Some fish such as salmon need access to freshwater but obstacles such as dams and hydropower plants can act as barriers and prevent them migrating and spawning.

However, rivers in Switzerland, which are all regulated, have benefitted from some innovative solutions to reduce the impact of hydropower plants and dams on fish. To solve this challenge, bypass channels or fishways have been built at almost at every dam and weir.

 

The European Commission recently released its Blueprint to Safeguard Europe's Water Resources, outlining proposals to ensure better implementation of the EU’s water policy objectives. Several initiatives recognise the benefits of river restoration to improve the ecological status of Europe’s waters.

The Blueprint includes proposals on natural water retention, ecological flows and water accounts, and encourages restoration measures in the River Basin Management Plans and Flood Risk Management Plans submitted by Member States.

View the Blueprint submission by RESTORE and partners: http://www.restorerivers.eu/Publications/tabid/2624/mod/11083/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/3297/Default.aspx

View the Blueprint: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/blueprint/index_en.htm

RESTORE attended an international symposium in Vienna in September.  The symposium gathered 300 participants to look at research and new solutions for our rivers. If you look at the proceedings you can see the discussions on large hydro power schemes around the world, like Mekong River.  The sturgeon can not migrate along the Danube and other fish struggle to move around our rivers.  At the event the work and cooperation in Austria between river managers and power companies is helping to solve some of these issues.  Discussion consisted of presentations about the benefits of river restoration, upstream and downstream fish migration, environmental flows, modeling and aquatic ecology.  New fish pass cases, combined with reproduction habitats, were presented in some presentations. Jukka Jormola from RESTORE gave a presentation on natural fish bypass channels and work that is being undertaken in Finland. Technical tours were organized to fish passes and a new side channel under construction on the Danube.

Proceedings: http://www.ise2012.boku.ac.at/

The Royal Society of Arts, in conjunction with the Environment Agency, are asking students to design or update a method of tackling water pollution. The aim is to reduce the impact of man-made structures, restore natural features to water environments, and to reduce the impact of water pollution. 

Two awards are available for this brief, including a paid internship at the Environment Agency or an RSA Fellows Award of £1250. 

Submission requirements for the competition can be found on the RSA's website 

Download this brief (PDF)

Ram river is an extraordinary watercourse in Val Müstair: clean water, a close to natural river system and a great diversity of plants and animals. Many are also the interests at stake: hydropower, nature protection, tourism. Now inhabitants have to decide decide whether Switzerland and Italy will travel common paths on river management.