Flourishing Lakes and Streams

"Lakes and watercourses must be ecologically sustainable and their variety of habitats must be preserved. Natural productive capacity, biological diversity, cultural heritage assets and the ecological and water-conserving function of the landscape must be preserved, at the same time as recreational assets are safeguarded."

Lakes and watercourses are under pressure from many quarters, including forestry, agriculture, industry and hydroelectric power. Many plant and animal species are dependent on free-flowing rivers and streams, and naturally fluctuating water levels. This may conflict with our wish to build houses near lake shores and riverbanks, or our need to regulate river flow to generate electricity.

Preserving the natural productive capacity of aquatic environments is also important. Rivers are used for example for fishing and provide drinking water. Fresh waters are important for recreation too, for instance for bathing and boating. In their vicinity, moreover, there is valuable cultural heritage that needs to be conserved and managed so that it can be enjoyed by generations to come.

What are the challenges?

A good deal remains to be done to achieve good environmental status in our lakes and watercourses. Currently, one of the biggest threats to biodiversity is physical disturbance from hydroelectric schemes. Regulation of rivers causes fragmentation and, in the worst cases, complete loss of species’ habitats.

Many valuable waters, including both cultural environments and some drinking water sources, still lack long-term protection. Bacteria and other microbial contaminants are already a problem for drinking water supplies. In the longer term, the climate change now under way could increase the risks to health arising from the spread of pollutants and pathogenic organisms.

Progress in restoring disturbed fresh waters is slow. If a sufficient number of ecologically sustainable and diverse habitats are to be reinstated, both the financial and the legal frameworks for restoring rivers and streams need to be strengthened.

Specifications for Flourishing Lakes and Streams

The environmental quality objective Flourishing Lakes and Streams aims to ensure that:

  • lakes and watercourses achieve at least good ecological status or potential and good chemical status in accordance with the Water Quality Management Ordinance (2004:660),
  • unexploited and essentially undisturbed watercourses retain natural water flows and water levels,
  • surface water supplies that are used for the production of drinking water are of good quality,
  • important ecosystem services of lakes and watercourses are preserved,
  • lakes and watercourses have structures and water flows that facilitate habitats and dispersal pathways for wild plant and animal species as a part of a green infrastructure,
  • habitats and naturally occurring species associated with lakes and watercourses have a favourable conservation status and sufficient genetic variation within and between populations,
  • threatened species have recovered and habitats have been restored in valuable lakes and watercourses,
  • alien species and genotypes do not threaten biodiversity,
  • genetically modified organisms that can threaten biodiversity are not introduced,
  • the natural and cultural heritage values of lakes and watercourses are preserved and the conditions for continued preservation and development of these values are in place, and
  • the value of shore and bank environments, lakes and watercourses for recreational fishing, bathing, boating and other outdoor activities is safeguarded and maintained, and the impact of noise is minimised.