Skip to content
Technical University of Munich

LAREDAR

LAREDAR (Lakes and Reservoirs in the Danube River Basin)

Climate change has increased the frequency and intensity of floods across Europe, requiring innovative strategies to mitigate risks. The LAREDAR Project focuses on the critical role of lakes and reservoirs in transnational flood risk management in the Danube River Basin (DRB). The project aims to improve cooperation among countries by developing a data-sharing and coordination platform to optimize the use of reservoirs for flood mitigation in cross-border contexts.

Although flood management initiatives in the DRB have largely concentrated on rivers, the LAREDAR project emphasizes that storage reservoirs can attenuate and delay flood waves, providing downstream protection. However, a lack of harmonized operation rules and limited data exchange between countries hinders their full potential.

LAREDAR will analyze pilot regions to quantify the effects of reservoirs on flood routing, evaluate nature-based solutions, and develop operational flood control strategies in line with the EU Floods Directive (2007/60/EC) and the Danube Strategy. The outcome will be a guidance framework and coordination platform for transboundary reservoir operation during major flood events.

The TUM Chair of Hydrology and River Basin Management will support the scientific and technical aspects of the project by connecting with key institutions (e.g., ICPDR, ICPR, IKSE, IHP Danube), coordinating hydrodynamic modeling of the Danube River system, and developing flood mitigation guidelines and decision-making tools.

Key activities include:

  • Updating hydraulic models for the Danube River and main tributaries.
  • Coordinate the development of a handbook on the created models of the DRB.
  • Developing and test scenarios to explore the effects of lakes and reservoirs in flood and drought mitigation.
  • Integrating modeling results into emergency decision support and long-term planning

Project Objective:

Enhance transnational flood risk mitigation through coordinated reservoir operation, data exchange, and collaborative decision-making along the Danube River Basin.

Funding Programme: European Union – Interreg Danube Region Programme

Project start: 01.04.2025

Project end: 31.10.2027

Project management: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Markus Disse, Dr.-Ing. Karl Broich, and M.Sc. Pablo Sarmiento

To top