Participate in the European dam removal report by indicating obstacles removed in your area in 2022

Since 2020, Dam Removal Europe (DRE) has been reported the number of obstacles removed* from rivers in Europe, results that were also highlighted in 2021 by The Guardian.

From the beginning of this year and until 1 March, DRE is launching its 2022 data collection campaign, to share the final report in May 2023.

This collect is essential to evaluate the implementation advancement of EU policies and to analyze the progress of this river restoration measure in each country. Participate in this data collection and answer the survey by indicating the obstacles removed in 2022: https://damremoval.eu/news/tell-us-about-your-dam-removal/ .

*Fish passes and bypass rivers are not considered.

 

More infos : Foivos Mouchlianitis foivos@fishmigration.org

Access to previous reports:

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Open Rivers : First weir removed on the Tardoire !

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Rhine River : Fish passes in Rhinau and Marckolsheim: the work has really entered the active phase

Officially launched on 8 October 2021 by Mrs. Bérangère Abba, Secretary of State to the Minister of Ecological Transition, in charge of Biodiversity, the first shovels began to be dug in Rhinau and Marckolsheim this autumn 2022.

A great technical challenge awaits EDF. These fish passes will be the largest ever built in France and in Europe. The work will be carried out simultaneously on both sites, with commissioning scheduled for 2025 for Rhinau and 2026 for Marckolsheim. This is a great step forward and in line with the timetable announced at the last conference of ministers in Amsterdam in February 2020.

But a bigger challenge still awaits EDF on the Rhine: solving and developing the Vogelgrün dam, the last real obstacle before Basel. In this context the Salmon Comeback coalition will again ask the ICPR to set up an interdisciplinary working group dedicated to Vogelgrün in order to study additional alternative solutions to those studied in the past, which proved to be extremely complex and expensive.

More information and video presentation of the project: :  https://www.edf.fr/hydraulique-alsace-vosges/passes-a-poissons-rhinau-marckolsheim/le-projet-en-bref.

terrassement passa à poisson Rhinau
Rhinau works © EDF

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Joint meeting of maritime and water directors: LRE calls for a commitment to raise ambitions for river restoration

Ahead of the joint meeting of maritime and water directors on 29 November 2022, the Living Rivers Europe coalition is sending a letter to the water directors asking them to engage in the Council deliberations on the European Commission proposal for the Nature Restoration Law to:

● Raise the barrier removal target to 15% of EU river length (178,000 km) restored to a free-flowing state by 2030 and make it legally binding;
● Remove the highlight given to exemptions to the Water Framework Directive objectives and TEN-T regulation to ensure proper implementation;
● Prioritise barrier removals according to the ecological potential of the removal, in particular the connectivity between marine and freshwater ecosystems;
● Increase the intermediary percentage targets laid out in Article 4 for the restoration and re-establishment of areas and the restoration of habitats of species, and shorten the timeline for reaching 100%, as this article also covers some freshwater ecosystems and those restoration actions would also complement the action on river connectivity;
● Recognise the need to expand the EU financing support available for free-flowing river restoration in addition to the sources identified in the EU Guidance on barrier removal for river restoration, for example, through the establishment of dedicated funding for nature restoration, pursuant to the mid-term review of the Multiannual Financial Framework.

Around exemptions from the WFD objectives :

● Make full use of the measures provided by the Water Framework Directive and other EU rules to bring Europe’s waters to good status as soon as possible and by 2027 the latest
● Do proper cost benefit analysis before applying exemptions and include long-term costs such as costs related to climate change in the decision-making
● Do proper economic analysis and put in place economic instruments for cost recovery for the coal sector, including mine drainage fees and adequate fees for cooling water abstraction that account for the external costs of operation. Earmark the revenues for restoration measures.

Read letter 

Loire / Rhone-Ardèche basins in France : Watertransfer by solidarity ? Webinary 15 nov 16h-18h

This online webinar, the 2nd episode, out of a total of 4, will explain, using the example of the particularly dry summer of 2022, how the Montpezat hydroelectric complex and the diversion of around 200 million M3 of water from the Loire to the Ardèche worked. How was the support of low water levels and the sharing of water between the two basins organised? Who decided what?
1 hour of debate + 1 hour of questions and answers live.

>  Infos and  subscribing  in FRENCH ONLY

> more information o,n the Hydropower complex of Montpezat

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Open Rivers Programme : 2 Q&R sessions on November

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Book Cover

France: The New Poutès dam, partialy removed and now transparent will be inaugurated Oct. 24 – A book will be published

After a long struggle over 30 years, the New Poutès dam on the Upper Allier River, tributary of the Loire River, is officially inaugurated on 24 October 2022.

The dam, which was partialy removed from 20 m to 7 m, is now equipped with a fish lift and two huge gates. They are fully opened every year for 3 months and during floods and ensure good passage, especially for Europe’s last wild salmon. The downstream migration is also guaranteed by the low dam height of 6 m and the reduction of the length of the dam from 3.5 km to about 0.5 km. The project allow also the fully restoration of 20 km of the Allier River.

The “Nouveau Poutès” project has been co-constructed over the last 10 years by EDF, NGOs including ERN-SOS Loire Vivante, the municipalities and other stakeholders and can be described as the result of collective intelligence.
A book will be released in November 17 (in french only) > order the book and info in french

> more information on the “Nouveau Poutès” project

 

Naaer River Summit 2022

The River Summit by the ONGs starts in Brussels (29 sept – 1 october)

EUROPEAN RIVERS SUMMIT

 

Wetlands International Europe, EuroNatur, GEOTA, Riverwatch and WWF Adria invite you
to the third European Rivers Summit in Brussels, Belgium from 29 September to 1 October.

The European Rivers Summit aims to inspire a movement of connected citizens in Europe to protect and restore European rivers, fight new dams and remove obsolete barriers. Healthy rivers are essential to delivering the European Green Deal and we aim to connect river champions around Europe to policy-makers in Brussels, with a two-day conference plus a third day to visit a river restoration site.

The event will inform attendees on the most important policy issues, big ideas and latest science around healthy rivers, and engage directly with Brussels as the home of the European Commission and Parliament in defending healthy rivers for people across Europe. We will also explore the power of communicating about rivers in film and art and see the transformative power of restoring urban rivers.

> to the programme

Living Rivers Coalition publishes its briefing paper on the natural connectivity of rivers and natural functions of the related floodplains

Freshwater ecosystems are one of the most degraded in Europe, with freshwater molluscs and fish the two most threatened animal groups  and 60% of surface waters failing to reach good ecological status. The fitness check of the Water Framework Directive concluded that the main reasons for failure are for a large part connected to insufficient measures to tackle diffuse pollution coming from agriculture, and the hydromorphological changes affecting water bodies. Restoring freshwater ecosystems is therefore a necessity to sustain the natural functions of rivers, lakes and wetlands. Only with healthy, biodiverse water bodies can we allow nature to thrive, ensure clean and sufficient water supply, and resilience to climate change impacts.

read the complet document : > FINAL LRE briefing – freshwater – NRL