upc universitat politècnica de catalunya · 1 sustainable water use in europe part 3: extreme...

1

Sustainable water use in EuropePart 3: Extreme hydrological events:

floods and droughts

Authors:Teodoro Estrela, Manuel Menéndez, Mirta Dimas

and Concepción Marcuello, CEDEXGwyn Rees and Gwyneth Cole, IH

Karin Weber and Johannes Grath, AWWJennifer Leonard, IOW

Niels Bering Ovesen, NERIJános Fehér, Vituki Consult, PTL/IW

ETC/IW Leader: Timothy J. LackEEA Project Manager: Niels Thyssen

Environmental issue report No 21

2 Sustainable water use in Europe

Cover design: Rolf KuchlingLayout: Brandenborg a/s

NoteThe contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the official opinions of the European Commission or other European Communities institutions. Neither the European Environment Agency nor any person or company acting on the behalf of the Agency is responsible for the use that may be made of the information contained in this report.

All rights reservedNo part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage retrieval sys-tem without the permission in writing from the copyright holder. For rights of translation or reproduction please contact EEA project manager Ove Caspersen (address information below).

A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet.It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu.int).

Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication.

Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2001

ISBN

© EEA, Copenhagen, 2001

Printed in

Printed on recycled and chlorine-free bleached paper

European Environment AgencyKongens Nytorv 6DK-1050 Copenhagen KDenmarkTel: (45) 33 36 71 00Fax: (45) 33 36 71 99E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.eea.eu.int

Preface 3

Preface

��

�� !��"��"!��#��$��%��&��'$��(�)��*��!��+��+��,-!��"��.��/��"��"��!��

��&��&��0��!��1��2��1�2��(��.!��'��3��.��'�3 ��!�

&��"��

��

��

��4��4��.��.��5��.��

��.��#��.��

��


Contents

Executive summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

1.1. Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

1.2. Floods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

1.3. Droughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

SECTION A: FLOODS2. Driving forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

2.1. Precipitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

2.2. Catchment characteristics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

2.2.1. Vegetation and soils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

2.2.2. Ground surface retention and drainage network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

2.2.3. Flood plains and low-lying areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

3. Pressures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

3.1. Climate change. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

3.2. Changes in catchment land use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

3.3. Land sealing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

3.4. Urbanisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

3.5. Roads and railways . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

3.6. Hydraulic engineering measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

4. State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

4.1. Types of flood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

4.1.1. Floods in large basins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

4.1.2. Flash floods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

4.2. Probability of occurrence of floods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

5. Impacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

5.1. Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

5.2. Recent floods in Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

5.2.1. Sarno, Italy, 1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

5.2.2. Biescas, Spain, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

5.2.3. Glomma, Norway, 1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

5.2.4. Rhine and Meuse, Germany and the Netherlands, 1993–94 . . . . . . . . 28

5.2.5. Rhine and Meuse, Germany and the Netherlands, January 1995 . . . . 29

5.2.6. Oder, Morava and Danube, Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic, 1997. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

5.2.7. Vaison-la-Romaine, September 1992 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

5.2.8. Extreme flood events in Hungary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

5.2.9. Some rare flood events in the UK between 1975 and 1998 (Faulkner, 1999). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

5.2.10.Extreme flood events in Finland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Contents 5

6. Responses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

6.1. Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

6.2. Level of desired protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

6.3. Structural measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

6.3.1. Dams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

6.3.2. River channelisation and diversions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

6.3.3. Protection dykes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

6.3.4. Artificial flooding areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

6.3.5. Plant and habitat engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

6.4. Non-structural measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

6.4.1. Precautionary building . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

6.4.2. Flood-plain zoning, regulation and insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

6.4.3. Forecasting and early warning systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

6.5. Detailed examples of flood prevention and alleviation measures from selected European countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

7. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

SECTION B: DROUGHTS8. Driving forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

8.1. Atmospheric circulation patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

8.2. Rainfall deficiency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

8.3. Temperature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

8.4. Natural catchment storage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

8.5. Socioeconomic factors controlling the demand for water . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

9. Pressures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

9.1. Climate change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

9.2. Water demand and water resource availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

9.3. Land-use changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

9.4. Environmental awareness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

10. State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

11. Impacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

11.1. Impacts on rivers, reservoirs and aquifers — water supply problems . . . 59

11.2. Loss of crops and loss of livestock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

11.3. Water quality deterioration — impacts on ecosystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

11.4. Economic impacts of past drought events in European countries . . . . . . 61

12. Policy responses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

12.1. Early warning systems (drought alert indicators) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

12.2. Emergency plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

12.3. Demand management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

12.4. Supply strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

12.4.1.Additional sources of supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

12.4.2.Non-conventional sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

12.4.3.Fight against reduction of availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

12.4.4.Increase of system flexibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69


13. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Annex A: Detailed examples of flood protection and alleviation measures applied in Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

A.1. Measures against floods in France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

