A rain garden was installed along the verges of a residential road in Nottingham, England. The purpose of the rain garden was to control the rate of runoff and water quality reaching the downstream watercourse (Day Brook).
In the 50's and 60’s, the alluvial plain of the Alzette river was deeply modified in order to develop intensive agriculture. As a result, the water retention was reduced and ecological value declined. The project aimed at restoring the ecological state of the Alzette in Drumontshaff (Luxembourg). The two mains tasks of the project were to restore the natural functioning of the Alzette river (frequent overflowing and flooding of aside...
In the framework of the large-scale nature conservation project "Lenzener Elbtalaue", a dyke along the river Elbe (in Germany) has been relocated. This created a new retention area with a diverse floodplain, including alluvial forests, half-open pasture landscapes and other typical habitats of lowland floodplains. With 420 ha it is the biggest application of this type of measure in Germany so far. The project successfully combines...
The Central Sava Basin (CSB), located in Croatia, is an area that combines natural values with the function of storage of floodwaters of the Sava River. One of the most important areas is the Lonjsko Polje area. About 23 706 ha of this Nature Park is used as the largest detention area in the Central Sava Basin. The purpose of the Life project "Central Posavina – Wading toward Integrated Basin Management" (2006 -2008) was to develop...
The Seymaz renaturation project takes place in Switzerland, along the Seymaz river which is located in the eastern part of Geneva canton. The project consists in several renaturation measures: eliminating concrete casts, softing riverbanks and widening riverbed. A wetland (marshland) is also re-created. The project is part of the cantonal program which aims at improving ecological and countryside quality and reducing flood risk by managing...
Located in the regions Pays de la Loire and Poitou-Charentes, the Marais Poitevin is the 2nd largest wetland in France. About 2000 ha of floodmeadows are owned by local municipalities and commonly managed by local farmers. Such meadows play an important role for water regulation: they contribute to the storage of water during flood events, to groundwater recharge, to the removal of pollutants, etc. In the 1980s, in reaction to their...
The River Tolka runs through Dublin, Ireland. A series of measures was applied to the urban sections of the river to slow flood flows, reduce pollution and support wildlife. These included the establishment of retention ponds to manage runoff storage; bank engineering to slow flows and prevent erosion; and planting trees along the river to slow runoff. Two phases of retention pond construction have been carried out, the latter as part of a...
The river flow regime was restored by re-meandering the river thus restoring also the floodplain. In total 2,1 km long river stretch was restored by digging and damming channelled lower stretch of the river Slampe, Lielupe River Basin District, Latvia. In parallel, hydrological regime was created in floodplain meadows along river in 105 ha. The project was implemented in 2005 with financial support of the EC LIFE Environment programme.
The application was funded by LIFE and other national funds and The State Nature Conservancy of the Slovak Republic as responsible with others NGOs with the objective of restoring favourable conservation status of breeding and migrating birds from Birds Directive and Habitats Directive in the Senne and Medzibodrozie SPAs through improving habitats in key locations.
The project was carried out in the period 2002 – 2008 by the Ministry of the Environment and Water in Bulgaria and the main donor was the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The performance was the restoration of two wetlands along Danube River by construction of engineering facilities, including sluices, channels, dykes to protect the adjacent land, as well as access roads. The project aimed to enable water flow into former wetlands, provide...
The BIOMURA project was particularly focused on conservation of four habitat types, listed in Annex I of the Habitats Directive. It consists in the connection of the main channel of the Mura River in the east of Slovenia with side channels, provision of conditions for the adequate water level at the intake of water into side branches (intake at average and low flows), local widening of the channel and sustainable maintenance of alluvial...
The fragments of floodplain forests (Fraxino - pannonicae -Ulmetum) along the River Körös were cut from the river by dykes during the river regulation works in the 19th century. The deteriorated groundwater conditions were worsened in a drought period during the 1980-1990’s that triggered action of the forestry service. Restoration of the river connection and the floodplain watercourse network provide surface water supply from the backwater...
Fluvial and ecosystem restoration of the Arga-Aragón Rivers systems by combining measures.
This initiative (partially carried out within the framework of the Mink Territory LIFE+ Project), implemented at the lower reaches of the Arga River and lower and medium reaches of the Aragón River (two of the main tributaries of the Ebro River, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, NE Spain), included a combination of measures involving meanders, wetlands...
This Project realized a combination of three natural water retention measures: the restoration of meadows and pastures (A1) as well as a large floodplain (N3). Furthermore reduced tillage (A7) was introduced to the area. The location of the measures was in north-west Germany within the river basin district Weser (DE4000). They were directed at national policy contexts, namely the Lower Saxony otter protection program and the Lower Saxony...
This Project combined several natural water retention measures: the restoration of meadows and pastures (A1), reduced tillage (A7), a reduced stocking density (A12), and the restoration of wetlands (N2). The project area was located in north-west Germany within the river basin district Weser (DE4000). As funded under the LIFE Program, it was directed at European policy contexts, namely the WFD, Habitats Directive, and Birds Directive. A wide...
The project refers to water retention management in the broader area of Ancient Olympia, Elia, Peloponnese, Greece; that is afforestation of mountain areas. The measures include the temporary installation of structures utilizing locally available timber in order to increase water retention as well as targeted planting of forests in mountain areas that can help stabilize hill slopes, thereby reduce erosion and potentially leading to greater...
Since 2003 the city of Vienna supports financially the implementation of green roofs with 8-25 € per m². The maximum subsidy can be 2200 €. Until 2010 16000 m² roof were transformed and 150 000 € invested.
This example is one of many schemes being implemented through the national 'Room for the River' programme in the Netherlands. This particular measure involves setting back the dyke of the River Waal, and incorporating a new channel in to the expanded area of floodplain that can take additional flood flow from the Waal. The measures are also incorporated with a new area of urban development and will create an urban river park within...
Aquifer recharge with highly polished treated effluents.
With a high population density and almost inexistent surface waters, Malta is in a situation of over abstraction of its groundwater resources and where its total water demand exceeds the sustainable yield of the naturally renewable freshwater resources. Demand comes from the domestic and agricultural sectors alike (the domestic use can even exceed the agricultural use with the...
The Project 'Slowing the Flow at Pickering' implements multiple natural flood risk measures including low level bunds, large woody debris dams, planting riparian and floodplain woodland, planting farm woodland, blocking moorland drains and establishing no-burn buffer zones, blocking forest drains and implementing farm-scale measures. The aim of the project is to show how land management measures can help to reduce flood risk from a...
Measures to attenuate runoff were installed in the small Belford catchment, in northeast England, in order to reduce the risk of flooding to the village downstream. The installations involved a network of small measures to capture and delay runoff from the rural catchment, including detention basins and overland flow features, as well as sediment capture measures to improve water quality.
Managed Aquifer Recharge in Los Arenales (Segovia, Spain).
As showed by data obtained after 8 effective recharge cycles carried out in an experimental area (Cubeta de San Tiuste) at Los Arenales Aquifer (Segovia, Duero River Basin, Spain), Managed Aquifer Recharge can be more than an effective measure for storing large quantities of water in underground aquifers to naturally increase the quantity of groundwater in times of shortage: it...