New Integrated Hydrologic Approach for the Assessment of Rivers Environmental Flows Into the Urmia Lake

Abstract In the conducted researches recently the greatest focus has been on the environmental water supplement of rivers individually and independently. However, in closed basins leading to lakes and wetlands, a comprehensive and integrated view of all rivers in the basin is required simultaneously. This has affected Lake Urmia, which is the second largest saltwater lake in the world. This lake has been in danger of drying up in recent years as a result of not allocating the required environmental flow due to the increase in water resources consumption in the agricultural sector and climate change. In this study, a method derived from the flow duration curve (FDC) shifting method is presented in addition to the possibility of providing the environmental flow of rivers leading to the lake that can make the least amount of change in the hydrological characteristics of rivers to provide the volume of required water by the ecosystem of lakes or downstream wetlands. This method is based on daily data of hydrometric stations and, unlike the conventional method, which presents the results on a monthly basis, it can calculate the amount of environmental requirement of rivers in real-time according to the upstream inlet of the river. This method has been used in the Urmia Lake basin and according to the results, it can provide the environmental requirement of lake by allocating 70.5% of the annual flow of rivers and save the lake and the ecosystem of the region from the current critical conditions.

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From an irrigation system to an ecological asset: adding environmental flows establishes recovery of a threatened fish species

Marine and Freshwater Research ◽

10.1071/mf19197 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 70 (9) ◽

pp. 1295 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Ivor Stuart ◽

Clayton Sharpe ◽

Kathryn Stanislawski ◽

Anna Parker ◽

Martin Mallen-Cooper

Keyword(s):

Water Level ◽

Fish Species ◽

Life Histories ◽

Environmental Flows ◽

Irrigation System ◽

Spatial Scales ◽

Environmental Water ◽

Environmental Flow ◽

Murray Cod ◽

Riverine Fish

Worldwide, riverine fish are the target of environmental water because populations have declined in lotic river habitats following river regulation. Murray cod is an endangered Australian riverine fish with remaining populations associated with lotic river reaches with instream habitat, including some creeks operated as part of irrigation systems. Our objectives were to develop a life history model, apply the building block method of environmental flows to enhance the abundance of juvenile Murray cod and promote population recovery. From 2008 to 2018 we evaluated changes to Murray cod juvenile abundance before and after implementation of a perennial environmental flow regime that began in 2013. During the first year of the environmental flow, larvae were collected as evidence of spawning. Murray cod abundance can be enhanced with environmental flows that target: (1) an annual spring spawning or recruitment flow with no rapid water level drops; (2) maximising hydrodynamic complexity (i.e. flowing habitats that are longitudinally continuous and hydrodynamically complex); and (3) an annual base winter connection flow. Recognition that incorporating hydraulics (water level and velocity) at fine and coarse time scales, over spatial scales that reflect life histories, provides broader opportunities to expand the scope of environmental flows to help restore imperilled fish species in regulated ecosystems.

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Unraveling the Water-Energy-Food-Environment Nexus for Climate Change Adaptation in Iran: Urmia Lake Basin Case-Study

Water ◽

10.3390/w13091282 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (9) ◽

pp. 1282

Author(s):

Hossein Nasrollahi ◽

Rasool Shirazizadeh ◽

Reza Shirmohammadi ◽

Omid Pourali ◽

Majid Amidpour

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Sustainable Development ◽

Water Level ◽

Holistic Approach ◽

Urmia Lake ◽

Lake Basin ◽

Lake Urmia ◽

Industrial Sectors ◽

Ecological Water Level ◽

Urmia Lake Basin

A holistic approach to the management of water, energy, food, and the environment is required to both meet the socioeconomic demands of the future as well as sustainable development of these limited resources. The Urmia Lake Basin has faced environmental, social, and economic challenges in recent years, and this situation is likely to worsen under the impacts of climate change. For this study, an adaptability analysis of this region is proposed for the 2040 horizon year. Two models, the water evaluation and planning (WEAP (Stockholm Environmental Institute, Stockholm, Sweden)) and the low emissions analysis platform (LEAP (Stockholm Environmental Institute, Boston, MA, USA)), are integrated to simulate changes in water, energy, food, and the environment over these 20 years. Two climate scenarios and nine policy scenarios are combined to assess sustainable development using a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) approach. Results show that, through pursuing challenging goals in agricultural, potable water, energy, and industrial sectors, sustainable development will be achieved. In this scenario, the Lake Urmia water level will reach its ecological water level in 2040. However, social, technical, and political challenges are considered obstacles to implementing the goals of this scenario. In addition, industry growth and industry structure adjustment have the most impact on sustainable development achievement.

