Assessment of the natural flow regime in a Mediterranean river impacted from irrigated agriculture

Stefanidis, Konstantinos; Panagopoulos, Yiannis; Psomas, Alexander; Mimikou, Maria

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.08.046

Cited by 31 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…moderate alteration). Our results proved that the IHA method encasing RVA targets is an easy and useful tool to quantify the hydrologic alteration in the study area as already reported for many rivers worldwide [36][37][38][39][40] . However, these results were preliminary since only three years of data (2011-2013) were used for IHA calculation for the post-weir period.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 85%

Impacts of streamflow alteration on benthic macroinvertebrates by mini-hydro diversion in Sri Lanka

Munasinghe

Najim

Quadroni

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Our study focused on quantifying the alterations of streamflow at a weir site due to the construction of a mini-hydropower plant in the Gurugoda Oya (Sri Lanka), and evaluating the spatial responses of benthic macroinvertebrates to altered flow regime. The HEC–HMS 3.5 model was applied to the Gurugoda Oya sub-catchment to generate streamflows for the time period 1991–2013. Pre-weir flows were compared to post-weir flows with 32 Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration using the range of variability approach (RVA). Concurrently, six study sites were established upstream and downstream of the weir, and benthic macroinvertebrates were sampled monthly from May to November 2013 (during the wet season). The key water physico-chemical parameters were also determined. RVA analysis showed that environmental flow was not maintained below the weir. The mean rate of non-attainment was ~ 45% suggesting a moderate level of hydrologic alteration. Benthic macroinvertebrate communities significantly differed between the study sites located above and below the weir, with a richness reduction due to water diversion. The spatial distribution of zoobenthic fauna was governed by water depth, dissolved oxygen content and volume flow rate. Our work provides first evidence on the effects of small hydropower on river ecosystem in a largely understudied region. Studies like this are important to setting-up adequate e-flows.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 85%

Impacts of streamflow alteration on benthic macroinvertebrates by mini-hydro diversion in Sri Lanka

Munasinghe

Najim

Quadroni

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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“…The proposed approach is particularly applicable in saline lakes basins commonly found in arid and semi-arid regions. The results obtained are comparable with other extensive studies in similar climate and river basins using complex hydrological modelling (Hassanzadeh, et al 2012;Guo, et al 2016;Zhang, et al 2016;Zhan, et al 2013), flow regime alteration index (IHA) analysis (Stefanidis, et al 2016;Wang, et al 2014;Wang, et al 2016) or direct analysis of streamflow (Vicente-Serrano, et al 2017;Gao, et al 2012;Batalla, et al 2004) [1999][2000][2001] in Lake Urmia basin, (Saghafian and Hamzekhani. 2015) as in late period 4 and early period 5 where we observed reduction in headwater flows in comparison to earlier periods.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Analysis of land use and climate change impacts by comparing river flow records for headwaters and lowland reaches

Fazel

Haghighi

Kløve

2017

Global and Planetary Change

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The natural flow regime of rivers has been strongly altered worldwide , resulting in ecosystem degradation and lakes drying up, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Determining whether this is due mainly to climate change or to water withdrawal for direct human use (e.g. irrigation) is difficult, particularly for saline lake basins where hydrology data are scarce. In this study, we developed an approach for assessing climate and land use change impacts based on river flow records for headwater and lowland reaches of rivers, using the case of Lake Urmia basin, in north-westen Iran. Flow regimes at upstream and downstream stations were studied before and after major dam construction and irrigation projects. Data from 57 stations were used to establish five different time intervals representing 10 different land use development periods (scenarios) for upstream (not impacted) and downstream (impacted) systems. An existing river impact (RI) index was used to assess changes in three main characteristics of flow (magnitude, timing and, intra-annual variablity). The results showed that irrigation was by far the main driving force for river flow regime changes in the lake basin. All stations close to the lake and on adjacent plains showed significantly higher impacts of land use change than headwaters. As headwaters are relatively unaffected by agriculture, the non-significant changes observed in headwater flow regimes indicate a minor effect of climate change on river flows in the region. The benefit of the method developed is clear interpretatation of results based on river flow records, which is useful in communicating land use and climate change information to decision makers and lake restoration planners.

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“…Human activities, especially dam construction, can directly alter the natural flow regime in rivers, causing notable ecological effects [1,2]. Water extraction for irrigation also causes flow regime alteration, especially in semi-arid and Mediterranean regions [3][4][5]. Additionally, variation in precipitation and rising air temperatures due to climate change contribute to changes in the flow regime [6][7][8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analyzing Changes in the Flow Regime of the Yangtze River Using the Eco-Flow Metrics and IHA Metrics

Gao

Wang

2018

Water

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Changes in the flow regime of the Yangtze River were investigated using an efficient framework that combined the eco-flow metrics (ecosurplus and ecodeficit) and Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration (IHA) metrics. A distributed hydrological model was used to simulate the natural flow regime and quantitatively separate the impacts of reservoir operation and climate variation on flow regime changes. The results showed that the flow regime changed significantly between the pre-dam and post-dam periods in the main channel and major tributaries. Autumn streamflow significantly decreased in the main channel and in the tributaries of the upper Yangtze River, as a result of a precipitation decrease and reservoir water storage. The release of water from reservoirs to support flood regulation resulted in a significant increase in winter streamflow in the main channel and in the Minjiang, Wujiang, and Hanjiang tributaries. Reservoir operation and climate variation caused a significant reduction in low flow pulse duration in the middle reach of the Yangtze River. Reservoir operation also led to an increase in the frequency of low flow pulses, an increase in the frequency of flow variation and a decrease in the rate of rising flow in most of the tributaries. An earlier annual minimum flow date was detected in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River due to reservoir operation. This study provides a methodology that can be implemented to assess flow regime changes caused by dam construction in other large catchments.

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Assessment of the natural flow regime in a Mediterranean river impacted from irrigated agriculture

Cited by 31 publications

References 58 publications

Impacts of streamflow alteration on benthic macroinvertebrates by mini-hydro diversion in Sri Lanka

Impacts of streamflow alteration on benthic macroinvertebrates by mini-hydro diversion in Sri Lanka

Analysis of land use and climate change impacts by comparing river flow records for headwaters and lowland reaches

Analyzing Changes in the Flow Regime of the Yangtze River Using the Eco-Flow Metrics and IHA Metrics

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