Department Water Resources and Drinking Water

RECORD Catchment – Restored river corridors

The Thur catchment in North-Eastern Switzerland (Schneider et al. 2011, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 15(8), 2531-2549.)

In Switzerland, river sections of a total length of about 4000 km should be restored in the next decades. Main aim of these river restoration measures is the improvement to a nature-near environment and the preservation and the increase of biodiversity. Additionally, the resulting variety of river works provide a better protection during flood peaks while allowing the river a greater freedom to spread and move. However, scientific understanding regarding the underlying principles which determine how hydromorphological variability in restored river corridors relates to ecosystem functioning, biodiversity, groundwater recharge and quality is still limited. Especially the last aspect is from great relevance not only for water managers but, indirectly, of course for the customers, too. The main aspect of the RECORD Catchment project, a follow up of the RECORD project (Restored Corridor Dynamics) was to comprehensively investigate what measures are most effective to influence the river corridor and how groundwater flow systems modify the response of catchments to climate change. Furthermore, we deduced general key indicators which can help to give recommendations for future river restoration projects. The focus of our research was centered on the Thur catchment which is located in NE Switzerland.

Contact

Prof. Dr. Mario Schirmer Tel. +41 58 765 5382 Send Mail

Team

RECORD Catchment was an interdisciplinary project with the involvement and integration of different scientific fields like hydrogeology, hydrology, hydrochemistry, biochemistry, engineering geology, but also social sciences. At Eawag, the following departments were involved in the project:

Key collaborators in the project, next to Eawag, are:

Funding

ETH board through the Competence Center Sustainability and Environment, Eawag, ETHZ, WSL, SNF, EU, FOEN

