Ecosystem-based urban water management in Nijmegen and Arnhem

Background

World population has more than tripled during the twentieth century. A fast-growing proportion of this expanding population lives in or near cities. Urban population has multiplied tenfold in absolute numbers in the last century. Nowadays approximately 66% of the Dutch population live in urban areas. The diversity of aquatic habitats in urban landscapes can contribute to biodiversity and can even include rare and threatened species. Urban water management brings new challenges to both water resource managers and environmental scientists.
Urban water courses in the low land quarters of the cities of Nijmegen and Arnhem (the Netherlands) face several environmental problems. The water and soil quality is moderate to poor, due to seepage of nutrient rich water from the rivers Meuse and/or Rhine, polluted storm-water run-off from roofs of buildings, roads and sewers. Moreover, the water courses were predominantly designed and managed to safeguard their water discharge function (unnatural designed banks). However, the mowing regime of submerged and helophytic vegetation and dredging of sediments are not yet optimally attuned on habitat requirements and lifecycles of focal species. Within the framework of the European Interreg IIIB NWE project Urban water and the local water management plans several rehabilitation measures are planned in the period 2005-2007, in order to improve the ecological quality and attractiveness of the water systems. Important rehabilitation measures are dredging of contaminated soils, reconstruction towards more natural banks, increase of water flow, filtering of storm water run-off, and ecologically sound aquatic weed control.

Urban water system in Nijmegen
Urban water system in Nijmegen
Unnatural designed bank
Unnatural designed bank

Problem

In order to create a healthy and attractive aquatic environment for citizens ecological knowledge on urban habitats is needed. At present, fundamental knowledge about ecology of urban waters is still lacking. Methodologies for the assessment of urban waters and the evaluation of rehabilitation measures are also lacking. The present project aims at the scientific underpinning of ecosystem-based urban water management: a methodology will be developed for the scientific sound ecological quality assessment of urban waters. For an ecological quality assessment model, an ecological typology and references are needed. This assessment model will also be used for the evaluation of rehabilitation measures. Important environmental variables determining the ecological status of these waters need to be identified to optimally attune management and improve ecological quality of urban waters.

Project objectives

  1. Development of an ecological typology, establishing references and development of an integrated eco(toxico)logical assessment model to determine the ecological quality of urban water courses.

  2. Identification of important environmental variables that determine the ecological status of the water courses.

  3. Evaluation of ecological effects of rehabilitation measures (including costs-ecological benefit ratio), detecting bottlenecks for focal species and recommendation of additional management measures.

  4. Dissemination of knowledge to other urban water partners in the Interreg IIIB NWE Programme.

Project partners

This PhD-project is financially supported by the European Interreg IIIB programme, the Municipality of Nijmegen and Arnhem and Radboud University Nijmegen. Project partners are:

  • Municipality of Nijmegen; Municipality of Arnhem
  • RadboudUniversityNijmegen, Institute for Wetland and Water Research: (1) Department of Environmental Science, (2) Department of Animal Ecology and Ecophysiology and (3) Department of Aquatic Ecology and Environmental Biology;
  • Bargerveen Foundation;
  • Netherlands Center for Nature Research;
  • Waterboard:‘Waterschap Rivierenland’.

More information

Ir. Kim Vermonden (PhD-researcher)
Department of Environmental Science
Institute for Wetland and Water Research
Faculty of Science
Radboud University Nijmegen
P.O. Box 9010
6500 GL NIJMEGEN
The Netherlands
E-mail: k.vermonden@science.ru.nl
Tel. + 31 (0)24 365 20 66
Tel. + 31 (0)24 365 32 81 (secr.)
Fax  + 31 (0)24 365 30 30

or

Dr. Rob S.E.W. Leuven(projectleader)
Department of Environmental Science
Institute for Wetland and Water Research
Faculty of Science
Radboud University Nijmegen
P.O. Box 9010
6500 GL NIJMEGEN
The Netherlands
Tel. + 31 (0)24 365 20 96
Tel. + 31 (0)24 365 32 81 (secr.)
Fax  + 31 (0)24 365 30 30

Visiting address:
Toernooiveld 1 (room HG 02.738), 6525 ED NIJMEGEN, The Netherlands

Links

www.urban-water.org
www.waterbewust.nl