📋 Tender Overview
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Affairs and the Water Directorate of the Republic of Slovenia are approaching the regulation of watercourses with system-related measures, both in terms of rehabilitation and investments, as well as already implemented emergency measures after floods in the affected areas. For a better understanding among the public, we provide some explanations below.
After the large-scale floods and landslides that hit Slovenia on August 4 last year, urgent intervention measures were implemented in the watercourses in the first month after the event , followed by emergency measures , which prevented direct danger to people's lives or health and ensured, above all, the flow of watercourses (removal of debris, floodplains, strengthening of banks, etc.), which were completed by the end of June 2024. A total of 172 million euros were allocated for intervention and emergency measures .
The five-year rehabilitation period has now begun , the implementation of which is based on the rehabilitation program or Program for the elimination of the consequences of direct damage to property due to strong storms with several days of heavy rain with floods and landslides on August 4, 2023 , which was adopted by the government on May 16, 2024. 1.32 billion euros have been earmarked over five years for the restoration of the water infrastructure to an adequate functional state, resistant to climate change.
Due to the scale and different complexity, the renovation is expected to take five years. Here, we emphasize that rehabilitation does not begin with the implementation of work on the ground. Remediation begins with the preparation and production of investment documentation, project documentation, obtaining various consents, land purchase, all administrative procedures must be carried out in order to be able to carry out the work on the ground. The renovation will take place at different speeds in individual sections, depending on the complexity and extent of the work required. An important factor here are also the time limits set by legislation regarding the implementation of works on watercourses (for example, due to fish spawning, bird nesting, etc.).
While intervention work and emergency measures could take place all the time and without special (legal) restrictions, with the sole aim of preventing further damage and protecting people's lives and their property, the time of rehabilitation brings longer-term, strategic and well-thought-out measures.
As well as the implementation of emergency measures, the course of remediation is also available in the web browser of the Directorate for Water . The viewer also covers works on watercourses that were damaged in other disasters in the past period, not only on August 4, 2024.
Systemically linked measures to reduce the risk of flooding and erosion in individual basins
Since a comprehensive approach is necessary when regulating watercourses, the implementation of all of the above is connected in the so-called system-related measures for reducing the flood and erosion risk of an individual basin (SPU) . Based on knowledge of the area, conducted hydrological-hydraulic studies and flood events, and taking into account the impact on the state of the water, the SPU are a set of mutually coordinated and connected measures to reduce the risk of flooding and erosion in the entire basin. This prevents partial treatment of individual parts of the basin and duplication of works in watercourses. This means that it is necessary to coordinate measures from already implemented emergency measures (ensuring flow and stabilization of damaged banks), rehabilitation (it concerns flood-damaged areas, for which an adopted rehabilitation program is the basis) and investments (which were planned and would were carried out even if there had been no flood event).
Comprehensiveness of watercourse regulation
Individual measures affect the entire basin , are interdependent and have an impact both downstream and upstream. Watercourses do not know municipal boundaries - reducing the flood risk in one area can change the nature of the watercourse and increase the risk in another area. To avoid this, a comprehensive approach to regulating watercourses is key.
Comprehensive regulation of watercourses means that, with appropriate measures at the source (headwater), we hold back floodwaters and sediments, while in the middle and lower reaches we regulate retention and controlled spillage and reduce erosion processes. At the same time, we must be aware of and understand the natural processes associated with watercourses. The decision which type of measures to choose must be professionally justified. We strive for nature-based solutions (English Nature-based Solutions - NbS), which means that we give water space, plan measures that do not harm riparian habitats, regulate watercourse beds and build water management facilities to prevent the harmful effects of water.
The measures must also be climate-resistant, as flooding events are becoming more frequent due to climate change.
