FLOOD MANAGEMENT of the TRANSNATIONAL RHINE RIVER J. Wessel Director RBA Centre Faculty of Civil Engineering, TNO Stevinweg 1, 2
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U.S.- Italy Research Workshop on the Hydrometeorology, Impacts, and Management of Extreme Floods Perugia (Italy), November 1995 FLOOD MANAGEMENT OF THE TRANSNATIONAL RHINE RIVER J. Wessel Director RBA Centre Faculty of Civil Engineering, TNO Stevinweg 1, 2628 CN Delft, The Netherlands Abstract. This paper deals with the management aspects of the Rhine River specially those related to flood control. Current trends in flood management triggered by recent catastrophic events and some thoughts for future developments are discussed. The Rhine River is the most important waterway of Western Europe. It links the German industrial areas around Mannheim and the Ruhr with the port of Rotterdam. For this reason, it has been the object of not only wars and negotiations, but also of coordination and cooperation. In 1993, 1994, and 1995 several floods have occurred in the basin. The most extreme flood was that of January 1995 which caused extreme damage in many regions. The damage was estimated at more than 200 million Dutch guilders in the Netherlands alone. In Germany upstream flood control measures have had some negative impacts. In the lower Rhine and in the Netherlands there is a large system of embankments and during the 1995 flood there was a concern that some dikes may fail. It appears that the future management of the Rhine will require a much closer cooperation of all the basin states specially the cooperation of users organizations, and dependable real time information from all sectors and all parts of the basin should be made available. 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 THE RHINE BASIN AND ITS DEVELOPMENT The Rhine River, the most important waterway in Western Europe, links the German industrial areas around Mannheim and the Ruhr with the port of Rotterdam. Human hands have shaped it for almost two centuries. Sometimes the river protests and sends high floods that endanger cities and whole deltaic regions. Because the Rhine basin is highly industrialized its waters serve a variety of purposes. More than 50 % of the basin is used for agriculture, about one third for forestry and natural lands, and the remainder landuse is urban or suburban. Since the end of 1940 the Rhine has become highly polluted. All riparian states pollute the Rhine and her tributaries. Toxic pollutants derive from point and non-point sources. Tributary basins with the most industrial activity are the Neckar, the Saar, and the Ruhr. The Rhine also has a salinization problem, mainly caused by the French Alsatian potassium mines, which has particular negative impacts on Dutch drinking water production and irrigation of agricultural lands. Besides these normal pollutions there is the pollution by industrial or shipping accidents. These require special response or remediation measures. Sedimentation of heavy metals occurs mainly in the streams and lakes of the Dutch delta and only 25 % disperses into the North Sea. During the last decade the riparian countries have been quite successful in combating pollution. 1.2 GEOGRAPHY AND HYDROLOGY OF THE RHINE The River Rhine runs 1,237 kilometers from Switzerland to the North Sea with a drainage area of 160,000 or 185,000 km2 (depending whether the area of the Netherlands, which is the Rhine delta is counted). The river can be divided into the following sections. The Alpine Rhine runs from its source in the Gotthard massif to Lake Constance (the Rhine actually has two sources, one from the Gotthard, the Vorder-Rhein, and one from the Abula, the Hinter-Rhein). The High Rhine is the reach from Lake Constance to Basel, and downstream from Basel runs the Upper Rhine till Koblenz. Then, the Middle Rhine is the reach from Koblenz to Bonn, and downstream from Bonn is the Lower Rhine. Each river section has its own drainage basin, which may have quite different climates, soil characteristics, land use, and user functions. Main tributaries of the Rhine are: the Are, the Neckar, the Ill, the Main, the Moselle, the Lahn, the Sieg, the Wupper, the Lippe, the Ruhr, and the Emscher. Since the Rhine originates in the Alpes he may be considered as a glacier river. Here the Rhine constitutes the border between Switzerland and Liechtenstein and Austria. It crosses Lake Boden, which has a length of 60 kilometers and a width of 10 kilometers and a surface of 540 km2, where it looses most of its alpine sediment. From here the Rhine travels west and passes through the famous falls of Schaffhausen (24 meters heigth) and thereafter it becomes the border between Switzerland and Germany. An important left side tributary is the Aare, with a length of 295 km, and a basin of 17,800 km2, draining 60 % of the Swiss surface. Near Basel the Rhine bends to the north and finds itself a way between the hills of the Vogese and the Black Forest. There lies the