https://www.bafg.de/
The Federal Institute of Hydrology (Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde, BfG) is a higher federal authority within the portfolio of Germany’s Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport. It is the federal scientific institute for research in the fields of hydrology, water management and water protection. The Institute advises federal ministries with various responsibilities and their subordinate authorities against the background of their respective tasks and topical societal challenges, such as climate change and extreme hydrological events.
Within the scope of its tasks, BfG contributes to waterway management (on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport), national flood hazard management and water management (on behalf of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection). In river commissions and working groups, BfG engages in regular dialogue with national and international authorities active in these fields.
BfG has conducted and conducts studies to assess the impacts of human activities and changing natural boundary conditions on the structures and functions of water bodies and their interactions with other environmental compartments. To support these studies, BfG draws on proprietary hydrological and water management models of Germany’s major rivers, including their international catchment shares. BfG has detailed experience and skills in the field of transport water management, e.g. in relation to the causes, occurrence and consequences of extreme low water situations in the past and future, as well as in modelling flood discharge processes in rivers, including the effects of flood protection measures, such as dyke relocations. In addition, BfG hosts and operates monitoring, forecasting and climate change advisory services used by numerous addressees to underpin and inform their day-to-day and strategic management decisions.
Contact: Dr. Enno Nilson (nilson@bafg.de)