Investigation of the integrated river restoration approaches in european countries & case study: İstanbul Ayamama creek

The restoration of rivers and streams consist of a combination of various strategies as ecological, physical, spatial and administrative. These strategies support many topics as recovery of natural conditions of degraded rivers, and also flood control, enhancing biodiversity, the creation of recreation and entertainment areas, the creation of agricultural activities, landscaping, prevention of water pollution and regulation of water quality. Bring back the natural conditions of rivers increases the durability of river systems and provide multiple functioning and sustainable systems. Old river restoration approaches gave place to integrated, sustainable, ecological approaches which consider and take into account a combination of multiple disciplines, project benefits and entire basin rather than river or stream systems. Better understanding and adoption of these approaches, accurate determination of the planning related processes of river restoration projects and implementation of the project directly affect the project success. During the planning phase of the river and stream restoration projects, accurate determination of the problems, the correct identification of stakeholders about the project and policies, proper understanding of biological and physical processes such as hydrology, sediment dynamics and water quality, determination of project aims and goals, establishment of specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time bounded monitoring goals, performing research analysis and surveys, comparison and evaluation of alternative measures, determination of risk factors and uncertainty, gathering experienced experts and teams are required. According to data obtained from planning processes, project design and measurements should be done correctly, these designs should be put into practice during the implementation phase, monitoring and management processes should be done correctly at the end of the project. Monitoring and management processes after the project completion will help in the maintenance phase of the project and will set an example for later projects. The aim of this study is to understand and adopt new integrated approaches that should be considered for restoration of river and stream systems, examination of approaches for restoration projects currently in Europe and to create a vision for the adoption of this approaches in Ayamama Stream, determination of planning, design, implementation and monitoring processes for restoration projects and application of these processes for İstanbul Ayamama Stream Case Study. In the study of literature, many different sources were used. Books and articles published in the last ten years related to planning of river and stream restoration projects in Europe have been used. Restoration schemes, planning manuals and report from European countries became helpful to understand planning process at desired order and level. Information about studies in European countries has been gathered from publications of the European Commission, databases and web sites established for river restoration in Europe, past and present works reports and brochures, federal reports, congresses, Powerpoint presentations, articles, publications, theses, newspapers, maps, charts, photos and illustrations. In this study, lates river restoration works and case studies from Europe are examined. In European countries, especially for the river restoration, many investments, funds, partnerships are created, many policies are followed and promotional projects are given place which aims the protection of environment and species. It has been mentioned that how the rivers have changed from past to present, which mistakes were made in the past and what the new approaches are. Projects serve to many issues such as flood protection, water quality regulation, regulation of agricultural activities, landscaping, increasing vegetation and increasing biodiversity. Revitalization of old streams and river arms and connection of them to river bed, expansion of river channels, removal of old coastal protection structures, removal of old redundant hydraulic structures, restoring natural dynamics of the rivers are goals of these projects. Floodplains have been rearranged and many of the water bodies have been gained back into the river bed. Significant works have been done on sediment control, regulation of water quality and waste water management. Natural habitat for migratory birds, wild and endangered animals have been created and biodiversity has been increased. Various laws, action plans and development plans have been done. Adoption of the green infrastructure approach has been provided, remarkable achievements on subject of integrated river basin management have been obtained and various competitions, award ceremonies have been arranged. Participation of individuals and private land owners have been provided and their ideas have been taken into account for river restoration projects. Various catalogs, reports, magazines, newspapers, organizations, meetings, field studies, festivals, trainings, gifts, promotional activities have been organized for information. Recreation areas have been provided on the shores of the rivers as resting, running, cycling and barbecue places, and rivers have been opened to activities such as boat tours and water sports. In the case study anaylsis; general informations and historical development of Ayamama Stream, its geopolitical location, the problems on the stream, and the past and current measures to these problems have been mentioned. In the case study literature for Ayamama Stream, reports, congresses, Powerpoint presentations and web sites of DSI, ISKI and IBB and informations received directly from these institutions, Google maps, flood maps, old theses, newspaper and magazine news were used. Aymama Stream passes through six districts of Istanbul such as Bakırköy, Bahçelievler, Küçükçekmece, Bağcılar, Sultangazi, Başakşehir throughout the watershed. There are Atatürk Airport in the southern, Olympic Park and access roads in the North West part of the basin and significant media and industrial foundations through Basin Ekspres Road. Ayamama Stream's watershed area horizontally divided by two important roads; Trans-European Motorway (TEM) and D-100 (E-5). Ayamama Stream encountered with many flood events throughout the years and these flood events caused serious material and moral damages. Many measures had been taken into account to prevent flood events, but the cross sections of the stream were narrow and could not meet the requirements for growing population, construction, and paving activities. There were also any other problems related to loss of vegetation and landscaping, lack of maintenance works, unplanned constructions and zoning, domestic and industrial wastes that are causing to water pollution and blockage of the stream. At the end of the study the findings were examined in the light of methods and approaches in Europe, and compared with Ayamama Stream. Strategies have been established on how the restoration approaches should be changed for Ayamama Stream. The aim of this part is better undestanding of SMART goals mentioned in the second part of this thesis, application of planning, design, monitoring and management processes in Ayamama Stream project. The result of the study will help to understand the required planning stages of the river and stream restoration projects, to adopt ecological and integrated river restoration appraoches in European countries, to bring social awareness about stream and river restoration projects, to increase awareness on how a path should be followed for the planning and restoration of Ayamama Stream and other stream projects in our country.