Case study:Rheinfelden bypass

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Location: 47° 34' 11.70" N, 7° 48' 35.20" E

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Project overview

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Status	Complete
Project web site
Themes	Economic aspects, Fisheries, Habitat and biodiversity, Hydropower, Hydromorphology
Country	Switzerland
Main contact forename	Walter
Main contact surname	Binder
Main contact user ID	User:Kasvio
Contact organisation
Contact organisation web site
Partner organisations
Parent multi-site project
This is a parent project encompassing the following projects	No

The largest bypass for fish in Europe. The bypass is constructed as nature-like (photo by Pinja Kasvio)

Project summary

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The bypassing water course at the hydropower plant Rheinfelden, on the High Rhine, is the largest fish pass facilitiy of this type in Central Europe. The old hydropower station was a diversion-channel type plant. The new station is a run-of-river power plant. Three fishways are installed, a vertical slot pass at the power house (left bank), the new bypassing river course installed in the old headrace channel (right bank) and a rock cascade pass which connect the tailwater of the weir with the river course. The main intention of this new river course is to provide suitable habitat for rheophilic species, especially spawning grounds for gravel dependent fish species, for example barbel (Barbus barbus) and nase (Chondrostoma nasus). With a width of 40-50 m, a mean gradient of 0.9 % and a discharge of up to 35 m³s-1 the bypass channel has the character of a mountain river. The mean discharge is 16 m3/s and the attraction flow is 15 m3/s.

The aim is to provide a high variety of bottom and flow structures induced by sequences of riffles, bars, pools and single gravel islands. The bed material consists of continuous gravel. In riffles and fast flowing reaches coarser material is provided. A deeper flow path ensures fish passage even at minor discharges. The river banks are characterized by bars, shallow regions, small bays, undercut banks and riparian vegetation. The bypass channel is connected to the weir impoundment with a gentle transition involving several braided channels. The intake structure itself is divided into two sections. One section will be controlled by two gates, the other will be unregulated. The unregulated section will guarantee a constant discharge of 10 m³s-1 in the bypass channel. Additional discharge up to 25 m³s-1 can be provided via the regulated gates in order to provide a dynamic flow regime. The downstream entrance is designed as a rock ramp with a steeper gradient (3 %), thus downstream water-level fluctuations are limited to this ramp; i.e. flow characteristics in potential spawning grounds in the bypass channel will not change. The cross-section at the mouth of the channel is narrowed to provide more efficient attraction flow into the tailrace.

The total cost of the project was 6 milj. € and the by-pass channel cost 4 milj. €. There is no constant monitoring yet, but they have calculated the amount of the fish in the by-pass channel to be 30 000. In the other fish way the number of fish was 3 000.

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Image gallery

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The map of Rheinfelden bypass. New power plant designed as run-of-river type. Near-nature water course installed in the old headrace channel. (photo: Walter Binder)

Fish counter at the end of Rheinfelden bypass (photo: Pinja Kasvio)

Hydropowerplant (photo Pinja Kasvio)

Pool fish pass (photo: Pinja Kasvio)

Technical fish pass (photo Pinja Kasvio)

Catchment and subcatchment Select a catchment/subcatchment Site Edit site Name WFD water body codes WFD (national) typology WFD water body name Pre-project morphology Reference morphology Desired post project morphology Heavily modified water body No National/international site designation Local/regional site designations Protected species present No Invasive species present No Species of interest Barbel (Barbus barbus), nase (Chondrostoma nasus) Dominant hydrology Artificially regulated, Environmental flow Dominant substrate Gravel River corridor land use Urban, Coniferous woodland (semi natural) Average bankfull channel width category 10 - 50 m Average bankfull channel width (m) 40-50"-50" is not declared as a valid unit of measurement for this property. Average bankfull channel depth category Average bankfull channel depth (m) Mean discharge category 10 - 100 m³/s Mean annual discharge (m3/s) Average channel gradient category 0.01 - 0.1 Average channel gradient Average unit stream power (W/m2) Project background Edit project background Reach length directly affected (m) Project started Works started Works completed Project completed Total cost category Total cost (k€) 10 milj €"milj€" is not declared as a valid unit of measurement for this property. Benefit to cost ratio Funding sources Cost for project phases Phase cost category cost exact (k€) Lead organisation Contact forename Contact surname Investigation and design Stakeholder engagement and communication Works and works supervision Post-project management and maintenance Monitoring Reasons for river restoration Edit reasons for restoration Mitigation of a pressure Hydromorphology Biology Physico-chemical Other reasons for the project Measures Edit Measures Structural measures Bank/bed modifications Floodplain / River corridor Planform / Channel pattern Other Non-structural measures Management interventions Social measures (incl. engagement) Other Monitoring Hydromorphological quality elements Edit Hydromorphological quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Biological quality elements Edit biological quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Fish: Abundance No No Yes Yes No Physico-chemical quality elements Edit Physico-chemical quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Any other monitoring, e.g. social, economic Edit Other responses Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Monitoring documents Upload monitoring documents Additional documents and videos Upload additional documents Additional links and references Edit links and references Link Description Supplementary Information Edit Supplementary Information