Download - From the most Romantic Sewer in Europe to a Living River - The Rhine Case - Dr. Fritz Holzwarth
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UNW-DPC International Workshop Institutional Capacity Development in Transboundary Basins
Lessons learned from practical experiences
10 – 12 November 2008Bonn, Germany
From the most Romantic Sewer in Europe to a Living River
- The Rhine Case -
Dr. Fritz HolzwarthDeputy Director General
German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety
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Rhine river basin in Europe
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Characteristics of the river and the basin
• 3rd biggest European river– after Volga and Danube– 1320 km length of the Rhine stream– navigable length: 825 km
• Glacier and snow fed • 9 countries in the catchment
– Italy, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, France, Germany, Belgium, Luxemburg, Netherlands and EU
• Catchment area: 200.000 km²• 58 million inhabitants• Drinking water for 20 million people
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Countries in the river
basin
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1838
1872
1980
Development of the Rhine hydromorphology
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Situation in the 1970s
• In the midth of the 20th century the chemical and ecological status of the Rhine had deteriorated dramatically– industrial development– increase of agricultural production
• more fertilizers
• 1935 the salmon had disappeared– only 20 fish species left
• Since the 1950s it had been more and more difficult to use the Rhine as drinking water ressource– phenol pollution– too salty
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First steps
• 1948 international salmon conference– too late
• 1950 establishment of the International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine
• 1976 Chemical and chloride conventions– reduction of cadmium, mercury etc.– reduction of salt discharges from the salt mines
• 1970 – 1990 more than 40 billion € invested to build waste water treatment plants
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Water Quality in the 1970s and its
development
at the monitoring stations
Weil (yellow)Coblence (red)
Bimmen/Lobith (violet)
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1986: Fire at Sandoz, Schweizerhalle (CH)
• Fire in a chemical storage facility
• 15.000 l of water for firefighting were discharged in the river– 20 tons of mercury and
pesticides• Nearly all fishes,
especially eels died• Drinking water facilities
were shut down for 18 days
• Ca. 90 million € damages
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Sandoz follow up: First Rhine Action Programme
• 1987 – 2000– new or improved waste water treatment plans
• 95 % connected municipalities and industrial sites, 10% improvement– storage facilities for firefighting water at all industrial sites– secure storage of dangerous substances– warning and alarm system– around 13 billion € invested, mostly for waste water treatment
• Results– considerable improvement of water quality
• 70 – 100 % reduction of the problematic substances– considerable reduction of accidents– recovering of the Rhine fauna
• with 63 species the fish fauna is nearly restored • the salmon as „Rhine Symbol“ is back due to the salmon 2000
initiative
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Fishes in the River Rhine1950 - 2000
1950 1969 2000without
treatmenttreatment and
monitoring
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Current tasks in the Rhine basin• Second Rhine Action programme
– 2000 – 2020– sustainable development of the river
• improvement of ecosystems– e.g. self-sustaining salmon population
• improvement of water quality• groundwater protection• flood prevention
• EC Water Framework Directive– good status of all water bodies in principle until 2015– first international river basin management plan until
December 2009– national programmes of measures– transboundary coordination and cooperation
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Today’s water management issues in the Rhine basin
• To restore free migration – through the rivers and to increase the habitat diversity
along the waters• To reduce diffuse pollution
– in particular from nutrients, plant protective agents, metals, dangerous substances derived from historic pollution
• To further reduce point source pollution– in particular due to industrial and municipal inputs
• To harmonize water uses and environmental objectives– navigation, hydropower, flood protection and others
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Rhine flood action plan
• Targets– reduce damage risks
• 2005: 10%, target: 25% (2020)
– reduce high-water levels• 2005: 30%, target: 70% (2020)
– increase flood awareness• e.g. via flood risk maps, Rhine flood atlas
– improve flood forecasting system
• First evaluation report– it is difficult to achieve the targets– new EC flood directive has to be taken into account
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Rhine Flood Atlas
• Flood risk maps• From Lake Constance
to the North Sea• 34 maps, 1:10.000• Information on
damage risks• Awareness raising
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Thank you for your attention!