Worldwide, rivers, artificial canals and combinations thereof, forming networks of Inland Waterways, have been/are being developed and managed to facilitate and optimize waterborne transport of freight, sometimes with some additional benefits such as flood alleviation or power generation. Nevertheless, such waterways have in principle the potential to create additional benefits or values, enabled by additional uses. The working group ?Values of Inland Waterways? was established by Inland Waterways Commission of PIANC to study and present these additional uses, analyze their determining parameters and evaluate them in terms of providing benefits to people and society, and in this way to enhance the general awareness of a wider interested community.
rnBased on review of relevant literature, on the experiences of the working group members and on intensive discussions during working group meetings, the group identified 12 principal uses of inland waterways or waterway networks. These uses could be classified into the four categories: Navigational, Water Management, Water Consuming and (some) Miscellaneous uses.
rnThe core of the report is the description and evaluation of these identified uses. For their evaluation, a consistent scheme of criteria or aspects, comprising navigational, operational, environmental, economic, and social aspects has been developed, to make sure that all uses are evaluated in the same way. A further aspect ? Balance of interests ? refers to the different stakeholders with their potential interests in the wider range of matters of inland waterways. The evaluation also included considerations on how certain uses of inland waterways can strengthen the effects of creating values, or, on the other side, weakening effects could be caused.
rnAnother chapter deals with calculating the ratio of costs and benefits, the internal rate of return, for the additional uses. On the basis of key parameters, including ideas on the estimation of monetary values for indirect, recreational and non-use values, it is shown that already currently the possibility of calculating benefits of investments in additional uses, similar to investing in the waterways for transportation, exists. Although the state of art in this matter is still progressing, it is already widely disseminated among national and international environmental authorities and is being regularly required in project evaluation processes.
rnFinally, conclusions and recommendations on how to deal with the effects of multi-use of inland waterways are given.
rnThe attachments comprise 21 cases of ?Best practices?, describing multiple using of inland waterways and covering rivers and canals, modern and historic waterways and/or waterways from developed and developing countries, by referring to the identified uses and to the aspects of evaluating. The presented cases make visible that inland waterways have potentials for manifold uses and, consequently, for providing more benefits or values to the society. rn
