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4.2.5. Country results
Countries with a high proportion of river and lake water bodies being affected by hydromorphological pressures are found in central Europe (Figure 4.4). Figure 4.5 shows the percentage of classified water bodies per water category and country the percentage of water bodies being affected by hydromorphological pressures or having altered habitats as an impact.
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I am aware that one of the principle objectives of the report is to give an overview and to synthesise the RBMPs in relation with the implementation of the WFD. Nevertheless, due attention should also be given to those EEA member states which are not part of the EU. Switzerland is a full member of the EEA and as such should not be simply left out from EEA reports.
A good overview over the issue of Hydromorphology in Switzerland is given in the SOER2010, country report: http://www.eea.europa.eu/soer/countries/ch/soertopic_view?topic=freshwater
As well as in the Swiss State of Environment Report 2011, Chapter 9: http://www.bafu.admin.ch/umwelt/10822/10823/index.html?lang=en.
This information can be either added to the respective chapters (e.g. Chapter 4, 5 and 6) or then included as a single case-study box at an appropriate stage in the report (e.g. in Chapter 6.3 or 8.3) .
E.g. the following parts (for literature references and graphs, please see the original online): In Switzerland, for centuries, watercourses have been corrected, channelised and culvert-ed. The space allocated to watercourses has been reduced
to a single channel in many places. Up to now, 14,000 km or 22 % of the Swiss surface water network ( scale 1:25 000 ) have been altered appreciably through structural interven-tion ( » G9.1 ), and 100,000 artifi cial obstacles with a drop in excess of 0.5 m have been built. Approximately 10,800kilometres of rivers and streams in Switzerland are in need of remediation ( » foen2009f ).
Engineered watercourses lack the microhabitats ( e.g. gravel banks, alternating patterns of deep and shallow wa-ter, periodically fl ooded areas ) that are crucial to the sur-vival of aquatic animal species. Artifi cial obstacles create migration barriers for fi sh and other aquatic animals. Struc-tural interventions also infl uence the bed load regime.
In the early 1990s, numerous rivers and streams down-stream of water abstraction points for hydropower gen-eration regularly ran dry. As part of the revision of the Waters Protection Act in 1992, adequate residual volumes were decreed for over 200 watercourses. The need for re-mediation must be investigated in stretches of residual water that have not yet been dealt with. The deadline for the completion of these remediation measures is 2012.
During peak energy production, storage hydropower plants generate fl uctuations in downstream watercourses (hydropeaking). As a result, the water level, the fl ow rate and the river width are subject to very sudden changes, similar to an articifi cial fl ood. The strongly fl uctuating fl ow harms the aquatic fauna and destroys their habitats: when the water surges, they are swept away and during low fl ow, they risk being stranded on banks. Alpine rivers down-stream of storage hydropower plants are particularly aff ected by hydropeaking.
As a result of the entry into force of the cost-covering remuneration for feed-in to the electricity grid (CRF ) for the promotion of renewable energies in early 2009, some 500 new small hydropower plants are currently being con-structed or planned ( » Chapter 2; Box "Cost-covering remunera-tion for feed-in to the electricity grid ( CRF )" ). This will increase the pressure on watercourses: according to estimations, 20 % of the projects registered are located on watercourses in protected areas or areas of high natural and landscape value, some of which are of national importance ( » foen 2009h ).
Measures:
Changes to the Waters Protection Act, Hydraulic Engi-neering Act, Energy Act and Act on Agricultural Land Rights entered into force in early 2011. With the remediation of watercourses their natural functions are to be restored and the benefi ts they provide to the society enhanced. At the same time the major negative impacts of hydropower generation on the environment ( surge and fl ow, reduced connectivity and impaired bed load regimes ) are to be mitigated.
Recommendations in relation to the prioritisation of small hydropower station projects are currently being developed to assist the cantons in the implementation of the cost-covering remuneration for feed-in to the electricity grid (CRF ) ( » foen/sfoe/are 2011 ).
As a general overview:
For Rivers: A national study on hydromorphology has been conducted in 2009: http://www.bafu.admin.ch/publikationen/publikation/01075/index.html?lang=de
Summarized: "Up to today, 14,000 km or 22 % of the Swiss surface water network ( scale 1:25 000 ) have been altered appreciably through structural interven-tion ( » G9.1 ), and 100,000 artifi cial obstacles with a drop in excess of 0.5 m have been built. Approximately 10,800kilometres of rivers and streams in Switzerland are in need of remediation."
For lakes, no comparable national overview ist yet available. Several studies on the hydromorphological state of specific lakes have however been carried out, e.g. for Lake Constance and Lake Geneva (see www.igkb.com and www.cipel.org, respectively).