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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Can Germans save their beloved Rhine?

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It is one of the tightest and fastest bends in the Rhine River, a nearly 90-degree curve where a small rocky island dotted by trees further narrows the shipping channel.


Engineers, surveyors and craftspeople have spent months surveying the area, measuring the flow and speed of the water, which is so clear that the contours of the riverbed and its sediment are visible.


But the team does not need boats to do their work. Instead, a short walk through a warehouse gets them to all spots on the river, laid out before them on a 4,500-square-foot scale model resembling a hyper-realistic miniature railroad set, but for boating enthusiasts.


This million-euro (more than $1.03 million) model is no child’s play. It is a part of one of Europe’s most ambitious and expensive experiments in climate adaptation, a 180-million-euro effort to save the Rhine’s historical role as a vital transport link for Germany’s economy from the adverse effects of climate change.


Floods and droughts have long been part of the Rhine’s history, demonstrated by the “hunger stones” — engravings from the Middle Ages far below the water’s surface that marked historically low levels. They have emerged along with other artefacts recently, serving as something of an alarm.


“Low water is not a new phenomenon, but it will happen more often and last longer,” Oliver Luksic, a state secretary in the federal transportation ministry, said.


These recent low-water events have had a distressing impact on Germany’s economy. Up to 80 per cent of Germany’s ship-bound cargo — everything from coal, wheat and cars to containers from China — are transported on the Rhine on their way not only to the south of the country but also to parts of France, Switzerland and, over the Main-Danube Canal, Eastern Europe.


In 2018, when water ran low for weeks, it cost the German economy an estimated 0.3 per cent, or about 12 billion euros, according to Carsten Brzeski, a chief economist at ING Germany. This past summer’s drought cost the country approximately 8 billion euros because the low water blocked shipments of coal needed to generate electricity.


As it has become painfully evident how important the functioning river is to the economy, the deepening of the Rhine, long treated as a purely technical problem, has become a serious political issue for Germany.


Although investments are likely to pay off in the medium term, the optimisation of the 30-mile stretch does not solve the underlying problem of the low water in the Rhine. The work only takes care of the most obvious bottleneck.


In the western part of Germany, what is known as the “middle” Rhine flows past villages, castles and mountainside vineyards. The area is so culturally rich that UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site in 2003. Tourists — both domestic and international — flock to the area. On the water, commercial freighters compete for space with sleek river cruise ships and colourful day-tour boats.


But the bucolic scenery above the water line betrays how treacherous the river can be as it descends fast and shallow through the hills. Climate change is exacerbating the problem of this bottleneck, which is most treacherous in a 30-mile stretch near the village of Kaub.


The optimisation project is focused on making six distinct spots in this critical passage just as deep as river sections above and below the stretch.


In the village of Kaub, a yard-high digital display on the side of an ancient tower on the banks of the Rhine marks the most important number in German logistics: a real-time read-out of the river’s depth at the tightest spot.


When the number dips below 78 centimetres (nearly 31 inches) — meaning the natural river water is only 2 1/2 feet deep and the artificial shipping channel is less than 6 feet deep — transportation is essentially blocked, and only small ships with very limited cargo can pass.


But deepening the river without causing adverse side effects is not easy, said Andreas Schmidt, who runs a department of 125 people at the Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute and is overseeing the project.


“We can model highly complex three-dimensional flows numerically, but once you add the movement of sediments, you quickly reach the limits,” he said.


— The New York Times


Christopher F Schuetze


The writer is a Netherlands-based journalist


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