Although our reasoning is based on many simplifications and the data used contain uncertainties, the following conclusions seem to be justified. Postwar changes in the type and intensity of land use in former West Germany appear to influence the discharge behaviour of the country's major rivers. Although it is possible that climatic changes and anthropogenic flood plain interferences are partly responsible for the increased number of inland floods observed recently in Germany, it seems that much of the changed discharge behaviour of German rivers can be explained by postwar changes in land use.
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