Sari Väisänen

Participatory operations model for cost-efficient monitoring and modeling of river basins — A systematic approach

The worldwide economic downturn and the climate change in the beginning of 21st century have stressed the need for cost efficient and systematic operations model for the monitoring and management of surface waters. However, these processes are still all too fragmented and incapable to respond these challenges. For example in Finland, the estimation of the costs and benefits of planned management measures is insufficient. On this account, we present a new operations model to streamline these processes and to ensure the lucid decision making and the coherent implementation which facilitate the participation of public and all the involved stakeholders. The model was demonstrated in the real world management of a lake. The benefits, pitfalls and development needs were identified. After the demonstration, the operations model was put into operation and has been actively used in several other management projects throughout Finland.

A practical tool for selecting cost-effective combinations of phosphorus loading mitigation measures in Finnish catchments

ABSTRACT The European Unions Water Framework Directive requires that all water bodies should achieve good ecological status at latest by 2027. A spreadsheet tool was developed to identify cost-effective solutions at a catchment scale in Finland. The tool is designed to meet the needs of regional river basin management planning in Finland. It can be used to compare individual measures by their cost-effectiveness or by their achievable phosphorus reduction rate. In addition to this, combinations of measures can be built and compared by their costs and reductions. Uncertainty analysis of the tool is carried out with the Monte Carlo simulation. The tool has been piloted in eight different Finnish river basins during 2011–2013. The case studies have shown that the tool can support the allocation of financial resources better; improve communication between experts, authorities and local stakeholders; and add realism in river basin management planning by giving estimates of the achievable loading reductions.

Monetary assessment of the recreational benefits of improved water quality – description of a new model and a case study

The European Union Water Framework Directive (WFD) has created a demand for comparing the benefits and costs of the remedial measures. A major part of the benefits from improved water quality relate to the increased recreational value. However, there is a lack of easily operative and widely applicable quantitative methods to assess the benefits of improved water quality for recreational use. We present a new model to link physical indicators of water quality, water feasibility indicators for different recreational uses, individuals’ perceptions concerning the current feasibility of water for recreational purposes and monetary measures of water-related recreation benefits. The model has been applied to nine lakes, three rivers and one large coastal area in Finland. In this paper, we present the principles of the method and the results from one case study. In Finland, the method has been applied for the economic analysis required in the WFD.