highly contested border between Germany and France. A small left side tributary is the Ill, and a right side tributary is the Neckar. An important right side tributary is the Main, which has a length of 524 km and a basin of 27,000 km2. From one of its tributaries, the Regnitz, which passes along Neurenberg, the Rhine Main-Danube Channel was dug, which was opened in 1992. A beautiful part of the river is between Bingen and Koblenz, where the famous rock, named Lorelei is situated. The most important left-hand tributary of the Rhine is the Moselle, which embouches at Koblenz with a length of 550 km and a basin of 28,000 km2. In turn, it has as tributaries the Meurthe and the Saar. The Moselle travels along Epinal, Metz en Thionville and constitutes the border between Luxemburg and Germany. On the stretch from Koblenz to the Dutch border right side tributaries are dominant. They deliver waters from the large industrial area of the Ruhr. In the Netherlands the waters of the Rhine are diverted into three distributaries: the IJssel, the lower Rhine/Lek, and the Waal. Before entering the sea the water of the Rhine travels along the harbours of Rotterdam, Europoort being the most famous one. The Rhine-delta has been changed incredibly, mostly by human hand. Together with waters from the Meuse and the Scheldt the so- called delta was formed. Now this area has been protected from the sea by a system of dams and storm surge flood barriers. The IJssel distributary enters Lake IJssel, which has been precluded from the Waddensea by the Closure dike. Finally the Rhine reaches the North Sea, an important coastal sea, whose waters are also fed and polluted by the rivers Scheldt, Meuse, Ems, Weser, and Elbe. 2 1.3 ADMINISTRATION OF THE RHINE Countries belonging to the Rhine catchment are: Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Most of the basin is highly industralized and densely populated. The basin countries have more than 150 million inhabitants of whom 55 million live in the Rhine basin, with a population density of 250 per km2. In Germany the Rhine drains many states, including Bayern, Baden-Württemberg, Saarland, Rheinland-Pfalz, Hessen, and Nordrhein Westfalen. All these countries and states have a rather different administrative structure. We will not go into all details, just give a sketch of the administrative structure of the most important ones, namely: Switzerland, Germany, France, and the Netherlands. Switzerland. Switzerland is a federal state. One federation consists of twenty-five autonomous Kantons. This Confederation only has a limited number of tasks. A federal environmental protection agency (Bundesamt für Umwelt, Wald und Landschaft) was created under the Ministry of the Interior. The Swiss also established a special expert advisory body, the federal agency for water protection. Federal laws on water protection date from 1955, 1971, and 1989. These federal laws have the character of framework-legislation. The main purpose of the 1971 law (Bundesgesetz über den Schutz der Gewasser gegen Verunreinigungen) is to protect the groundwater. The 1989 law (Gewässerschutzgesetz) is more integrated. It calls for measures to halt the polluting of the waters by agriculture. Most Swiss surface waters belong to the Kantons and are public property. The Kantons decide how to use them. The Confederation has only the power to decide about the use of the waters if they constitute the borders of the nation or if they belong to several Kantons. Germany. Germany consists of a federal state and a number of constituting states (Länder), which have a certain degree of autonomy. The federal government has powers on a limited number of issues. In those cases the states are only competent if this competence has been granted to them explicitly by federal law. On other issues, the federal government has powers next to those of the states. Furthermore, the federal government can formulate framework measures on certain issues such as those for nature conservation, land use, regional planning, and water management. In these cases, the states may state specific regulations within the context and borders given by the federal government. They also may enact additional regulations. On the federal level, there is a "Bundestag" that is directly voted for and a "Bundesrat" composed of representatives of the states. Every state has an elected parliament of its own. The most important actor in the field of water management in Germany is the Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety. It also looks after the principles of water management and nature conservation through international cooperation in river (basin) committees. There also exists a Federal Ministry of Nurture, Agriculture, and Forestry that specializes in water management projects in the countryside, including flood control and control of the sea shore. It also has responsibility for legislation for groundwater, soil commissions for fertilizers, and regulation of pesticides.