Flood control and rehabilitation – Eawag Info Day

March 8th, 2006

Hopes of achieving absolute protection against floods by straightening and damming rivers have proved illusory. Recent decades have seen a marked increase in the damage associated with extreme events. The most recent federal statistics tell an unmistakable story: in the second half of the period from 1972 to 2005, losses increased fourfold. The flooding that struck in 2005 was the most costly natural disaster experienced by Switzerland in the last 100 years. At the same time, habitats and connectivity elements urgently required to ensure the functioning of watercourse ecosystems have disappeared. Accordingly, numerous research partners, together with federal and cantonal agencies, have sought in the Rhône-Thur Project to develop scientific foundations and methods enabling rehabilitation projects to be carried out which provide ecological benefits and are successful for all concerned. On the Eawag Info Day to be held at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, on 8 March 2006, the latest research findings on river rehabilitation will be presented to more than 350 experts and interested parties from academia, hydrology, and engineering and environmental consultancies, as well as administration officials and policymakers.

Media release [pdf; in German only]
Press photos

Programme [in German only]
Eawag News 61d
Synthesis report: www.rivermanagement.ch [in German only]