scholarly journals The Challenges of Managing Water for Wetland Ecology, Flood Mitigation and Agriculture in the Upper Lunan Water, an Intensive Arable Catchment in Scotland

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Vinten ◽  
Iain D.M. Gunn

The “Water for All” project has aimed to develop a multi-disciplinary science case for adaptive management through a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) scheme in the Lunan Water, a lowland catchment in Scotland. Management needs for high and low flows, standing water levels and flow routing to/from high nature value mesotrophic wetlands were appraised. A key part has been the development of a real time hydrological-hydraulic model of the upper Lunan Water as an aid to management and scenario analysis especially with respect to existing and potential hydraulic structures. This provides better working knowledge and forecast-based simulations of high or low flow situations for catchment management planners, farmers, riparian owners and other local stakeholders. Engagement with local users and residents has included surveying Willingness To Pay (WTP) for hydraulic management as a function of governance mechanisms, development of a catchment management group , and interviews and workshops with riparian and other land-users. The work has highlighted the joys and sorrows of seeking to develop a PES approach and lessons to be learnt in project management, promotion of multiple benefits, catchment-scale water governance and the vices and virtues of “benign neglect”.

2019 ◽  
Vol 145 (1) ◽  
pp. 04018032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunping Yang ◽  
Mingjin Zhang ◽  
Wanli Liu ◽  
Jianjun Wang ◽  
Xiaoxing Li

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 649-669 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. H. de Rooij

Abstract. The increasing importance of catchment-scale and basin-scale models of the hydrological cycle makes it desirable to have a simple, yet physically realistic model for lateral subsurface water flow. As a first building block towards such a model, analytical solutions are presented for horizontal groundwater flow to surface waters held at prescribed water levels for aquifers with parallel and radial flow. The solutions are valid for a wide array of initial and boundary conditions and additions or withdrawals of water, and can handle discharge into as well as lateral infiltration from the surface water. Expressions for the average hydraulic head, the flux to or from the surface water, and the aquifer-scale hydraulic conductivity are developed to provide output at the scale of the modelled system rather than just point-scale values. The upscaled conductivity is time-variant. It does not depend on the magnitude of the flux but is determined by medium properties as well as the external forcings that drive the flow. For the systems studied, with lateral travel distances not exceeding 10 m, the circular aquifers respond very differently from the infinite-strip aquifers. The modelled fluxes are sensitive to the magnitude of the storage coefficient. For phreatic aquifers a value of 0.2 is argued to be representative, but considerable variations are likely. The effect of varying distributions over the day of recharge damps out rapidly; a soil water model that can provide accurate daily totals is preferable over a less accurate model hat correctly estimates the timing of recharge peaks.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-129
Author(s):  
Chongxun Mo ◽  
Guiyan Mo ◽  
Junkai Qin ◽  
Ming Zhou ◽  
Qing Yang ◽  
...  

Abstract This paper examines the rainfall and runoff characteristics in a karstic basin of China. The results indicated that the inner-annual distributions of rainfall and runoff were uneven and slightly different, as the concentration period of rainfall (from April to October) was earlier; there was a delay of about a month before the runoff (from May to September), and the concentrated volume accounted for 87% of annual precipitation or annual streamflow. Interannually, rainfall changed more significantly than runoff, the wet years lasted longer than the dry years (rainfall), while the high and low flow years were equal for runoff. In addition, judging from the value of the Mann-Kendall test, the average annual change of rainfall (−2.36) was more significant than that of runoff (−2.05), and the seasonal pattern of runoff maintained an opposite tendency in autumn and winter before 1990. The changes in runoff were mainly associated with rainfall and the formation conditions in the karstic area, and the reservoir in this basin should be operated with different flood limiting water levels, and the vegetation coverage should be improved.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mara Orescanin ◽  
Tyonna McPherson ◽  
Paul Jessen

<p>The Carmel River runs 58 km from the Santa Lucia Mountains through the Carmel Valley eventually entering a lagoon at Carmel River State Beach near Carmel, California, USA. During the dry summer months, the lagoon is closed, with no connection to the coastal ocean.  However, during the wet winter months, the river often breaches through the lagoon allowing water to freely flow between the river and Carmel Bay. Sediment transport, in part owing to river discharge and in part owing to ocean forcing (tides and waves), contributes heavily to whether the lagoon is open or closed: when there are low flow conditions, waves and tides can decrease flow rates in the breach, allowing sediment to settle. The sediment budget is expected to be a closed system, owing to the rocky headlands and long-term stability (no yearly regression or transgression) of the shoreline, despite managed attempts to control breach and closure timing. However, it is currently unknown 1) how velocity profiles evolve during breaching, and 2) how much sediment moves during such an event. The hypothesis is that the breach mouth can completely disappear and re-emerge over a single breach-closure cycle, leading to meter-scale daily accretion and erosion rates of berm height if berm elevation is significantly lower than the expected steady-state berm height. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that during active breaching, discharge rates through the breach channel are larger than upstream river discharge rates owing to elevated water levels within the back lagoon. This study uses a RiverSurveyor M9 Acoustic Doppler Profiler to measure outflow discharge and GPS topographic surveys to quantify elevation changes. A velocity profile can be built which will estimate the sediment transport potential within the breach. The information obtained will help identify and better understand the river discharge thresholds which contribute to frequent breaching as well as estimates of morphological evolution during breaching, which are currently unknown, and can assist in determining likelihood of successful managed breaching and closure events. </p>


