Wupper

The Wupper basin is located in Germany within the Rhine catchment area, the Wupper being a direct tributary to the Rhine. It is located in the German state of North Rhine Westphalia, which is characterised by a high density of population and industry. Since decades, the anthropogenic development of the region has influenced the rivers in their use and appearance. Rivers have been polluted and their flow was changed. Dams were constructed in order to provide the region with drinking water.

The Dhünn near Leverkusen is Part of the Wupper catchment area – the picture shows the river at the fish counting station near Leverkusen (06-09-19)

The lake at the Dhünn Dam provides drinking water for the people in the catchment (06-09-19)

With the amelioration of the water quality during the last years, different fish species have repopulated the catchment and the rivers have also become more attractive for recreational uses, such as fishing and hiking.

The Wupper is mainly managed by a single water authority – the Wupperverband – which also coordinates different water uses in the Wupper basin. Being the main stakeholder in the Wupper basin, the Wupperverband became a co-operation partner of the NeWater project by signing a co-operation treaty with all NeWater partners conducting research in the basin. Being also aligned with the ACER project, the Wupper is a joint case study of both projects.

Project members with members of the cooperation partner at the headquarter of the Wupperverband at Wuppertal (06-09-19)

For further information on the Wupperverband please go to http://www.wupperverband.de/projekte/forschung/forschungsprojekte/newater.und.acer.html

NeWater activities in the Wupper basin

A main activitiy is the co-organisation of a stakeholder process. It will be related to the sub-catchment of the river Dhünn, a tributary of the Wupper. As a pilot project, the Wupperverband is planning involve water users and further stakeholders into the management and planning of future action in the Dhünn basin.

Two stakeholders in the Dhünn basin: Fish counting station of a fishing cooperation (left); Industrial museum using water power (right) (06-09-19)

The project partners analysing the situation and the diverse stakeholder interests in the area in order to formulate recommendations to the Wupperverband about how to carry out such a participatory process. They will then support the Wupperverband in its implementation. Accoring to current planning, the process will involve “Round table” workshops with representatives of all relevant stakeholder interests. For more information on the participatory process, please refer to [K.R.1] www.wupperverband.de

Further activities in the Wupper case study include research on the management style of the Wupperverband that will be comparatively analysed with the management style of the Kromme Rijn – a water board in the Netherlands, also part of the Rhine case study. The research will elaborate on the question of membership of the Wupperverband, its openness for stakeholder participation, the current implementation of the WFD as well as on different legal aspects.

Stakeholders

Wupperverband (www.wupperverband.de)

Water board responsible for the river management in the catchment area

[List with stakeholders, including photo, e-mail-adress and short description]

Team members (sign in please)

Name Institute WP Tasks

Moellenkamp, Sabine USF 1.1 / 1.2 / 1.7

Pahl-Wostl, Claudia USF

Ebenhöh, Eva USF

Rinke, Karina USF

Brugnach, Marcela USF

Isendahl, Nicola USF

Dewulf, Art COPP

François, Greet COPP 1.1/1.7/4.3

Taillieu, Tharsi COPP
vanderBrugge, Rutger DRIFT (ICIS)

Raak, Roel van DRIFT (ICIS)

Lamers, Machiel ICIS

Stel, Jan ICIS

Aerts, Jeroen IVM

Becker, Gert IVM

Hare, Matt Seecon

Speil, Karina Seecon
Schmidt, Thorben USF
Huesmann, Christian USF
Pohl, Wiebke USF