Case study:Eldbäcken

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Location: 60° 26' 9.54" N, 14° 13' 47.69" E

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Project overview

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Status	Complete
Project web site	http://www.nrrv.se/
Themes	Habitat and biodiversity, Hydropower
Country	Sweden
Main contact forename	Stina
Main contact surname	Gustafsson
Main contact user ID
Contact organisation	Karlstad University
Contact organisation web site	http://www.nrrv.se
Partner organisations
Parent multi-site project
This is a parent project encompassing the following projects	No

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Project summary

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Eldbäcken is a more diverse version of a nature-like bypass channel, a fishway type that we have called “biocanal”. The name derives from the idea that the fishway not only would facilitate passage, but also that it would create additional habitats and compensate for the loss of biodiversity which often is the result in regulated rivers. The biocanal was constructed in 2009 in the Västerdalälven river system, in the province of Dalarna in central Sweden, diverting water around the Eldforsen hydroelectric power plant and into the old river bed. The biocanal has a head of 5 m and a length of 500 m, resulting in a gradient of 1%. To make the flow as nature-like as possible, the intake of the biocanal is constructed to allow a variable flow regime.

To increase the potential for a high biodiversity, four different habitat types, each replicated three times, were created within the biocanal:

1) Pools, with a low water velocity and gravel substrate to compensate for lost freshwater pearl mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera) habitat and spawning areas for brown trout (Salmo trutta).

2) Floodplains, with winding channels and shallow ponds and

3) Braided habitats, where the canal has been diverted into narrow channels with islands in-between. These two habitat types were created to accommodate young individuals of brown trout.

4) Riffles, with a straight watercourse and higher water velocity, providing habitat for rheophilic taxa in general.

Monitoring surveys and results

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Lessons learnt

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Catchment and subcatchment

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Site

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Name	Eldbäcken
WFD water body codes
WFD (national) typology
WFD water body name	River Västerdalälven
Pre-project morphology
Reference morphology
Desired post project morphology
Heavily modified water body	Yes
National/international site designation
Local/regional site designations
Protected species present	No
Invasive species present	No
Species of interest	Freshwater pearl mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera), Brown trout (Salmo trutta)
Dominant hydrology
Dominant substrate	boulder, cobble
River corridor land use
Average bankfull channel width category	2 - 5 m
Average bankfull channel width (m)
Average bankfull channel depth category	0.5 - 2 m
Average bankfull channel depth (m)
Mean discharge category	0.1 - 1.0 m³/s
Mean annual discharge (m³/s)
Average channel gradient category	0.001 - 0.01
Average channel gradient
Average unit stream power (W/m²)

Project background

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Reach length directly affected (m)
Project started
Works started
Works completed
Project completed
Total cost category	100 - 500 k€
Total cost (k€)
Benefit to cost ratio
Funding sources	Fortum Environmental Fund

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Reasons for river restoration

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Mitigation of a pressure
Hydromorphology
Biology
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Measures

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Floodplain / River corridor
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