Pan-European Calculation of Hydrologic Stress Metrics in Rivers: A First Assessment with Potential Connections to Ecological Status

The hydrologic regime of a river is one of the factors determining its ecological status. This paper tries to indicate the present hydrologic stress occurring across European rivers on the basis of model integration. This results in a pan-European assessment at the resolution of the functional elementary catchment (FEC), based on simulated daily time-series of river flows from the model PCR-GLOBWB. To estimate proxies of the present hydrologic stress, two datasets of river flow were simulated under the same climate, one from a hypothetic least disturbed condition scenario and the second from the anthropogenic scenario with the actual water management occurring. Indicators describing the rivers’ hydrologic regime were calculated with the indicators of hydrologic alteration (IHA) software package and the river total mean flow and the relative baseflow magnitude over the total flow were used to express the deviations between the two scenarios as proxy metrics of rivers’ hydrologic alteration or hydrologic stress. The alteration results on Europe’s FEC-level background showed that Southern Europe is more hydrologically stressed than the rest of Europe, with greater potential for hydrology to be clearly associated with river segments of unreached good ecological status and high basin management needs.

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Assessment of hydrologic regime considering the distribution of hydrologic parameters

Water Science & Technology Water Supply ◽

10.2166/ws.2017.161 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 18 (3) ◽

pp. 875-885 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Yang Liu ◽

Shengle Cao ◽

Yuheng Yang ◽

Xi Zhang

Keyword(s):

Water Resource Management ◽

Goodness Of Fit ◽

Human Impacts ◽

Hydrologic Regime ◽

Mean Flow ◽

Hydrologic Alteration ◽

Parameter Estimations ◽

Goodness Of Fit Tests ◽

Multi Attribute Decision Making ◽

Increasing Trends

Abstract To assess hydrologic regime more comprehensively using the distribution of hydrologic parameters, the probability density function of each parameter is obtained from parameter estimations and goodness-of-fit tests based on the principle of maximum entropy. Then, the Shannon entropy and weights for a multi-attribute decision-making process are used to calculate the degree of hydrologic alteration. This method is applied to the Xiaoqing River in the city of Jinan, China. The results indicate that the diversities of the monthly mean flow and annual extreme flow show decreasing trends that are attributable to human impacts, while the diversities of the timing of annual extreme, high and low flows, and the rate and frequency of flooding show increasing trends. Meanwhile, the overall degree of hydrologic alteration of the Xiaoqing River in Jinan is 0.747, which belongs to a change in the height. Thus, we suggest that the timing and volume of inter-basin water transfer should be reasonably regulated and that the regulation of peak flooding times and peak flow should be strengthened to make them conform to ecological characteristics during the water resource management of the Xiaoqing River.

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Environmental benefits of reclaimed water: an economic assessment in the context of the Water Framework Directive

Water Policy ◽

10.2166/wp.2011.001 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 148-159 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Francisco Alcon ◽

J. Martin-Ortega ◽

J. Berbel ◽

M. D. de Miguel

Keyword(s):

Water Framework Directive ◽

River Flow ◽

Contingent Valuation Method ◽

Reclaimed Water ◽

Ecological Status ◽

Economic Assessment ◽

Economic Benefits ◽

Environmental Benefits ◽

Valuation Method ◽

Good Ecological Status

The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) prescribes that all water bodies in Europe should achieve ‘good ecological status’ (GES). Maintaining a certain water flow is a pre-condition for the achievement of GES in areas of water scarcity. In such areas, reclaimed waste water is seen as a promising measure to keep river flow at a sufficient level. The contingent valuation method is applied here to estimate the non-market environmental benefits of using reclaimed water to maintain river flow levels in the Segura River Basin in south-eastern Spain. The assessment of the economic benefits of specific measures gives policy makers more information than a cost-effectiveness analysis alone, which is currently the most commonly used tool to assess potential measures under the WFD. The results show that the implementation of this measure produces significant non-market benefits that are larger than the investment and operational costs of reclaimed water treatment plants.

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Selecting the optimal method to calculate daily global reference potential evaporation from CFSR reanalysis data for application in a hydrological model study

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences ◽

10.5194/hess-16-983-2012 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 16 (3) ◽

pp. 983-1000 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

F. C. Sperna Weiland ◽

C. Tisseuil ◽

H. H. Dürr ◽

M. Vrac ◽

L. P. H. van Beek

Keyword(s):

