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Over the last 400 years the Rhône was developed in successive phases for different purposes, levees have been built as flood defences; and groins and ripraps were constructed to create a more navigable river. The basin has 19 hydroelectric schemes accounting for 20-25% of the French hydroelectric production. Water abstraction for irrigated agriculture has added to the many river uses. Canals straighten and shorten the watercourse to facilitate navigation, thus by-passing the old river channel (“vieux” Rhône).

Today the flow regime of the Rhone is regulated by several large storage reservoirs that can hold more than 7 % of the annual runoff. Nearly 80% of this storage capacity is located downstream of Geneva.

 The Rhône corridor is today a densely populated and industrialized area. The morphology of the river channel has changed from braided to straight and canalized, often eroded and incised; the level of the ground water has been lowered; several natural biotopes disappeared; the riparian forest evolved to hardwood forest due to ground water depletion; and dams block the migration of fish (shads, eel, lampreys), where numerous lateral communications with tributaries or side channels have been modified, sometimes cut off.