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Flood defence works may cause significant pressures on hydromorphology. Today many sections of the major rivers have dykes. The building of dykes resulted in the loss of floodplains as retention spaces for flood water. For example, the Upper Rhine 150 years ago had a river bed up to 12 km wide but the river was channel between 200 and 250 m in width. Overall, the natural floodplain area of the Upper Rhine was reduced by 60 %, which in turn entailed considerable expenditure for the associated increased risk of flooding in downstream areas (UBA 2010: Water management part 2).