Management of Dams in Trans-National River Basins — a Preliminary Sustainability Impact Assessment for the Upper Elbe River Basin

Abstract

Dams or systems of dams can significantly change the properties of river basins, such as flow, retention or the management of the water resources in general. Furthermore, dams and their management are known to show relevant impacts on the environment, economic activities and social structures in their very neighbourhood, upstream and downstream. Taking into consideration that nowadays numerous dams in Middle Europe are being operated as multifunctional/multipurpose installations, their impact assessment should start with a broadly scoped analysis with regard to the hydrological, environmental, social and economic properties of the particular river basin. This ambitious undertaking is in fact not that easy to exercise while looking at new dams projects. Due to forced environmental impacts up and down stream, social concerns about i.e. resettlement and complex interest and conflict lines between beneficiaries and non- beneficiaries quite often new dams projects lack mainly social acceptance despite of proven positive economic benefits.