Hydromorphological quality of the upper section of the Ner River using River Habitat Survey (RHS)

Abstract

In summer 2014, hydromorphological state of the upper section of the Ner River was investigated applying the River Habitat Survey (RHS) method. The use of this method involves performing field studies on the selected sections of rivers. During fieldwork, in specific survey forms are collected hundreds of qualitative and quantitative parameters of both the river channel and the valley bottom, as well as vegetation, land use, hydrotechnical buildings etc. Collected data allow to calculate two synthetic hydromorphological indicators on the basis of which the hydromorphological state of the studied section of the river is described. Investigations were carried out in three sections: the Huta Wiskicka sections (I) situated upstream, the Gadka Stara section (II) situated more downstream and the Lublinek section (III) situated downstream. The sections I and II were located beyond the administrative boundaries of Łódź, while the section III was located within the city limits. Moderate and relatively poor assessment of the hydromorphological state of the upper section of the Ner River was obtained: the upper section is characterised by weak state (class IV), the middle section by middle state (class III), the lower section by poor state (class V).