Flood Hazard and Flood Risk Maps in Germany - The Guidelines of the Joint Water Working Group of the German Federal Government and the Federal States

In 1995 LAWA, the joint water working group of the German Federal Government and the Federal States, published "Guidelines for a Future-Oriented Flood Protection" according to which, in addition to improving water retention in the river basins and the indispensable technical flood protection measures, flood prevention plays a major role for the mitigation of flood-related damage. This role was underlined once again by the "Tools and Recommendations for the Realisation of these Guidelines". For LAWA the drawing up of flood hazard maps is of central importance. These maps should be created on a nation-wide basis and with comparable contents for all rivers with a high flood-related damage potential. Flood hazard maps are meant to be a source of information for authorities as well as for the public at large and should make a direct contribution to reducing flood damages. Article 6 of the Directive 2007/60/EC on the assessment and management of flood risks (Flood Risk Management Directive, FRMD) which entered into force on November 26, 2007, contains provisions on flood hazard and flood risk maps as appropriate tools for this purpose. As the German position in the process of the common implementation strategy (CIS) the LAWA decided to develop and publish the "Flood Hazard Map Guidelines". An advanced edition of these guidelines, covering also flood risk maps, was worked out by a group under the direction of Mr. Ralf Schernikau (Rheinland-Pfalz). It was prepared for download at the homepage of LAWA (www.lawa.de/publkationen).