change and its impacts on water availability in the planning tools and instruments
used in water management of the Waterboard Eifel-Rur. Water management is
based on historical data sets, and no prognoses have been developed to account for
altered conditions in the future. At the moment of writing, and excepting the work
performed in the DROP pilot (see next section), only a first prognosis on water
quantity in the Rur system within different climate change scenarios has been
developed (within the AMICE project, a further INTERREG IV-B project).
A prognosis on water quality is to the moment also lacking.
3
North Rhine-Westphalia has as yet not much experience with drought episodes;
it has a comparatively humid climate due to its proximity to the Atlantic. In the case
of the Waterboard Eifel-Rur, the few droughts in the past have been dealt with on
an ad hoc basis: water management measures have been developed that alleviate a
particular impact over a short period of time. The requirement for action has arisen
not due to considerations related to droughts themselves (e.g. anticipatory management in early stages of drought to prepare for possible worsening), but due to
other requirements, such as upholding water quality commitments.
4.3 Measures Taken: Addressing Drought in the Eifel
In the upper catchment of the Rur, six reservoirs were built in the Eifel hills mainly
to control the effects of flooding and to maintain the flow during dry seasons. Five
of them form an interconnected system around the main reservoir ‘Rurtalsperre’.
The most upstream dam is placed in the tributary Olef and called ‘Oleftalsperre’. It
is a multifunction reservoir with a storage capacity of 19 mio. m3. The
‘Oleftalsperre’ was built for the protection against floods, for low-water enrichment
and for the provision of raw water for tap-water production. The Olef mouths info
the next tributary the Urft. There the ‘Urfttalsperre’ is situated. It is the oldest dam
in the northern Eifel with a storage capacity of 45 mio. m3. The outflow of the dam
flows in very dry periods directly into the next basin ‘Obersee’, a preimpoundment
basin of the ‘Rurtalsperre’. This next basin serves among other things also as a
reservoir providing the agency in charge with water for production of drinking
water. The ‘Obersee’ flows into the biggest reservoir the ‘Rurtalsperre’
(202 mio. m3). This is also a multifunction reservoir without direct storage for
tap-water production, but among other things a lot of tourism, which is based on a
large lake with good water quality.
These reservoirs were often shaped as filled constructions with a stream/river
flowing through the basin as a stream. Big reservoirs in the catchment area of the
Rur such as the dams in the northern Eifel cannot be disconnected from the river,
because their retention volume cannot be replaced by a near-natural reconstruction
of the river course. With a total capacity of 300 mio. m3 their function for flood
3
Antje Goedeking, WVER, personal communication.
4 Eifel-Rur: Old Water Rights and Fixed Frameworks for Action
71
used in water management of the Waterboard Eifel-Rur. Water management is
based on historical data sets, and no prognoses have been developed to account for
altered conditions in the future. At the moment of writing, and excepting the work
performed in the DROP pilot (see next section), only a first prognosis on water
quantity in the Rur system within different climate change scenarios has been
developed (within the AMICE project, a further INTERREG IV-B project).
A prognosis on water quality is to the moment also lacking.
3
North Rhine-Westphalia has as yet not much experience with drought episodes;
it has a comparatively humid climate due to its proximity to the Atlantic. In the case
of the Waterboard Eifel-Rur, the few droughts in the past have been dealt with on
an ad hoc basis: water management measures have been developed that alleviate a
particular impact over a short period of time. The requirement for action has arisen
not due to considerations related to droughts themselves (e.g. anticipatory management in early stages of drought to prepare for possible worsening), but due to
other requirements, such as upholding water quality commitments.
4.3 Measures Taken: Addressing Drought in the Eifel
In the upper catchment of the Rur, six reservoirs were built in the Eifel hills mainly
to control the effects of flooding and to maintain the flow during dry seasons. Five
of them form an interconnected system around the main reservoir ‘Rurtalsperre’.
The most upstream dam is placed in the tributary Olef and called ‘Oleftalsperre’. It
is a multifunction reservoir with a storage capacity of 19 mio. m3. The
‘Oleftalsperre’ was built for the protection against floods, for low-water enrichment
and for the provision of raw water for tap-water production. The Olef mouths info
the next tributary the Urft. There the ‘Urfttalsperre’ is situated. It is the oldest dam
in the northern Eifel with a storage capacity of 45 mio. m3. The outflow of the dam
flows in very dry periods directly into the next basin ‘Obersee’, a preimpoundment
basin of the ‘Rurtalsperre’. This next basin serves among other things also as a
reservoir providing the agency in charge with water for production of drinking
water. The ‘Obersee’ flows into the biggest reservoir the ‘Rurtalsperre’
(202 mio. m3). This is also a multifunction reservoir without direct storage for
tap-water production, but among other things a lot of tourism, which is based on a
large lake with good water quality.
These reservoirs were often shaped as filled constructions with a stream/river
flowing through the basin as a stream. Big reservoirs in the catchment area of the
Rur such as the dams in the northern Eifel cannot be disconnected from the river,
because their retention volume cannot be replaced by a near-natural reconstruction
of the river course. With a total capacity of 300 mio. m3 their function for flood
3
Antje Goedeking, WVER, personal communication.
4 Eifel-Rur: Old Water Rights and Fixed Frameworks for Action
71