Computer-Supported Restoration of Rivers in Germany

Abstract

In the future, the condition of Germany’s rivers will no longer be described by only the usual quality of waters (classification of water quality in seven categories, criteria for classification: saprobic index, biochemical oxygen demand, ammonium and oxygen content), but additionally by a classification of the current eco-morphological structure. The structures evaluation of rivers is generally carried out with the help of six main parameters given by the higher Water Authority (Länderarbeitsgemeinschaft Wasser LAWA). In North Rhine-Westphalis (NW) an explicit method of surveying was developed and published in 1993 by the Regional Environmental Office (Landesumweltamt LUA NW) as a mapping guide. This guide will help to determine the current conditions of the morphology of the rivers in NW. The surveying according to LUA NW can be supported by the Excel-based data entry surface introduced in this paper. GIS-based data processing can finally lead to an extremely flexible management of morphologic structure quality data, e.g. to an automated morphologic structure quality map of waters. The data on the structure quality will be combined in the GIS application with further water describing data resulting in a highly efficient computer-aided tool to support the planning of river restoration.