Transcript Water management

ALPINE CONVENTION
EEA 2012 State of water assessment
External Advisory Group Meeting
27-28 April 2011, Copenhagen
Regula Imhof, Vice Secretary General of the Alpine Convention
The Alpine Convention and River basin districts
The Alpine
Convention is a
multilateral
framework treaty
signed in 1991 by
the 8 states of the
Alpine arc (AT, CH,
DE, FR, IT, SL,
MO, LI) as well as
the EU.
Main Topics and Protocols
•
•
•
•
•
•
(Population and culture)
Spatial planning
(Air)
Soil protection
(Water management)
Nature conservation and
landscape
• Mountain agriculture
• Mountain forestry
• Tourism and leisure
• Transports
• Energy
• (Waste management)
=> Integrated policies and
approaches for the sustainable
development of the Alpine Space
Alpine Convention and „Water“
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Water as one strategic sector of the Climate Action Plan
Report on the state of the Alps on Water and water management issues
(including a chapter on climate), 2009
Contribution to the development of the EEA Technical Report 2009;
Regional climate change and adaptation; The Alps facing the challenge of
changing water resources
3 International public water conferences, Innsbruck, Munich, Venice
Water Platform and it‘s mandate
SHP Guidelines and state of the art report
Cooperation with alpine wide projects in the field of water management
Platform “Water Management in the Alps”
Idea of establishing a platform on „water“ has been taken up by the
X Alpine Conference in Evian (March 2009):
 RSA II “Water and water management issues” approved
 Platform “Water management in the Alps” installed
 Composed of representatives of the contracting States and official observer,
coordinated by Swiss – Austrian Presidency
 Mandate for two years (from the X Alpine Conference, 2009 to the XI, 2011)
divided in three sections: A, B, C
Mandate ( A + C )
A) The platform carries out a review of the relevant water
management plans in the Alpine region (in particular the WFD
River Basin Management Plans), according to the availability of
data, whether Alpine specific issues have been taken into account
appropriately.
C) The platform facilitates the exchange of best practice examples and
scientific experiences amongst experts from governmental
institutions, non governmental organisations, the scientific
community and concerned stakeholders in all fields of work
identified by the platform.
Mandate ( B )
B) The platform identifies and specifies areas of work, which will be
dealt with by the platform in the period 2009 - 2011. Subjects
which could be addressed by the platform include:
 The development of recommendations for the sustainable and
balanced use of hydropower in the Alpine Area, taking carefully into
account existing legislation. In doing so, special consideration has to
be paid to economic and ecological efficiency criteria in particular in
connection with the use of small hydropower.
Questionnaire
Questionnaire-template (focus on 7 issues)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Climate Change
Monitoring
Continuity interruptions / Morphology
Hydropower
Ecological status of alpine waters
Legal status of alpine waters
Other issues (Artificial snowmaking & Water use conflicts)
Questionnaire was sent out to all contracting Parties (Austria, France,
Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Switzerland) in July 2010
Replies received from Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland
Preliminary conclusions
Hydro power generation and thereof resulting impacts have to be seen
as an Alpine specific issue, which is addressed extensively in all
river basin management plans as well as in Switzerland
Only a part of the water bodies showing not good status / not good
potential will be remediated by 2015
Close follow up of implementation of Program of Measures needed to
see, whether measures foreseen until 2015 will be put into practice:
include a separate chapter on implementation in the forthcoming
RBMP?
Preliminary conclusions
More work / studies / insight foreseen respectively needed for:
Monitoring of waters in particular higher altitudes
Climate Change: all 5 countries consider level of knowledge not
sufficiently reliable to derive concrete action: enhanced insight into
forthcoming impacts of climate change needed
Methods to define residual flows
Sediment transports in river catchments with reservoirs and dams in
place
Clearing house for new questions of water management in the Alps
Xth Alpine Conference + ARGE ALP
Ministerial mandate for Platform Water Management in the Alps
The development of recommendations for the sustainable and balanced use of
hydropower in the Alpine area, taking carefully into account existing legislation. In
doing so, special consideration has to be paid to economic and ecological efficiency
criteria in particular in connection with the use of small hydropower.
Ministerial decision on Climate Action Plan
“to set up guidances for the construction, optimisation or refurbishment of small
hydropower plants, in order to lessen the impact on the aquatic biocenosis and
biodiversity.”
Resolution of “ARGE ALP” on Energy Policy
“Promotion of small hydropower through information on the possibilities and by
identification of suitable sites, taking into account the particular ecological
sensitivity of the Alpine area.”
Challenge for hydro-power use in the Alps: optimisation
between two conflicting objectives
High hydroelectric potential
Important value of ecosystems
and landscapes
National goals for
renewable energy
Rarity of remaining unexploited
rivers
Minimizing the
impairment of the
aquatic ecosystem
and landscape
Increasing the
production of
renewable energy from
hydropower generation
Conflict of
interest
good reasons and need for achievement of both objectives!
How to strike a balance between these two overriding objectives?
Topic Small Hydropower Use in the Alps
Three „products“ (deliverable reports)
Good practice
examples
Common Guidelines
Situation Report
Where are the favorable sites for new SHP?
#12 Strategic planning on a regional level (regional strategy)
On a regional level, an evaluation and classification of the potential appropriateness of river
stretches for hydropower use shall be carried out (considering their hydro-electric potential, their
ecological and landscape value and areas under special protection).
Determined only by location-specific criteria
Suggestions of criteria for determining:
• the hydro-electrical potential
• the ecological and landscape value
The actual decision on authorization at the local level
#15 Authorization decision on a local level - For individual applications only
The second level of the proposed evaluation procedure is a local in-depth assessment of
the concrete project application, considering installation- and detailed site-specific
criteria and further socio-economic aspects such that a holistic weighing of all relevant
criteria is being carried out.
The authorization is not just about judging if projects should be allowed in certain areas
or not but also about the way how projects should be realized.
Hydroelectric
potential
Regional strategy
Ecological and
landscape value
Application to build a SHP
at a certain location
Need of a local project and site specific
assessment, considering all sustainability
dimensions
• based on the regional pre-planning +
• Installation specific criteria
• further socio-economic aspects
including impacts on other sectors
Local level
Decision on
authorization
(including the
specific
requirements)
Visualization of the regional strategy
Results (classification of river stretches) can be visualized with maps,
serving as “communication tool” (e.g. to potential investors)
the example of
the Canton Bern
What should an 2012 state of Europe‘s water
assessment cover
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Climate change:
- check of measures,
- changes in the water regime and in the availability of water from smaller outflow of
glaciers and snow cover, which will have consequences on the water supply,
production of hydropower….,
- quantitative impacts of Climate Change
Hydro-morphology:
- Information on minimum biological flows currently and under climate change
conditions
- Biodiversity, e.g. synergy between hydro-morphological measures and nature
preservation
Hydropower:
- Seperate chapter on Hydropower generation and possibly the realistic potential of
hydropower (in the Alps?) (due to the dynamics in this sector)
- Impact assessment of existing hydropower plants towards the biological state
Monitoring and especially in high altitudes in mountainous regions
Strategic information on scarcity & Droughts and possible adaptation measures
„State“ of processes towards implementation of measures and management
„Gaps“ of the reporting in the frame WFD (RBMP etc.)?
Thank you for your attention!