Vattenöversikt i små avrinningsområden i Skåne / Water planning for small Scanian rivers

The EU Water Framework directive requires planning on river basin basis. Different means affect different basins in different ways. In this study it is shown how small basins can be characterized and how a problem analysis can be done with respect to water requirement, water quality, land use and concentrated activities. Effects of separate means on the entire river basin are quantified. The application includes three small rivers in southern Sweden: the Sege River, the Höje River and the river system Saxån-Braån. These river basins are
dominated by agriculture. The consequences of flooding are very small. The summer discharge is small, which often leads to conflicts between irrigation demands and ecological flows. The river water quality is mostly determined
by the nutrient leakage from the agricultural land, although the urban contribution is clear from the city of Lund within the Höje River basin. In Saxån-Braån there is almost no contribution from urban areas. The phosphorous contribution from individual household wastewater systems in rural areas is significant in all
three rivers (8–20 %). In the Höje River the contribution of phosphorous is about the same from the urban and rural areas, while the nitrogen contribution relation is 25–75 %.