Difference between revisions of "Thur"

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=Thur=
 
  
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(A) 47.5919253276985, 8.76691818237305</googlemap>
 
 
<Forecasterlink type="getProjectInfoBox" code="22" />
 
 
 
==Key features of the case study==
 
Redevelopment of natural course.
 
 
==Site description==
 
'''Attention:''' ''The information presented below has been reproduced from the ECRR brochure''<ref>European Centre for River Restoration (ECRR). 2008. ECRR Addressing practitioners [[Media:ecrrbrochure.pdf|(original document in English)]]</ref>.
 
 
The Thur river is one of the main rivers in the Cantons St. Gallen, Thurgau and Zürich in Switzerland. It has a lenght of 127 km and a catchment area of 1,750 km<sup>2</sup>. The highest point is the summit of Säntis at 2,551 masl. The 100 years flow is estimated at 1,350 m<sup>3</sup>/s, the lowest runoff is 2,24 m<sup>3</sup>/s, and the average flow is 47 m<sup>3</sup>/s. The Thur  is a wild river with no lake or dam or big floodplain for retention.
 
 
The first flood control works were constructed in the second half of the 19th century. Today, the ancient dikes and other measures applied in the late 19th century no longer adequately cope with modern discharge conditions, mainly due to insufficient heights, inappropriate construction materials, and poor maintenance. The river bed has been filled with sediment deposits, limiting discharge capacity and increasing flood peaks, while the increased human occupation of the valley in some places limits the extent of the floodplain and interferes with surface roughness (trees) in others.
 
 
==Measures selection==
 
After the catastrophic flooding due to the breaking of the dikes in 1978, urgent response measures included the repairing and heightening of the dikes and the removal of
 
surface layer sediments from the confined stream bed. The increased attention paid to ecological aspects in later years resulted in a removal of the old stonewall parallel
 
to the stream bed, while groynes were build in combination with obliquely placed blocks and willow trees.
 
 
The resulting variety of river works provide both protection while allowing the river a greater freedom to spread and move over a length of 1,500 m and a width of 500 m.
 
 
==Success criteria==
 
 
The new design of the river was successfully tested by the flood of 1999 (Q 1,000m<sup>3</sup>/s), in which only a few blocks were moved downstream, and no extensive repairing appeared necessary.
 
 
==Ecological response==
 
Fish species like the ''Chondrostoma nasus'' and bird species like the ''Actitis hypoleucos'' found new habitats within the new river landscape.
 
 
==Hydromorphological response==
 
<br>
 
[[Image:Thur_river_before_after_photos.png|400px]]
 
<br>
 
Over the length of the project, the Thur river has redevelop its natural course, in which erosion and sediment deposition processes freely alternate. Scours and rapids as well as wandering gravel
 
beds have once again become a part of the river.
 
 
==Monitoring before and after implementation of the project==
 
 
==Socio-economic aspects==
 
 
==Contact person within the organization==
 
 
==Extra background information==
 
 
 
==References==
 
<references/>
 
 
[[Category:Case_studies]]
 
 
== Related Measures ==
 
 
<Forecasterlink type="getMeasuresForProject" code="22" />
 
 
== Related Pressures ==
 
 
<Forecasterlink type="getPressuresForProject" code="22" />
 
 
[[Category:River depth and width variation]] [[Category:Structure and substrate of the river bed]] [[Category:Structure of the riparian zone]] [[Category:Fish]]
 

Revision as of 07:53, 24 November 2010