The Drava River

This monograph summarizes the environmental issues concerning the channel and the floodplain of the Drava River. It describes the diverse forms of human impact (river regulation, damming and reservoirs, dredging etc.) and the environmental changes of hydrological regime, sediment transport, biodiversity etc. involved.

This monograph summarizes the environmental issues concerning the channel and the floodplain of the Drava River. It describes the diverse forms of human impact (river regulation, damming and reservoirs, dredging etc.) and the environmental changes of hydrological regime, sediment transport, biodiversity etc. involved. The transboundary nature of the river is emphasized and the resulting problems are outlined. Special attention is devoted to the evolution and present condition of the floodplain (drainage pattern, oxbow lakes and their vegetation). The possible solutions to environmental problems are illustrated by a review of ongoing and planned rehabilitation measures. The book is amply illustrated with maps, cross/sections, diagrams and photographs. The international team of authors (representing all countries crossed by the Drava River: Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary) approach the topic from different aspects. Thus, the reader is provided with a comprehensive picture of this, up until now, little studied European river. 

Index.- 1 Introduction.- 2 The Drava Basin: Geological and geomorphological setting.- 3 Land use.- 4 Climate change.- 5 Hydrogeomorphology.- 6 Hydrological characteristics of the Drava River in Croatia.- 7 Water and sediment discharge along the Hungarian section.- 8 River regulation.- 9 Human impact on water budget.- 10 Flood hazard.- 11 Evolution of the Drava floodplain in Hungary in the last 100 years.- 12 Oxbow lakes: hydromorphology.- 13 Oxbow lakes: vegetation history and conservation.- 14 Floodplain connectivity.- 15 Water quality of the Lower Drava River.- 16 Macroinnvertebrates and fishes of the Drava.- 17 Floodplain forests.- 18 Nature conservation and floodplain rehabilitation.- rehabilitation of side arms.- 20 Landscape rehabilitation: Old Drava Programme.- Bibliography.- Glossary.