River Basin Planning in Western Europe
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CARL B. BROWN, DONALD R. BURNETT, LUDVVfG L. KELLY, KARL S. LANDSTROM, AND »ARREN T. MÜRPHY RIVER BASIN PLANNING IN WESTERN EUROPE XHE Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations sponsored a seminar on watershed management and study tour of six Western European countries in 1962. Forty men and women from 22 countries spent about a week each in the Netherlands, West Germany, Austria, Switzer- land, France, and Italy. The ñvc representatives from the United States wrote this chapter. The seminar was designed to de- Each of the six countries we visited velop a better understanding of the developed a program of lectures and physical, economic, and social aspects field inspections to illustrate the phases of the use of land and water in relation of land and water development that to the well-being of people. have received particular attention in It covered a wide scope of enter- that country. prises—sea reclamation in the Nether- W^e Americans were impressed by lands; improvement of river naviga- the spectacular advances in some tion and control of pollution on the spheres of activity and the lag behind Rhine and Rhone Rivers; reforesta- the United States in others. Of the tion and the control of erosion in many that we saw and studied to our West Germany, Switzerland, Austria, great profit, we here describe a few to France, and Italy; rural redevelop- illustrate how the efiicient use of land ment in Switzerland and France; land and water is creating in the old coun- consolidation in the Netherlands, tries of E^urope a new and better Switzerland, and Italy; protection of environment for its peoples. small watersheds in West Germany and Italy; avalanche control in Aus- SOME OF THE concepts of runofí" and tria and Switzerland; multipurpose control of sediment have a long history power, irrigation, and flood control in Western Europe. Much of the forest in southern France; and other aspects area had been cleared by the end of of the use of land and water. the Middle Ages. Clear-cutting, culti- 541 542 Yearbook oj Agriculture 1963 vation of oversleep slopes, excessive has underway or has completed 10 grazing, and litter raking l^rought the watershed management plans, com- usual results of destructive floods, ava- prising 76 percent of its total area of lanches, and flows of debris. As early 8,147 square miles. The watersheds as the 13 th century, several forest-cov- covered by the plans range from 52 to ered areas in Switzerland were declared 2,682 square miles. to be "banned forests." The cutting of All but four are within the size limits living trees and detrimental secondary authorized for Public Law 566 proj- utilization were outlawed. ects in the United States—namely, 250 Germany, Austria, France, Switzer- thousand acres. land, and Italy have developed pro- The plans are truly comprehensive. gressively more intensive programs of They include the present and future forest management and reforestation needs (up to 30 years) for flood control, and structural measures to control as- use of surface and ground waters for sociated torrents and debris since the domestic and industrial supply, irriga- beginning of the 19th century. Major tion, improvement and maintenance water projects, such as the correction of water quality, recreation, and other works on the Rhine and other great purposes. rivers of Europe for navigation, local The planning takes into account the flood protection, and the development potential of planned economic devel- of hydroelectric power and the Zuider opment of the region. It also evaluates Zee reclamation in the Netherlands, the potential downstream efl'ects of were planned or underway before 1900. whatever measures may be proposed The timing in many ways parallels in the watershed on navigation, hydro- experience in the United States. pow^er, and control of water quality. Western European countries are just The planning process is aimed at es- now, however, íoeginning to enter an tablishing a balance between demand era of multipurpose development of and supply of water. The plans include watersheds and river basins. Concepts suggestions for administrative proce- of small watershed projects that began dures and data on admissible maximum to crystallize in this country in the thir- water extraction from ground water ties and have been progressively ma- and for granting of water rights to the turing from the late forties to date have use of surface water. taken root in Europe only since the Benefit-cost analysis as it is practiced midfifties. in the United States does not provide the framework for German water re- THE PARLIAMENT of the Federal Re- source developments. Decisions are public of Germany in 1957 enacted based on whether a project is needed what is known as the Water Household to maintain or develop the resource. Law to provide for the general plan- Projects