Floodplain restoration

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Floodplain restoration is the process of fully or partially restoring a river's floodplain to its original conditions before having been affected by the construction of levees (dikes) and the draining of marshes. The objectives of restoring floodplains include the reduction of the indidence of floods, the provision of habitat for aquatic species, the improvement of water quality and the increased recharge of groundwater.

In Europe very few schemes for restoring functional floodplains have been put in practice so far, despite a surge of interest in the topic among policy and research circles. One of the drivers for floodplain restoration is the EU Water Framework Directive. Early floodplain restoration schemes were undertaken in the mid-1990s in the Rheinvorland-Süd on the Upper Rhine, the Bourret on the Garonne, and the Long Eau River project in England. Ongoing schemes in 2007 include Lenzen on the Elbe, La Basse on the Seine and the Parrett Catchment Project in England.^[1]

In the US, examples of floodplaing restoration can be found in the catchment area of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland ^[2], in the Emiquon Preserve on the Illinois River^[3] and in Charlotte, North Carolina ^[4]

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