Project name: Appropriate Assessment Study for Removal of excess river deposits for the maintenance of water regime and navigability of river Sava
Client: Hrvatske vode – legal entity for water management
Period: 12/2013– 05/2015
Funding: State Budget
Location: Croatia
The project included the preparation of the Appropriate Assessment Study for the planned project of removal of excess river deposits for maintenance of water regime and navigability of Sava river at 13 locations. Main objective of the Appropriate Assessment Study was to estimate the degree of significance of the identified individual and cumulative impacts on conservation objectives and integrity of the ecological network. The Study anaysed available biological and hydrological data for project impact area and potential project impacts and their effects on ecological network, and included:
- analysis of features of all target species and target habitat types, with detail analysis of distribution and ecological requirements of target fish species in order to assess the significance of project impacts on fish populations of ecological network site HR2001311 Sava downstream od Hruščice;
- analysis of direct and indirect project effects on target species and habitat types that arise as the consequence of habitat degradation and habitat change, with assessment of impact on hydrological regime change and possible downstream sediment deficiency in case of sediment exploitation (possible long-term effects on river shoal habitats);
- assessment of project impact on water flow parameters and on change of sedimentation and erosion conditions in riverbed, based on available hydrological data;
- assessment of significance of cumulative impacts of other planned projects along Sava river in Croatia that include removal of sediment deposits, considering the pre-existing hydrological conditions related to sedimentation and erosion processes in the riverbed;
- determination of locations for river sediment removal and the amounts of sediment for exploitation with acceptable impacts on ecological network;
- determination of appropriate technology considering possible impacts.
In order to mitigate the possible adverse impact of the planned project (especially on target fish and bird species), mitigation measures were proposed, together with monitoring program.
Services provided:
- Appropriate Assessment
- Analysis of distribution and ecological requirements of target fish species
- Habitat degradation and habitat change analysis
- Project Impact Assessment
- Cumulative impact assessment
- Water flow parameters, sedimentation and erosion conditions analysis
- Determination of locations for river sediment removal
- Documentation development
- Project Management
