Name: DSP4 Upper catchment of Vah River rehydratation
Link na web DALIA Danube: https://dalia-danube.eu/index.php/demo-sites/dps-4
As part of the Horizon DALIA project, experts from the Faculty of Environmental Sciences at the Czech University of Life Sciences (CZU) are collaborating with the Slovak partner, Občianske združenie l'udia a voda Košice. The pilot research site includes so-called micro-watersheds (headwater areas) in the Kysuce Protected Landscape Area, in the Žilina district. Ten experimental spring sites were selected. Nature-based retention measures are being implemented on half of these sites to enhance water retention in the landscape, while the other half serve as validation sites and are left in their natural state. The retention measures primarily involve increasing surface roughness by installing various obstacles and barriers that interrupt surface runoff. One of the most curious measures involves placing corn in approximately 50 cm deep boreholes. The corn is then dug out by wild boars, which effectively increases surface roughness.
In addition to improving water retention, these measures also have a significant anti-erosion effect.
As part of our collaboration, we are developing a rainfall-runoff model to quantify the effectiveness of these nature-based measures for various types of design rainfalls, aiming to reduce the risk of so-called flash floods. Ultimately, this will provide the basis for an economic analysis of the costs of implementing retention measures versus the potential damage from flash floods in the absence of such measures.
