Europe-Wide Survey on Environmental Flow Requirements for Hydropower

The survey seeks to systematically assess how environmental flow requirements are defined, implemented, and regulated in different European countries. The collected insights will support a better understanding of current practices, regulatory approaches, and challenges related to balancing hydropower generation with ecological river management.

Contributions are particularly welcome from representatives of:

• Public authorities and administrations
• Hydropower operators
• Non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
• Academia and research institutions

The survey requires approximately 20 minutes to complete. All responses will be treated anonymously and confidentially. Results will be analysed and reported exclusively in aggregated form.

Take part in the survey

Interested experts can access the survey here:

➡️ Environmental Flow Survey

Participants are also encouraged to share the survey with colleagues and professional networks who may have relevant expertise in environmental flows and hydropower.

The study is conducted by an international research team including representatives from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Eawag, KJ Consult, BOKU University, and the University for Business and Technology. The team includes two researchers and experts from the Hydro4U project, among them Tobias Wechsler (WSL), Nicole Bongni (Eawag), Arianna Manente (WSL), Klaus Jorde (KJ Consult), Daniel S. Hayes (BOKU), and Alban Kuriqi (University for Business and Technology).