Rivers revitalisation: Approaches to decision

Abstract

The article is focused on the successful implementation of the global goals of restoring water objects in the context of sustainable development that is impossible without solving the regional problems of local watercourses and reservoirs reviving. It is emphasized that awareness of riparian spaces role as ecological corridors and importance of the healthy functioning of the river network through the revitalisation of even minor watercourses leads to growth attention to this problem in an increasing number of countries. On the example of the Slepiotka River in Katowice and Inhulets River in Kryvyi Rih the aspects, on which attention of revitalisation are accented in European countries and in Ukraine, are presented. In European countries, the basis for the approach to river revitalisation is their functioning as integral ecosystems. In Ukraine, nowadays, the main focus of river restoration is on cleaning them from silt sediment. In this article the approaches to decision of river revitalisation questions are presented. The main of them are: enhancing the ecological functionality of the watercourse as an ecosystem; providing flood protection; increasing the residential, cultural and recreational value; securing permanently sustainable use of watercourses and their river valleys.