND CONFLICTS IN EUROPE 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% East-E. West-E. North-E. South-E. nature fishery safety against flooding shipping water supply irrigation drinking water hydropower

7 Northern Europe Hydropower and dams (env. flow) Recreational use vs economic vs natural HMW

8 Norwegian watercourses = hydropower

9 Environmental flows Minimum flows Summer and winter flows No minimum flows

10 HYDROPOWER: CONFLICTS AND OPPORTUNITIES The recent debate concerning the better efficiency of hydropower plants and the renewal of licences of use, offers chances to combine the renovation with river restoration measures.

11 Voluntary persons in fishery management & restoration work

12 . Houting-project Remove 13 obstacles Give access to an additional 130 km new river habitats Eliminate mortality of drifting fry past fish farms Create new spawning grounds Restore approx. 30 km river Create 470 ha new nursery areas Purchase of commercial netting rights Breed fry temporarily to secure the gene pool Highlight the importance of watercourses to Danish nature

13 Houting-project

14 Eastern Europe Water and sediment pollution Navigation Natural resources

15 World Bank project Kalimok Bulgaria Bulgaria Wetlands Restoration and Pollution Reduction Project

16 Bulgaria Wetlands Restoration and Pollution Reduction Project Kalimok-Brushlen Protected site ha Kalimok marsh (after restoration) ~ ha Kalimok and Brushlen former marshes ~ ha

17 Navigation and WFD "Joint Statement on Inland Navigation and Environmental Sustainability in the Danube River Basin"

18 Consensus building process: navigation The goal of the process was to agree upon a Statement that will provide a set of guiding principles and criteria for development and maintenance of navigation in the Danube (and some tributaries), in a way that effectively protects and improves the environmental situation

19 Rescue of Sturgeon Species by means of Transboundary Integrated Water Management in the Ural River Basin The high economic and social values of sturgeon allow the combination of both ecological and socioeconomic aspects of sustainable development.

20 Western Europe Habitat degradation and fragmentation Flood protection Navigation

21 Large floods in Germany since 1990 Year River basin Damage [million ] 1991 Danube Rhine Saale Rhine Oder Mosel Danube Elbe, Danube Danube 185

22 Flood 2002: Damages Germany Czech Republic Fatalities People affected affected evacuees in Dresden evacuated evacuees in Prague Economic loss 12 billion 3 billion And other damage devastating damage to many cultural heritage monuments all 3 subway lines severely affected

23 ROOM FOR RIVER The project area of the Room for the Rivers program (from Albert, 2008). Example of Room for the River : creating new side channels in the floodplain (from Albert, 2008).

24 Canalization Hydropower and dams Water shortage Pollution Southern Europe from: from:

25 Model of channel evolution the types of channel adjustment A B the bed erosion in the River Mur, could be halted for about 60 years by the widening of the river bed from 85 m to about 200 metres over a length of 1.1 km III (m) II IV (m) I II I Increasing incision Increasing narrowing III (i) IV (i)

26 Drought and abstractions (IPCC - WISE, 2008) Summer rains will become scarcer and summer temperatures will rise. Summers could be 6 degrees Celsius hotter in Spain and Portugal by 2070 Total water abstraction in the EU27 about 247,000 million m3/y. 44% is used for energy production, 24% for agriculture, 17% for public water supply and 15% for industry.

27 Drought and abstractions EU can reduce its use of water by 40% through measures in a number of sectors. Once all water saving options have been exploited new sources of water supply can be considered. the European Commission launched a project ( Assessment of alternative water supply options ): 1) desalination, 2)wastewater re-use, 3)ground water recharge and 4) rainwater harvesting.

28 Your water, your life. Plunge into the debate!