Author(s): Sven Hartmann
Linked Author(s):
Keywords: Sediment management; Alpine region; Sustainability; Ecological aspects; Economic impacts; European Water Framework Directive; Impact analysis
Abstract: Alpine Regions are regarded as a valuable source of clean drinking water and of great importance for hydro power use. Management of water as an extremely valuable resource is guaranteed by numerous reservoirs enabling a third essential task: flood protection. Sediments are transported in rivers originated from natural geomorphological processes in alpine regions accumulating material in reservoirs. Thus storage capacity is reduced interfering with the needs of water supply, flood protection and hydro power. However, the lack of transported material in downstream sections heavily affects ecological variety, river bed stability and groundwater. A wise management of sediments on basis of experiences gained on national level is needed to establish trans-national actions to preserve existing reservoirs and to avoid uncontrolled exploitation by constructing new storage capacity.
Year: 2004