Hydrological effect of water management on water regime restoration in the Dovinė river basin, Lithuania

Abstract

The Žuvintas Lake, located in southern Lithuania in the basin of the Dovinė River is one of the biggest lakes and oldest nature reserves of the country. However, the changes in the hydrology of the Dovine River Basin, caused by large scale melioration and water management works carried out in the 20th century, have resulted in significant decrease in biodiversity of Žuvintas Lake and surrounding wetlands. In order to prevent the ongoing deterioration of the lake and wetlands solutions have to be found at the basin level. Therefore, various scenarios have been analyzed to evaluate the impact of water management alternatives in the Dovine River basin. For these scenarios the physically-based model STMGRO was used. The results have shown that entire restoration of water dynamics and flow pattern of the Dovinė River to its original state is impossible. However, the blocking of drainage ditches and the removal of scrubs and trees in the wetlands can be a highly successful measure to improve hydrological conditions.