March 2, Mr. SHIM and his company had a visit to the Water Conservation Bureau of Germany. They had a meeting with Bavarian environment officials and Dr. Claus Adjete who are in charge of the Isar Plan. Both sides discussed in comparative analysis on the two countries’ river restoration projects. They visited also the Isar River to quell the curiosities on the matters occurred before. The Isar Plan means the plan for formulating to restore into a nature-oriented river. The Isar passes Munich and flows to merge with the Danube. The Isar River had been regulated and forced into a canal-type bed with fortified embankments at the end of the 19th century. This had a negative impact on the river’s flow rate, flow patterns and temperature household. A hundred years later, 1995, a new model was formulated whose development targets included a nature-oriented river landscape (8 km) and a branched river flowing in a broad bed, with changed courses after each high-water period. Increasing the volume of residual water is an important step for achieving this. Improvement for flood prevention, eco-friendly restoration and creation of waterfront area for people’s convenience were the main subjects of the plan.
At the beginning, backlash of the environment groups and worries of the residents on long-term project period so long as 9 years. In the long run, now the residents are content with the rebirth of the Isar. Giving straightened waterways natural curves, turning esplanade into gentle slope to secure more space for water flow, it resulted to lowered flood level and flow velocity. It helps now to run stably power generation facilities as well as reduced threat from flood damages.