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Landslide susceptibility assessment using an integrated approach of the analytic network process and fuzzy logic, a case of Urmia Lake Basin

Geographia Cassoviensis ◽

10.33542/gc2021-1-06 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Davoud OMARZADEH ◽

Seyed Ahmad ESLAMINEZHAD ◽

Mobin EFTEKHARI ◽

Mohammad AKBAR

Keyword(s):

Landslide Susceptibility ◽

Integrated Approach ◽

Urmia Lake ◽

Fuzzy Membership ◽

Lake Basin ◽

Lake Urmia ◽

Sensitive Areas ◽

Network Process ◽

Urmia Lake Basin ◽

Very High

The occurrence of landslides has always been a problem in spatial planning as an environmental threat. The aim of the present study was to zoning landslide sensitive areas in the Urmia Lake Basin and to investigate the correlation between the characteristics of the region and the amount of landslide. To achieve these purposes, the situation of landslide sensitive areas in the Lake Urmia Basin was investigated using a combination of Fuzzy and Analytical Network Process (ANP) methods. The criteria' weight is obtained using the ANP, fuzzy Membership command, linear function, the fuzzy weight of the sub-criteria, and their fuzzy membership degree (between 0 and 1) are calculated. The weighted raster layers were combined using the Gamma overlay function. As a result of this operation, a classified map has been obtained which shows that 16.6% of the area has a very high landslide susceptibility, and the highest area of the study area, i.e., 27.32%, has a relatively high landslide susceptibility. The results of the present study were compared with the data recorded using field observations at landslide sites. The results showed that out of 182 points collected, 148 points (equivalent to 81.31%) correspond to class 6 (very high landslide susceptibility) and class 7 (extremely probable). The results of this research can be used in crisis management, identifying the suitability of the region in terms of geomorphological features, identifying environmental and natural hazards.

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Meeting agricultural and environmental water demand in endorheic irrigated river basins: A simulation-optimization approach applied to the Urmia Lake basin in Iran

Agricultural Water Management ◽

10.1016/j.agwat.2020.106353 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 241 ◽

pp. 106353 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Amir Hossein Dehghanipour ◽

Gerrit Schoups ◽

Bagher Zahabiyoun ◽

Hossein Babazadeh

Keyword(s):

Water Demand ◽

Simulation Optimization ◽

Environmental Water ◽

River Basins ◽

Urmia Lake ◽

Lake Basin ◽

Optimization Approach ◽

Urmia Lake Basin ◽

Environmental Water Demand

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Optimal water allocation based on agricultural and environmental water value

10.21203/rs.3.rs-730925/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Amir Hatamkhani ◽

Ali Moridi

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Water Resources ◽

Agricultural Sector ◽

Economic Value ◽

Environmental Water ◽

Integrated Water Resources Management ◽

Environmental Flow ◽

Wetland Ecosystem ◽

Water Value ◽

Total Economic Value

Abstract Despite the significant role of wetlands in maintaining a healthy ecosystem and providing various ecosystem services, they are under threat due to human activities and agriculture use. The fact that the economic value of ecosystem services is not considered in hydro-economic models and integrated water resources management is a key issue that affects the ecosystem and its degradation. the economic value of ecosystem services provides a quantitative and important basis for the reasonable management of water resources. Given that supplying the agriculture and environmental demands conflict with each other, achieving a balance between these goals is very important. So, in this study, a simulation-optimization (WEAP-PSO) approach is employed for optimal planning at the basin and designing environmental flow based on wetland ecosystem services. The objective function of the problem is considered to be the total economic value of the river, which includes the economic value of the agricultural sector and the economic value of the wetland ecosystem services. The decision variables of the problem are considered as, the cultivation area of agricultural units and environmental flow of Kani Barazan wetland. The results show that considering these two objectives together, in addition to sustainable development, causes the highest economic efficiency in the basin.

