Switzerland, and particularly its alpine region, is rich in streams and rivers. This water resource is intensively used in all watersheds, mainly for electric power generation. Moreover, most rivers have been “partly corrected” to protect adjacent land and property against floods. Therefore,about 24 per cent of the Swiss river courses have been modified, and this proportion reaches 40 per cent in the Plateau (low lying) region. A total of 160 large dams, with a wall higher than 15 m, exist in Switzerland, with a total storage capacity of about 4 km3. The paper describes approaches to sediment management and particular aspects, such as sediment contamination, flushing practeces, usf.