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Balancing river ecosystems and hydropower requirements


SHARE - Sustainable Hydropower in Alpine Rivers Ecosystems -  is an ongoing European project involving 5 countries: Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Germany and France.

The purpose of SHARE is to develop, test and promote a decision support system to merge, on an unprejudiced base, both river ecosystems and hydropower requirements.
The project openly pursues integrated river management aims.

Roselend barrage and reservoir
Roselend dam and reservoir, France
 ©Philippe Belleudy - University Joseph Fourier Grenoble

Towards sustainable hydropower

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SHARE's toolbox

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Alps are a tremendous source of freshwater that is vital for millions of Europeans. They are home to many - and sometimes unique - river and riparian species. A lot of activities rely on alpine water bodies. Stress on this resource is increasing, and conflicts of use are unavoidable.

SHARE develops a decision support system which includes economic and environmental standards, so as to trigger a new generation of eco investments to mitigate hydropower's impacts and restore water bodies’ quality.

The approach: merging scientific tools, local specificities and operational requirements

This approach will be led using existing scientific tools adjustable to transnational, national and local normative. It will be carried on by permanent panels of administrators and stakeholders.

SHARE will provide public administrators, and all stakeholders involved in river- and hydropower-related issues, with means to strike a balance between needs of hydropower and water bodies' health.

  • Software  & online tools implementing a multicriteria approach,  to assess different management alternatives concerning river-related issues.
  • A guidebook for policy-makers  to take transparent and well informed decisions where hydropower is involved, thanks to the multicriteria approach methodology and the software implementing it.
  • Databases focussed on the alpine region : to identify applicable laws and competent authorities, to characterize alpine rivers typologies and to assess their vulnerability to hydropower installations and to classify scenarios of water use optimisation.

  • A set of generally applicable and comparable indicators & monitoring standards to assess hydropower effects on dissimilar water bodies’ health.

 

The partnership

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The project

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SHARE is supported and implemented by 13 partners. The leading partner is ARPA (Regional Agency for Environment) Valle d’Aosta. Several organisations also contribute as official observers.

All stakeholders in water management issues can take part in and benefit from the project results as members of the national Permanent Technical Panel.

SHARE is a running project in line with the European Territorial Cooperation Alpine Space programme 2007-2013. As such it has been early approved and co funded by the European Regional Development fund. The project will formally take place from August 2009 to July 2012.
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