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Robust Climate Change Adaptation for Environmental Flows in the Goulburn River, Australia

Frontiers in Environmental Science ◽

10.3389/fenvs.2021.789206 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Andrew John ◽

Avril Horne ◽

Rory Nathan ◽

Keirnan Fowler ◽

J. Angus Webb ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Targeted Delivery ◽

Stress Testing ◽

Environmental Flows ◽

Environmental Water ◽

Environmental Flow ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Catchment Scale ◽

Environmental Objectives ◽

Adaptation Options

Climate change presents severe risks for the implementation and success of environmental flows worldwide. Current environmental flow assessments tend to assume climate stationarity, so there is an urgent need for robust environmental flow programs that allow adaptation to changing flow regimes due to climate change. Designing and implementing robust environmental flow programs means ensuring environmental objectives are achieved under a range of uncertain, but plausible climate futures. We apply stress testing concepts previously adopted in water supply management to environmental flows at a catchment scale. We do this by exploring vulnerabilities in different river management metrics for current environmental flow arrangements in the Goulburn River, Australia, under non-stationary climatic conditions. Given the limitations of current environmental flows in supporting ecological outcomes under climate change, we tested three different adaptation options individually and in combination. Stress testing adaptation results showed that increasing environmental entitlements yielded the largest benefits in drier climate futures, whereas relaxing river capacity constraints (allowing more targeted delivery of environmental water) offered more benefits for current and wetter climates. Combining both these options led to greater than additive improvements in allocation reliability and reductions in environmental water shortfalls, and these improvements were achieved across a wider range of climatic conditions than possible with either of the individual options. However, adaptation may present additional risks to some ecological outcomes for wetter climates. Ultimately, there was a degree of plausible climate change beyond which none of the adaptation options considered were effective at improving ecological outcomes. This study demonstrates an important step for environmental flow assessments: evaluating the feasibility of environmental outcomes under climate change, and the intervention options that prove most robust under an uncertain future.

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Temperature Trend Analysis in Urmia Lake Basin Compared with Water Level Fluctuations of the Lake

International Institute of Chemical, Biological & Environmental Engineering June 5-6, 2015 Istanbul (Turkey) ◽

10.15242/iicbe.c0615010 ◽

2015 ◽

Keyword(s):

Water Level ◽

Trend Analysis ◽

Temperature Trend ◽

Urmia Lake ◽

Water Level Fluctuations ◽

Lake Basin ◽

Urmia Lake Basin

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Amount and location of tectonic uplift in the Urmia region of northwest Iran from the Permian to the Neogene

SN Applied Sciences ◽

10.1007/s42452-021-04346-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Akram Alizadeh

Keyword(s):

Hypersaline Lake ◽

Time Interval ◽

Lake Basin ◽

Lake Urmia ◽

Qom Formation ◽

Northwest Of Iran ◽

The Subject ◽

Orogenic Uplift ◽

East Azerbaijan ◽

Urmia Lake Basin

AbstractThe Urmia Lake Basin is located between the West and East Azerbaijan provinces in the northwest of Iran. Lake Urmia is the twentieth largest lake and second largest hypersaline lake in the world. Stratigraphic columns have been constructed, using published information, to compare the sedimentary units deposited from the Permian to the Neogene on the east and west sides of the lake, and to use these to quantity subsidence and uplift. East of the lake, the sedimentary section is more complete and has been the subject of detailed stratigraphic studies, including the compilation of measured sections for some units. West of the lake, the section is incomplete and less work has been done; three columns illustrate variations in the preserved stratigraphy for the time interval. In all cases, the columns are capped by the Oligocene–Miocene Qom Formation, which was deposited during a post-orogenic marine transgression and unconformably overlies units ranging from Precambrian to Cretaceous. Permian to Cretaceous stratigraphy is used to measure subsidence in the Lake Urmia basin up to the end of the Cretaceous, and then, the subsequent orogenic uplift, which was followed by further subsidence recorded by the deposition of the Qom Formation in the Oligocene–Miocene.

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