Time Series ◽

River Flow ◽

Hydrological Model ◽

Climate Impact ◽

Potential Evaporation ◽

Optimal Method ◽

Climate Conditions ◽

Daily Time Series ◽

Monteith Equation ◽

Daily Time

Abstract. Potential evaporation (PET) is one of the main inputs of hydrological models. Yet, there is limited consensus on which PET equation is most applicable in hydrological climate impact assessments. In this study six different methods to derive global scale reference PET daily time series from Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) data are compared: Penman-Monteith, Priestley-Taylor and original and re-calibrated versions of the Hargreaves and Blaney-Criddle method. The calculated PET time series are (1) evaluated against global monthly Penman-Monteith PET time series calculated from CRU data and (2) tested on their usability for modeling of global discharge cycles. A major finding is that for part of the investigated basins the selection of a PET method may have only a minor influence on the resulting river flow. Within the hydrological model used in this study the bias related to the PET method tends to decrease while going from PET, AET and runoff to discharge calculations. However, the performance of individual PET methods appears to be spatially variable, which stresses the necessity to select the most accurate and spatially stable PET method. The lowest root mean squared differences and the least significant deviations (95% significance level) between monthly CFSR derived PET time series and CRU derived PET were obtained for a cell-specific re-calibrated Blaney-Criddle equation. However, results show that this re-calibrated form is likely to be unstable under changing climate conditions and less reliable for the calculation of daily time series. Although often recommended, the Penman-Monteith equation applied to the CFSR data did not outperform the other methods in a evaluation against PET derived with the Penman-Monteith equation from CRU data. In arid regions (e.g. Sahara, central Australia, US deserts), the equation resulted in relatively low PET values and, consequently, led to relatively high discharge values for dry basins (e.g. Orange, Murray and Zambezi). Furthermore, the Penman-Monteith equation has a high data demand and the equation is sensitive to input data inaccuracy. Therefore, we recommend the re-calibrated form of the Hargreaves equation which globally gave reference PET values comparable to CRU derived values for multiple climate conditions. The resulting gridded daily PET time series provide a new reference dataset that can be used for future hydrological impact assessments in further research, or more specifically, for the statistical downscaling of daily PET derived from raw GCM data. The dataset can be downloaded from http://opendap.deltares.nl/thredds/dodsC/opendap/deltares/FEWS-IPCC.

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Effects of dams on river flow regime based on IHA/RVA

Proceedings of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences ◽

10.5194/piahs-368-275-2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 368 ◽

pp. 275-280 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Q. Zuo ◽

S. Liang

Keyword(s):

Driving Force ◽

Strong Influence ◽

River Flow ◽

Hydrologic Regime ◽

River Ecosystem ◽

Hydrologic Alteration ◽

Hydrological Condition ◽

Flow Parameters ◽

Post Impact ◽

Daily Flows

Abstract. The river hydrologic regime is a driving force of the river ecosystem. Operation of dams and sluices has significant impacts on rivers’ hydrological situation. Taking the example of the Shaying River, the Jieshou hydrologic section was selected to study the influence of the sluice and all its upstream dams on the hydrologic regime. Using 55 years of measured daily flows at Jieshou hydrologic station, the hydrological date were divided into two series as pre- and post-impact periods. Based on the IHA, the range of variability in 33 flow parameters was calculated, and the hydrologic alteration associated with dams and sluices operation was quantified. Using the RVA method, hydrologic alteration at the stream gauge site was assessed to demonstrate the influence of dams on the hydrological condition. The results showed that dams have a strong influence on the regime; the river eco-hydrological targets calculated in this study can afford some support for water resources and ecosystem management of Shaying River.

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Assessing Early Heterogeneity in Doubling Times of the COVID-19 Epidemic across Prefectures in Mainland China, January–February, 2020

Epidemiologia ◽

10.3390/epidemiologia2010009 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 95-113 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Isaac Chun-Hai Fung ◽

Xiaolu Zhou ◽

Chi-Ngai Cheung ◽

Sylvia K. Ofori ◽

Kamalich Muniz-Rodriguez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Regression Models ◽

Doubling Time ◽

Metropolitan Areas ◽

Mainland China ◽

Linear Regression Models ◽

Case Count ◽

Daily Time Series ◽

The Mean ◽

Doubling Times ◽

Daily Time

To describe the geographical heterogeneity of COVID-19 across prefectures in mainland China, we estimated doubling times from daily time series of the cumulative case count between 24 January and 24 February 2020. We analyzed the prefecture-level COVID-19 case burden using linear regression models and used the local Moran’s I to test for spatial autocorrelation and clustering. Four hundred prefectures (~98% population) had at least one COVID-19 case and 39 prefectures had zero cases by 24 February 2020. Excluding Wuhan and those prefectures where there was only one case or none, 76 (17.3% of 439) prefectures had an arithmetic mean of the epidemic doubling time <2 d. Low-population prefectures had a higher per capita cumulative incidence than high-population prefectures during the study period. An increase in population size was associated with a very small reduction in the mean doubling time (−0.012, 95% CI, −0.017, −0.006) where the cumulative case count doubled ≥3 times. Spatial analysis revealed high case count clusters in Hubei and Heilongjiang and fast epidemic growth in several metropolitan areas by mid-February 2020. Prefectures in Hubei and neighboring provinces and several metropolitan areas in coastal and northeastern China experienced rapid growth with cumulative case count doubling multiple times with a small mean doubling time.

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Influence of Anthropogenic Loads on Surface Water Status: A Case Study in Lithuania

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13084341 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (8) ◽

pp. 4341

Author(s):

Laima Česonienė ◽

Daiva Šileikienė ◽

Vitas Marozas ◽

Laura Čiteikė

Keyword(s):

Total Nitrogen ◽

Water Status ◽

Arable Land ◽

Ecological Status ◽

Water Bodies ◽

Agricultural Pollution ◽

Good Ecological Status ◽

Water Catchment ◽

Lake Basins

Twenty-six water bodies and 10 ponds were selected for this research. Anthropogenic loads were assessed according to pollution sources in individual water catchment basins. It was determined that 50% of the tested water bodies had Ntotal values that did not correspond to the good and very good ecological status classes, and 20% of the tested water bodies had Ptotal values that did not correspond to the good and very good ecological status classes. The lake basins and ponds received the largest amounts of pollution from agricultural sources with total nitrogen at 1554.13 t/year and phosphorus at 1.94 t/year, and from meadows and pastures with total nitrogen at 9.50 t/year and phosphorus at 0.20 t/year. The highest annual load of total nitrogen for lake basins on average per year was from agricultural pollution from arable land (98.85%), and the highest total phosphorus load was also from agricultural pollution from arable land (60%).

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