THE POTENTIAL OF BARRIER REMOVAL TO RECONNECT EUROP'S RIVERS
Topics: How to do River Restoration, Habitat & Biodiversity, River continuity,
Regions: Greater Europe, Published: 01-05-2021 , Authors: Ulrich Schwarz (FLUVIUS) Floodplain Ecolgy and River Basin Management, Vienna, Austria. With financial assistance of WWF-Switzerland
Out of over 30,000 assessed barriers along larger rivers across Europe, the study identifies 858 barriers with high reconnection potential in large and mediumsized rivers, which would allow to reconnect about 14,400 km of rivers. In the EU27, this figure would amount to 732 barriers with high reconnection potential, allowing to reconnect 11,500 km of rivers.
This study proposes an initial assessment of the number of river barriers in Europe which could be prioritised for removal and the expected outcome of such removal, based on a sample of 30,000 barriers (less than 3% of the total estimated number of barriers) in large and medium-sized rivers. The report focuses on the reconnection potential, i.e. the length and the ecological quality of reconnected rivers which could be achieved through barrier removal. Some of the barriers with particular uses, such as drinking water reservoirs or hydropower plant of a capacity > 10MW, are excluded where feasible.