The tripoint between France, Germany and Switzerland, called Dreiländereck, lies within the uppermost portion of the Upper Rhine.

In 1685, Louis XIV started a project to move the Upper Rhine, change its course and drain the floodplain, in order to gain land.

Around 1790, large parts of the Rhine Valley were deforested, creating arable land, fields and pasture to feed the population.

The Upper Rhine was straightened between 1817 and 1876 by Johann Gottfried Tulla and changed from a relatively sluggish meandering river with major and many smaller branches into a fast flowing stream flanked by embankments.

The straightening (1817–76) and channeling (1928–77) reduced the water table by up to 16 metres (52 ft) and thus had a negative effect on flora and fauna.

To counter this, 173,000 cubic metres (6,100,000 cu ft) per year of a mixture of sand and gravel with an average grain diameter of 20 millimetres (0.79 in) (corresponding to the local sediment transport capacity) has been dumped into the river, since 1978, using two motorized barges.

Authorities in riparian states of France, Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate have launched the Integrated Rhine Programme, a framework for designating water retention areas.

A French-German treaty was concluded in 1982, in which the parties agreed to restore the retention capacity on the stretch below Iffezheim to the level it had before the area was developed.

The State Institute for the Environment, Nature Protection and Measurements in Baden-Württemberg carried out forecast calculations with the help of a mathematical "synoptic flood progression model".

The analysis of the calculations and the evaluation of the results were made on the basis of the requirements and methods set by the international Flood Study Commission for the Rhine.

The implementation of the proposed flood control measures on the Upper Rhine can prevent the occurrence of a 200-year-flood between Iffezheim and Bingen, with an overall economic loss estimated at around 6.2 billion euros.