On September 16th The County Administrative Board of Skåne received funding from the EU to launch one of Europe’s largest water restoration projects. The new EU LIFE program, ‘Life Connects’ will invest in improved water quality and strengthen threatened fish stocks in seven watercourses in southern Sweden.
The project will start in the fall and continue until 2025 with efforts in Skåne, Blekinge and Kalmar counties. Restoration efforts are planned in seven rivers: Rönne å, Mörrumsån, Emån, Alsterån, Virån, Helge å and Verkeån. “We aim to develop new, sustainable and innovative solutions that hopefully can be copied and implemented in other countries in the EU,” says Life Connects project manager Ivan Olsson at the County Administrative Board of Skåne.
The Life Connects project is a collaboration among the Marine and Water Authority, Uniper, Karlstad University, the County Administrative Board of Kalmar County, the Municipality of Klippan and the Sport Fishermen. The total budget for Life Connects is ten million euros of which 60 percent is contributed by the EU.
One of the more exciting components of the project is the removal of four obsolete hydropower plants Stackarp, Forsmöllan and Klippan’s paper mill in Rönne river and Marieberg in Mörrumsån! Other components of the project include innovative fishway designs particularly for salmon and eel, the reintroduction of two freshwater mussels, riverbed restoration and water quality improvements.
For more information, contact the project manager Ivan Olsson, County Administrative Board Skåne on 010-224 15 47.
View the full press release in Swedish.
Congratulations on the approval of this project, we are excited to see those dams go and the rivers come back to life!
