Hydromorphological stream restoration: concepts and principles

Abstract

The progress achieved over the past 30 years in improving the pysico-chemical quality of stream water has made a contribution to the significant regeneration of their ecological state. However, these improvements seems today to have reached their optimum and the solutions to restore a still sometimes mediocre ecological state, goes through resorption of remaining hydromorphological dysfunctions. This paper reviews the underlying concepts of hydromorphological restoration and presents some principles of implementation.