Anpassung und Anwendung einer Bewertungsmethode zur Beurteilung der Ökosystemleistungen siedlungsdominierter Gewässerläufe

authored by: Marie Sauerwein, Jochen Hack, Boris Lehmann
Abstract: Water bodies located in urban areas are subject to enormous pressure from use and, in addition to their ecological function, must above all meet economic and social requirements. Although the European Water Framework Directive calls for the improvement of water bodies and defines the achievement of good ecological and chemical status as an objective, urban water bodies are often not considered as a priority due to the lack of a reporting obligation (catchment area < 10 km2) or the classification as heavily modified water bodies as well as the costly improvement of the ecological potential in the planning and implementation of measures. One reason for this are the conflicting objectives of urban planning and ecological requirements. In this area of conflict, the ecosystem services approach can be used as a decision-making and assessment tool. This article specifically examines the ecosystem services of urban watercourses and presents them with the help of the River Ecosystem Service Index (RESI), developed in Germany. The watercourse chosen to serve as an example in this article is the Darmbach, a small, settlement-dominated stream with an about 8-km section flowing through the city limits ofDarmstadt. Atthe same time, the applicability of RESI for urban waters is thus tested and its transferability discussed. As part of the study, calculations are carried out for a total of seven ecosystem services in accordance with the specifications of the RESI application manual. It is shown that the calculated indicators can be transferred to urban waters, in some cases even without modification. Despite the fact that the RESI has so far only been applied to large water bodies, e.g. the Elbe and Danube, it is possible to map the ecosystem services provided by renaturing the Darmbach. Problems in applying the RESI to smaller water bodies result mainly from the partly insufficient measurement data stock and often insufficienttransferabil ity of the spatial reference. In order to be able to map all aspects of water bodies dominated by settlements, it is recommended that the indicators under consideration be extended to take account of the special conditions in settlement areas. In addition to considering individual urban biotopes as a contribution to biodiversity, this also includes the enhancement of the urban landscape through urban nature and the specific urban ecological quality for local recreation. The consideration of ecosystem services within urban planning and water development planning in urban areas enables an integrative assessment of planning projects and, from a current climate policy perspective, represents an important addition to previous assessments. Furthermore, the indicator-based approach to the assessment of ecosystem services is a way of presenting them objectively and reproducibly.
External Organisation(s): Technische Universität Darmstadt
Type: Article
Journal: Hydrologie und Wasserbewirtschaftung
Volume: 65
Pages: 46-61
No. of pages: 16
ISSN: 0012-0235
Publication date: 2021
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Water Science and Technology
Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 6 - Clean Water and Sanitation, SDG 13 - Climate Action
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.5675/HyWa_2021.2_ 1 (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.26083/tuprints-00019878 (Access: Open)