A.1.1. Plan for a ‘natural Loire’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

A.1.2. Flood forecasting and alert systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

A.1.3. Action plan against Rhine floods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

A.2. Flood protection in Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

A.3. Flood protection in Hungary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

A.4. Flood protection in Slovenia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

A.5. Flood protection in Spain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

A.6. Flood protection in Finland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

A.6.1. Hydrological forecasting and real-time monitoring in Finland: the watershed simulation and forecasting system (WSFS) . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Executive summary 7

Executive summary

��"��"!�� !��.��

��5��.��"��!��5��2��,�6��*��*��"��*��7��

��0��4��0��&��894��:;��#��:;;?��;��:;;:��:;;9��,2�;;��@��6��.��1��*��/��2��*��3��'��

��"��'��

��(��A��+��

0��!��4��

��

��

��#��

��0��.��B��

��4��A��+��

��.��

��

��@��

,��@��4��.��4��7��:;;:��:;;9��6��2��!�

��

��A��@��@��

��@��

��C��


��4��+��.��4��

��.��4��A��

"��4��

��.��!��

��4��

��4��

"��

��.��,��0��.��9D��8DD��

��"��3��9D��"��@��6��4��4��2��5��A��

(��

��

��7��

��

��+��

��

��

2��8D9D��:D E��F�

��4��

��GD4��4��8D9D��GD E��

��:DD�.�G ��:;9D��99D�.�G ��:;;D��??D�.�G ��8D��"��

3��4��:D E��GD��8 E��7��

��

Executive summary 9

��@��

��

��

��!��4��!��@��@��.��'��4��

(��@��@��@��4��@��#��.��@��1�4��&��

��@��A��

��

��

��2��4��.��!��4��!��4��

��4��

��

��.��.��

��

��"��@��"��

��0��.��


1. Introduction

1.1. Background

��"��"!��

��5��

��4��.��"��.��5��

��0��

��0��.�(��8DDD ?D ��.��!��4��@��@��

��"��

��('*�2��.��@��

��

��!��

��.��

��"��

��!��5��2��*��"��*��7��

1.2. Floods

*��4��0��4��

��

��*��B��4��42��:;;8��2��6��:;;G=;>��:;;9��&��:;;

Introduction 11

��(��A��+��0��:�:!��,��

1��.��4��

��4��!��!�

(��

��=��

��@��7��:;;

2��#��26"��0��

��26"��2��=6��!��:9G��#��&��#��4��3�+2�

��#��@��

��2��!��

��!��#��0��"��0��2��7��8DDD!�

0��#��C��.��.��.��#��!��#��:;;;!�

Main areas in Europe prone to frequent flooding Figure 1.1.

Shannon callowsin central Ireland

Dyked areas ofthe Netherlands

Coastal areasof Portugal Mediterranean coast

Rhine

Tisza valleyAlpine valleys

Seine

North Germancoastal plains

Loire

Po valley

Danube valley

Source: ETC/IW


*��"��('*�2��!��.��0��:�8!��4��*��8��*��G��C��4��

��*��*��>��*��9��2��!��

��4��!��*��?�

1.3. Droughts

"��

��(��4��(��@��

��.��+��"��

3��9D��2��5��A��"��.��

(��7��2��

Figure 1.2. Factors related to the DPSIR framework for assessing floods

DRIVING FORCES

PRESSURES

STATE

IMPACTS

RESPONSES

PrecipitationCatchment characteristics

Climate changeChanges in land useLand sealingHydraulic engineeringmeasures

Types of floodsProbability of floods

DamagesSocioeconomicEnvironmental

Structural

structural

Dams, river channelling,protection dykes, etc.

Precautionaryplain zoning, regulation

and insurancewarning

Non-building

Early

Flood-

systems

Source: EEA

Introduction 13

:;I9!��7��

��

&��*��7��4��/��:;I;!��.��#��"��4��(��

"��('*�2��.��*��I��!��*��;��

��@��

��*��:D��*��::��

��

��*��:8�

2��&��#��"2�(��J"��

��5!��#��.��.��@��

��"2�(��8DDD!�


SECTION A: FLOODS2. Driving forces

2.1. Precipitation

��

��

��

�� !��"��!"��#$$$%�

��&��

��'��

��

��(��)��*��#�+��)��(��)��

2.2. Catchment characteristics

'��

��

��

,��#��-��

��'��

Figure 2.1. Ratio (%) between maximum daily precipitation and mean annual precipitation (period 1940/41–1995/96)

0–10Ratio (%)

11–2021–3031–5051–1000 200 km200

Source: CEDEX with data from Eurostat.

Driving forces 15

��

��:DD��@��.��B��(��4��.��F��

0��/��*��0��"��:;;9!�

��

*��

��4��@��.��B��

��7��B��(��

��B��:D��

��.��

��

��

��.��

"��5��4��!��

��@��

��4��

��0��

��2��

upc universitat politècnica de catalunya · 1 sustainable water use in europe part 3: extreme...

Documents