Tide Management in the Elbe River and Changes in Ecosystem Services

Flood currents (tidal pumping) have led to the increase of transportation of sediments to the river’s upper estuary. In the tidal section of the Elbe River, more sediment is transported to the upper estuary with flood currents (tidal pumping) related to tidal asymmetry. This process contributes, amongst others, to dredging in order to obtain the water depth required for navigation safety. Cognizant of the above problems, construction of shallow water area is planned in order to reduce tidal asymmetry while improving ecological integrity at the tidal Elbe areas. The study on which this paper is based was conducted to assess ecological integrity and ecosystem services before and after the shallow water creation. Habitat identification and quality ranking were conducted for current habitat, while model habitats representing future state (after shallow water creation) were designed using HEC-RAS model simulation. The assessment matrix was used to assess ecological integrity and ecosystem services provisioning of the study area’s habitats before and after the shallow water creation, using potential indicators. Results indicate that there is increase in the ecological integrity after the project implementation. Based on the above explanation, it can be concluded that the measure will increase the flow of ecosystem services after its implementation.