Tullstorp Stream catchment, Scania/Skåne, Sweden
Project ended
Landscape level
In a highly productive agricultural landscape where wetlands had been drained and the stream channelised, landowners organised to restore the Tullstorp Stream and rebuild wetland functions across the wider catchment. The project combined river re-meandering, buffer zones, flood storage areas and wetland creation to improve ecological status and cut nutrient leakage to the Baltic Sea. A follow-on initiative (Tullstorp 2.0) expanded the approach to address drought and flooding risks by storing excess water in multifunctional wetlands and reusing it through recirculating irrigation and adapted drainage.
The Tullstorp Stream is a 30 km watercourse in southern Sweden, draining a catchment that is about 85% agricultural land with very high yields and national importance for food production. Historical land-use change reduced wet areas as farmland expanded, and the stream was channelised in the early 1900s as part of agricultural development. By 2009, the stream’s ecological condition was assessed as “bad”, creating a need for substantial restoration to move towards “good” ecological status under the EU Water Framework Directive. Recent extreme weather (very wet 2017 and very dry 2018) highlighted growing climate-related water management challenges for farmers, including drought impacts, drainage pressures, and uncertainty around water withdrawal for irrigation.
The first-generation intervention (from 2009) restored the Tullstorp Stream and rebuilt wetland functions across a 6,300 ha agricultural catchment through phased river works and distributed wetland creation. Physical measures included re-meandering and reshaping the river channel, establishing buffer zones and flood zones, and constructing wetlands that intercept drainage water before it reaches the stream. The second-generation intervention (from 2019) extends this approach to climate resilience by creating multifunctional water reservoirs designed to store excess water during wet periods and supply it during drought through recirculating irrigation and adapted drainage systems. Pilot schemes include restoring existing ponds and building new reservoirs connected to drainage and stormwater inputs, with seasonal pumping from the stream when water levels are high.
The project was organised and operated by the Tullstorp Stream Economic Association, an association of landowners and other catchment stakeholders established in February 2009, with a seven-member board and an employed project manager responsible for administration to reduce the workload for participating landowners. The project used a defined engagement approach (“the Tullstorp method”), starting with detailed information and anchoring among landowners, relying on voluntary participation, patience and a bottom-up approach, and demonstrating success early via a 2 km “stretch of display” near Jordberga. To enable implementation and long-term management, the association secured land contracts for restoration and future management activities; landowners retained ownership and could continue land use as long as it did not conflict with the contract’s intent. For the river works, the stream was divided into three phases of approximately 5–10 km each, with objectives to create varied channel depth, flatten banks, and restore a more meandering planform. Additional in-channel and riparian measures included establishing buffer zones along the stream, creating flood zones in suitable areas, and constructing small wetlands that collect drainage water before it enters the stream, aiming to reduce nutrient leaching from farmland and mitigate flooding and erosion. By 2019, 10 km of stream had been restored and 39 wetlands constructed, totalling 169 ha of wetland area; a further phase was planned to restore around 5 km over the next two years (as stated in the project material). Wetland planning was guided by an inventory identifying 50 potential sites; wetlands were implemented where feasible and where landowners opted in, with stated multiple functions including nutrient retention, flood attenuation, biodiversity support, erosion reduction, and recreation value. A monitoring programme is ongoing to assess impacts, including flow, water quality and zoo-benthos at a sampling site in the lower project area, plus annual fish surveys at five to seven stations. In 2019, landowners initiated Tullstorp Stream 2.0 to address climate-related extremes by combining three components into a circular water system: multifunctional water reservoirs, recirculating irrigation, and customised drainage. In this concept, reservoirs store surface water and nutrients and supply irrigation during water scarcity; recirculating irrigation aims to minimise energy and water use while returning as much stored water and nutrients as possible to crops; customised drainage aims to retain and use rainfall and recycled water/nutrients according to field conditions. Two pilots were described: restoration of former sugar mill ponds fed by drainage water, stormwater and water from the stream, and a newly constructed reservoir fed by drainage water; one description also specifies a plan for about 12 ha of multifunctional wetlands within a 250 ha catchment (150 ha arable land) and pumping from the stream to reservoirs in winter and spring when stream levels are high. The project also supports transfer to other areas by assisting landowners in the Ståstorp Stream catchment to apply the Tullstorp method.
Information not available yet.