decided upon are designed to ning of the subwatcrsheds of the main last forever, insofar as technical knowl- rivers, such as the Rhine. The law pro- edge permits. The rate of undertaking vides for the development of plans to projects is dependent on National and assure needed improvements in man- State budgetary considerations. agement of water and land for im- The watershed plans of Hesse are mediate purposes and for the next 30 worked out by planning groups com- years. prised mainly of experts of the Water The Federal Government establishes Management Department of the Min- the standards and undertakes the co- istry of Agriculture and Forestry. A ordination of water planning, but the special working group or committee actual planning is carried out by the of consultants is established also for German Lander—States—under the each plan as a body to look after the direction of the State ministries of agri- interests of the respective municipali- culture and forestry. One State, Hesse, ties, the chambers of agriculture and River Basin Planning in Western Europe 313 forestry, the chambers of industry and Lorsch detention basin is 2,616 acre- commerce, various economic associa- feet. tions, navigation authorities, and so The channel will be improved at on. Weinheim to increase its capacity. The planning is administratively in Deepening the river bottom makes the Department of Water Manage- possible the improvement of the lateral ment of the Hessian Ministry of Agri- drainage of the agricultural area to culture and Forestry. Other ministries provide substantial benefits. A numljcr cooperate. The Water Management of roads and field-path bridges have Department works closely with the been constructed or reconstructed. Federal authorities who have respon- The project is sponsored by the sibility for seeing that the uniform Weschnitz Association, founded in national procedures arc followed and 1958. Construction was started the also assists in coordination where the same year. Members of the association watersheds extend into other States, are 3 subassociations, comprising 18 as is often the case. villages, the State of Hesse, ancî the W^atershed projects corresponding county of Bergstrasse. The estimated rather closely to Public Law 566 proj- total cost of the project is ^.^ million ects have been started. One is the dollars. It involves large subsidies from Wcschnitz River watershed project, of the Federal Government and the 102,500 acres, in the south end of States. Hesse. It extends into Baden-Würt- A second watershed project lies in temberg. The We schnitz, an eastern the State of Baden-Württemberg, tributary of the Rhine River, enters about midway between Stuttgart and the Rhine just north of the old town Nürnberg, in Aalen and Crailsheim of W'orms, which is on the west bank. Counties. This project is planned for The principal town within the water- fl.ood control, storage of water for in- shed is Weinheim, some 10 miles north dustrial and agricultural use, and im- of Heidelberg. provement of the low flow of the Jagst Flood control has been an unsolved River to control water quality. The problem in the Weschnitz area for project was undertaken by the Upper centuries. Inundations are recorded Jagst Water Association, comprised of since the Roman era. Attempts have municipalities, owners of hydroelectric been made since the 15th century plants, and other water users, and the again and again to reduce the flood counties of Aalen and Crailsheim. dangers. About 24,700 acres, mainly The first stage of the project is in the agricultural land, are still subject to upper watershed in Aalen County. flooding. Damage to agriculture from Where the Jagst leaves this county, inundation and waterlogging during the drainage area is about 81.5 thou- the fifties averaged about 75 thousand sand acres. dollars annually. The plan calls for 17 detention and The plan of improvement includes a storage basins in Aalen County. Their total of 11 small upstream floodwater- aggregate capacity is approximately retarding structures and one flood- 10 thousand acre-feet, of which about water-detention basin on the flood 4 thousand acre-feet will be in the plain near Lorsch. Six of the retarding storage pools and the remainder will structures are upstream from Wein- be detention capacity. The earthfiU heim and have an aggregate capacity dams will be 20 to 50 feet high. of 648 acre-feet. The capacity of five The construction of the Jagst V^alley retarding structures on tributaries be- project was started in 1957. Six reser- low Wein heim is 624 acre-feet; they voir structures had been completed in control 18,532 acres, or 46 percent of 1962. The completion of the whoJe the 42-thousand-acre drainage area project has been set for 1970. above Weinheim. The capacity of the The detention and storacie struc- 544 Yearbook of Agriculture 1963 tures cost 300 to 600 dollars per acre- The structure is an earthfill dam, foot of total capacity.