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...
Órbigo River (Duero River Basin, northwest of Spain) ecological status improvement. The budle of measures applied within the framework of this project (2013 IRF European Riverprize finalist) aimed to promote floodplain reconnection and restoration, revitalisation of flowing water, levelling of longitudinal barriers, natural bank stabilisation, elimination of riverbank protection and restoration and riparian buffer restoration and maintenance...
Sävjaån catchment is a lowland mixed land use catchment characteristic of central Sweden. Headwaters in the catchment drain a mixture of forest and agricultural land. Streams draining agricultural land are general deepened and straightened to promote drainage. Localized spring floods are common and summer droughts are increasing. Eutrophication is an issue throughout the catchment.
At three different sections of the Austrian Drau the river bed was enlarged and restoration works have taken place. Moreover, 25 ha of riparian forest were created as well as meadows, lakes and several river branches.
The project involves the removal of drainage from a wet grassland at the head of a small Breton coastal river watershed in an area subject to nitrogen pressure. Located at the bottom of an hydromorphic valley, the Coat Carriou meadow has been drained by two ditches to allow the plot to be mowed. Collecting runoff from the hillside, the two ditches caused a short circuit in the meadow, leading the nitrate-laden runoff directly to the river...
The restoration of riparian floodplain habitats in reserve "Dolna Topchia", Bulgaria, was performed by Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water – Stara Zagora. It was designed and constructed hydraulic structures on river Tundzha (a weir and one channel of 900 m) for recovery of riparian wetland biotypes maintained in the reserve and run off on his sleeve Malka Tundzha.
The Körös stream catchment lies in a droughts stricken region of Hungary, it is a heavily modified water body. There are nutrient overload in the stream and in the ground water as well both from point and diffuse sources that are both agricultural and urban. Meanwhile recurring water logging periods cause temporary flood problems for the settlement and the agricultural areas during early spring and in case of torrential rains.
The water...
The case study is located in the draining basin of the Venice Lagoon. It is characterized by intensive agriculture and by a web of drainage channels discharging into the rivers. This case study, in particular, includes measures on the drainage channels discharging into the Dese river, one of the main water bodies of the Venice Lagoon basin.
The Veneto Region, through the “Plan for diffuse pollution prevention and restoration of water in...
Urban constructions carried out by JVProjektvh which include the removal or sinking of existing curbs, lowering or adjustment of the surface, transfer of storm water from the area of street inlets to decentralized devices, taking apart gutters and street inlets within green areas.
The Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Authority had the aim with the Fortuna Wetland Restoration Project of connecting agricultural polder Fortuna (2,115 ha), Romania, to the Danube regime, restoration of hydrological regime and hydrological functions.
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).
Conserving important brownfield invertebrate community of regional importance as part of strategic multifunctional green infrastructure. Target species included the brown-banded carder bee (Bombus humilis) (UK Biodiversity Action Plan Priority Species) and Gymnosoma nitens (RDB1) but also a wider set of species. This project used an innovative ecomimicry approach to designing urban green infrastructure for the new development. Ecomimicry...
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...
Removing barriers to fish migration, enhancing and restoring habitats, improving the water management infrastructure, and putting in place a water monitoring system. Project funded by LIFE+ and carried out by Purgator Engineering Ltd. in responsibility of Ljubljana University.
The Cechticky stream catchment case study is located at the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. The catchment area is about 72 km², most of which is used as agricultural land (69%). Fifty nine percent of which is cropland. Čechtický stream catchment is a part of the Želivka river basin, which includes the Švihov drinking water reservoir. The reservoir is currently facing persistent problems with poor water quality linked to...
The Exmoor Mires project is part of a wider Upstream Thinking programme initiated by the local water company South West Water (SWW) to use land management to tackle problems of water quality and quantity across South-west England. The benefit to SWW is in potentially reducing the costs of water treatment. Demonstration of success will allow SWW to approach the regulator (OFWAT) for permission to develop PES schemes to deliver these benefits...
In the framework of a research programme, no tillage field trials have been installed in lower Austria. They showed a significant reduction of runoff, as well as a reduced loss of nutrients. In addition, reduced or no tillage leads to less loss of soil, and an increased content of organic carbon in the soil.
This site was one of nine included in the LIFE05 project to restore priority woodland habitats in Ireland. The Durrow site is located on the floodplain of the river Erkina, and had been affected by planting of non-native conifers and associated drainage. A network of shallow drainage ditches covered the entire site, and was found to be adversely affecting the native alluvial woodland by reducing retention time of floodwaters on the floodplain...
The project coordinated by the Ministry of Environment involves a mire restoration program in the Sumava National Park, Czech Republic, The aim was the raise of the water table to a natural (per-drainage) level, decrease the fluctuations, and retain sufficient water in the mires especially during the driest periods. To make it possible, the activities carried out were restoration of natural (or near-natural) mire hydrology, enhancement of...
In the ski resort of Saint-Léger-les-Mélèze, a ski slope carved out by remodeling work was revegetated to reduce erosion, increase snow retention on the slope, improve the resort's landscape integration and allow grazing activity on the slope in summer. Vegetation restoration was done by the so-called "green hay" technique, which consists of seeding the area with hay previously harvested nearby. The seed bank provided by this...
Forest ecosystems in Poland have long suffered from drought. From the mid-90s, the Polish forest management authority undertook a variety of small-scale water retention works, financed from a combination of its own and external funds (i.e. the Polish Ecofund, and the Polish National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management). In 2006, the authority consolidated all its initiatives into a single project ‘Increasing retention and...
The city of Fourqueux (4000 inhabitants) has redesigned its urban space to build social housing. A plot of land has been set up at the heart of this area to collect and manage rainwater from the requalified area. Called water garden, the park collects water from 1.7 hectares of permeable and impervious area to allow it to infiltrate through a succession of temporary basins and a permanent one. It thus avoids the direct discharge of this...
The aim was the preservation, restoration and sustainable management in Small Wetland of Brăila, the wet area compacted on the lower course of the Danube,
between Silistra and Brăila. The project has been carried out during the period from October 2006 to April 2011 spending a total of 978.419 €.
The Csorsza case study is located in Veszprém County, Hungary. The size of the study site is 21.3 km2, where 29% of the total catchment area is forest, 29% orchards and vineyards, 17% shrubs, 13% is arable land, 6% is grassland, and 5% is urban.
Some selected analysis are performed at the Felső-Válicka catchment, too. The Felső-Válicka study site is located in Zala County, flows in south-north direction into the River Zala. The size...
The aim of the EC LIFE programme's co-financed project is to improve the conditions for the protection of water habitats in the Middle Basin of the Biebrza Valley by: controlled management and irrigation of the area in order to stop the degradation processes of hydrogenic habitats within the water system of the Rudzki Canal – the Ełk River – the Jegrznia River – the Woźnawiejski Canal; creating habitat conditions for avifauna of open...