2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 453-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Campbell ◽  
P. Jordan ◽  
J. Arnscheidt

Abstract. This study reports the use of high-resolution water quality monitoring to assess the influence of changes in land use management on total phosphorus (TP) transfers in two 5 km2 agricultural sub-catchments. Specifically, the work investigates the issue of agricultural soil P management and subsequent diffuse transfers at high river flows over a 5-year timescale. The work also investigates the phenomenon of low flow P pollution from septic tank systems (STSs) and mitigation efforts – a key concern for catchment management. Results showed an inconsistent response to soil P management over 5 years with one catchment showing a convergence to optimum P concentrations and the other an overall increase. Both catchments indicated an overall increase in P concentration in defined high flow ranges. Low flow P concentration showed little change or higher P concentrations in defined low flow ranges despite replacement of defective systems and this is possibly due to a number of confounding reasons including increased housing densities due to new-builds. The work indicates fractured responses to catchment management advice and mitigation and that the short to medium term may be an insufficient time to expect the full implementation of policies (here defined as convergence to optimum soil P concentration and mitigation of STSs) and also to gauge their effectiveness.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (20) ◽  
pp. 8670
Author(s):  
Svein Jakob Saltveit ◽  
Åge Brabrand ◽  
Ana Juárez ◽  
Morten Stickler ◽  
Bjørn Otto Dønnum

The Norwegian electrical energy supply system is based on hydropower. The now deregulated energy market has led to increased use of hydropeaking production, leading to greater fluctuations in discharge and water levels below hydropower stations. The power station HOL 1, with an outlet to the Storåne River, is a large hydropeaking facility. With over 300 rapid flow increases and decreases per year since 2012, it is a river subjected to frequent hydropeaking. To quantify the stranding risk downstream of the power plant, the effect of a series of different turbine shutdown scenarios was simulated in an earlier study. The residual flow of 6 m3·s−1 and a full production of 66 m3·s−1 were considered as the baselines for the calculation of dewatered areas. A three-year study of juvenile fish density both upstream as a reference and downstream of the power plant was undertaken. There were very low densities or even an absence of brown trout (Salmo trutta) older than young-of-the-year (YoY) below the outlet of the power station, despite high densities of YoY in previous years. This is probably due to the large and rapid changes in flow below the power station. Hydropeaking has less impact on the earliest life stages of brown trout during spring and summer, as well as on spawning and egg development during winter. This is attributed spawning in late autumn occurring at a low flow seldom reached during hydropeaking. The high survival of YoY during the first summer and early autumn is likely due to a lower frequency of hydropeaking and higher residual flows, leaving a larger wetted area.


Author(s):  
Md. Sanaul H. Mondal ◽  
Md. Serajul Islam

Bangladesh shares a common border with India in the west, north and east and with Myanmar in the southeast. These borders cut across 57 rivers that discharge through Bangladesh into the Bay of Bengal in the south. The upstream courses of these rivers traverse India, China, Nepal and Bhutan. Transboundary flows are the important sources of water resources in Bangladesh. Among the 57 transboundary rivers, the Teesta is the fourth major river in Bangladesh after the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna and Bangladesh occupies about 2071 km2 . The Teesta River floodplain in Bangladesh accounts for 14% of the total cropped area and 9.15 million people of the country. The objective of this study was to investigate trends in both maximum and minimum water flow at Kaunia and Dalia stations for the Teesta River and the coping strategies developed by the communities to adjust with uncertain flood situations. The flow characteristics of the Teesta were analysed by calculating monthly maximum and minimum water levels and discharges from 1985 to 2006. Discharge of the Teesta over the last 22 years has been decreasing. Extreme low-flow conditions were likely to occur more frequently after the implementation of the Gozoldoba Barrage by India. However, a very sharp decrease in peak flows was also observed albeit unexpected high discharge in 1988, 1989, 1991, 1997, 1999 and 2004 with some in between April and October. Onrush of water causes frequent flash floods, whereas decreasing flow leaves the areas dependent on the Teesta vulnerable to droughts. Both these extreme situations had a negative impact on the lives and livelihoods of people dependent on the Teesta. Over the years, people have developed several risk mitigation strategies to adjust with both natural and anthropogenic flood situations. This article proposed the concept of ‘MAXIN (maximum and minimum) flows’ for river water justice for riparian land.


2001 ◽  
Vol 43 (9) ◽  
pp. 263-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Oliver

The work of catchment management groups throughout Australia represents a significant economic and social investment in natural resource management. Institutional structures and policies, the role of on-ground coordinators, facilitation processes, citizen participation and social capital are critical factors influencing the success of catchment management groups. From a participant-researcher viewpoint, this paper signposts research directions and themes that are being pursued from the participant/coordinator, catchment group, and lead government/non-government agency perspective on the influence of these factors on the success of a catchment management group in the Pumicestone Region of Southeast Queensland, Australia. Research directions, themes and discussion/reflection points for practitioners include - the importance of understanding milieu; motivation; success; having fun; "networking networks"; involvement of "non-traditional" stakeholders; development of stakeholder/participant partnerships; learning from other practitioners; methods of stakeholder/participant representation; evaluation; the need for guiding principles or philosophy; the equivalence of planning, implementation, evaluation, and resourcing; catchments as fundamental units of Nature; continuity of support for groups; recognising a new role for government; working with existing networks; and the need for an eclectic approach to natural resource management.


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