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4.2.3.      Case studies, Ecological status of rivers in Germany and Sweden

Germany – Ecological status of different river types

Source: BMU/UBA 2010: Water Resource Management in Germany, Part 2 - Water Quality

Germany has identified 9070 river water bodies with a total length of around 127 000 kilometres. The length of all natural watercourses totals 74 506 km, corresponding to 59 % of the total river length. The proportion of heavily modified water bodies (HMWB) is 31 %, while artificial water bodies (AWB) account for 10 %. The natural river water bodies have been divided into 25 river types characterized by their location in the different eco-regions and the geological, morphological and hydrological characteristics of the river and the catchment.

An assessment of natural river water bodies reveals that by river length 14 % of the length is high or good ecological status, while 37 %, 33.5 % and 15.5 % are in moderate, poor or bad status, respectively. The most common reason for failing to achieve a “good ecological status” are changes in hydromorphology in natural river water bodies, and the high levels of nutrient pollution.

There are significant differences in the ecological status of the different German river types (Figure 5.x). More than 60 % of the natural river water bodies of the Alps and of the Pleistocene sediments in the Alpine foothills have at least “good” ecological status. Of the other watercourse types of the alpine foothills and Central German Highlands, 20 % are classed as having a “good” status, while 30 to 50 % are classed as “moderate”. Among North German lowland streams and rivers, the proportion of good status is generally well below 10 %. Generally speaking, more than 70 % of the river length in many lowland watercourse types has an ecological status worse than “moderate”. None of the large rivers have high or good ecological status.