Publications

  • Burri, N. M., Weatherl, R., Moeck, C., Schirmer, M. 2019. A review of threats to groundwater quality in the Anthropocene. Science of the Total Environment, 684, 136-154. doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.05.236.
  • Belletti, B., Nardi, L., Rinaldi, M., Poppe, M., Brabec, K., Bussettini, M., Comiti, F., Gielczewski, M., Golfieri, B., Hellsten, S., Kail, J., Marchese, E., Marcinkowski, P., Okruszko, T., Paillex, A., Schirmer, M., Stelmaszczyk, M., Surian, N. 2018. Assessing restoration effects on river hydromorphology using the process-based morphological quality index in eight European river reaches. Environmental Management, 61, 69–84, DOI 10.1007/s00267-017-0961-x.
  • Radny, D., Schirmer, M., Luster, J., Guenat, C., Perona, P., Bayer, P., Stauffacher, M., Seidl, R., Hollender, J., Baumann, M. 2018. Flussrevitalisierungsforschung – Wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse im Rahmen zweier Forschungsprojekte im Einzugsgebiet der Thur. Aqua & Gas, 4, 30–38.
  • Betterle, A., Radny, D., Schirmer, M., Botter, G. 2017. What do they have in common? Drivers of streamflow spatial correlation and prediction of flow regimes in ungauged locations. Water Resources Research, 53, 10, 354–10,373, doi.org/10.1002/2017WR021144.
  • Betterle, A., Schirmer, M., Botter, G. 2017. Characterizing the spatial correlation of daily streamflows, Water Resources Research, 53(2), 1646-1663, doi.org/10.1002/2016WR019195.
  • Doulatyari, B., Betterle, A., Radny, D., Celegon, E. A., Fanton, P., Schirmer, M., Botter, G. 2017. Patterns of streamflow regimes along the river network: The case of the Thur river. Environmental Modelling & Software, 93, 42-58.
  • Basso, S., Schirmer, M., Botter, G. 2016. A physically based analytical model of flood frequency curves. Geophys. Res. Lett. 2016, 43 (17), 9070-9076. doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069915.
  • Basso, S., Frascati, A., Marani, M., Schirmer, M., Botter, G. 2015. Climatic and landscape controls on effective discharge. Geophysical Research Letters 42(20), 8441-8447.
  • Basso, S., Schirmer, M., Botter, G. 2015. On the emergence of heavy-tailed streamflow distributions. Advances in Water Resources, 82, 98–105.
  • Chittoor Viswanathan, V., Jiang, Y., Berg, M., Hunkeler, D., Schirmer, M. 2016. An integrated spatial snap-shot monitoring method for identifying seasonal changes and spatial changes in surface water quality. Journal of Hydrology, 539, 567–576.
  • Chittoor Viswanathan, V., Schirmer, M. 2015. Water quality deterioration as a driver for river restoration: a review of case studies from Asia, Europe and North America. Environmental Earth Sciences, 74, 3145–3158.
  • Chittoor Viswanathan, V., Molson, J., Schirmer, M. 2015. Does river restoration affect diurnal and seasonal changes to surface water quality? A study along the Thur River, Switzerland. Science of the Total Environment, 532, 91-102.
  • Doulatyari, B., Betterle, A., Basso, S., Biswal, B., Schirmer, M., Botter, G. 2015. Predicting streamflow distributions and flow duration curves from landscape and climate. Advances in Water Resources, 83, 285–298.
  • von Freyberg, J., Rao, P.S.C., Radny, D., Schirmer, M. 2015. The impact of hillslope groundwater dynamics and landscape functioning in event-flow generation: a field study in the Rietholzbach catchment, Switzerland. Hydrogeology Journal, 23(5), 935-948. DOI 10.1007/s10040-015-1238-1.
  • von Freyberg, J., Moeck, C., Schirmer, M. 2015. Estimation of groundwater recharge and drought severity with varying model complexity. Journal of Hydrology, 527, 844–857.
  • Diem, S., Renard, P., and Schirmer, M., 2014. Assessing the effect of different river water level interpolation schemes on modeled groundwater residence times, Journal of Hydrology, 510, 393-402.
  • Doulatyari, B., Basso, S., Schirmer, M., Botter, G. 2014. River flow regimes and vegetation dynamics along a river transect. Advances in Water Resources, 73, 30–43.
  • Kurth, A.-M., Schirmer, M. 2014. Thirty years of river restoration in Switzerland: implemented measures and lessons learned. Environmental Earth Sciences, 72(6), 2065-2079.
  • Schirmer, M., Luster, J., Linde, N., Perona, P., Mitchell, E.A.D., Barry, D.A., Hollender, J., Cirpka, O.A., Schneider, P., Vogt, T., Radny, D., Durisch-Kaiser, E. 2014. Morphological, hydrological, biogeochemical and ecological changes and challenges in river restoration – The Thur River case study. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 18, 1-14. hess.copernicus.org/articles/18/2449/2014/.
  • von Freyberg, J., Radny, D., Gall, H. E., Schirmer, M. 2014. Implications of hydrologic connectivity between hillslopes and riparian zones on streamflow composition. Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 169, 62-74.
  • Diem, S., Rudolf von Rohr, M., Hering, J. G., Kohler, H. P. E., and Schirmer, M., von Gunten, U.: NOM degradation during river infiltration. 2013. Effects of the climate variables temperature and discharge, Water Research, 47(17), 6585–6595.
  • Diem, S., Renard, P., Schirmer, M. 2013. New methods to estimate 2D water level distributions of dynamic rivers, Ground Water, 51(6), 847-854.
  • Diem, S., Cirpka, O.A., Schirmer, M. 2013. Modeling the dynamics of oxygen consumption upon riverbank filtration by a stochastic-convective approach. Journal of Hydrology 505, 352–363.
  • Diem, S., Rudolf von Rohr, M., Hering, J.G., Kohler, H.P.E., Schirmer, M., von Gunten, U., 2013. NOM degradation during river infiltration: Effects of the climate variables temperature and discharge. Water Research 47(17), 6585–6595.
  • Diem, S., Schirmer, M., Rudolf von Rohr, M., Kohler, H.P.E., Hering, J.G., von Gunten, U., 2013. Qualität des Uferfiltrats: Einfluss der klimabestimmten Variablen Temperatur und Abfluss. Aqua & Gas, 11, 14–21.
  • Crouzy, B., Edmaier, K., Pasquale, N., and Perona, P.: Impact of floods on the statistical distribution of riverbed vegetation, Geomorphology 202, 51-58, 2013.
  • Huber, B., Luster, J., Bernasconi, S. M., Shrestha, J., and Graf Pannatier, E.: Nitrate leaching from short-hydroperiod floodplain soils, Biogeosciences, 9(11), 4385-4397, 2012.
  • Lazzaro, G., Basso, S., Schirmer, M., Botter, G. 2013. Water management strategies for run-of-river power plants: Profitability and hydrologic impact between the intake and the outflow. Water Resources Research, 49, 8285–8298, doi:10.1002/2013WR014210.
  • Lochbühler, T., Doetsch, J., Brauchler, R., and Linde, N.: 2013, Structure-coupled joint inversion of geophysical and hydrological data, Geophysics, 78, ID1–ID14, 2013.
  • Pasquale, N., Perona, P., Francis, R., and Burlando, P.: Above-ground and below-ground Salix dynamics in response to river processes, Hydrological Processes, in press; DOI: 10.1002/hyp.9993, 2013.
  • Pasquale, N., Perona, P., Wombacher, A., and Burlando, P.: Hydrodynamic model calibration from pattern recognition of non-orthorectified terrestrial photographs, Computers & Geosciences, 62, 160-167, 2014.
  • Shrestha, J., Niklaus, P.A., Pasquale, N., Huber, B., Barnard, R.L., Frossard, E., Schleppi, P., Tockner, K., and Luster, J.: Flood pulses control soil nitrogen cycling in a dynamic river floodplain, Geoderma, 228/229, 14-24, doi 10.1016/j.geoderma.2013.09.018, 2014.