Comparative study on the calculation methods of ecological base flow in a mountainous river

Abstract

As the social economy is further developed, there have been increasingly severe ecological and environmental issues. For instance, rivers located in mountainous areas are often encountered with the issue of zero flow. The ecological base flow was put forward to ensure the continuous flow of rivers, to realize the minimum ecological function, and to meet the most fundamental requirements of sustaining the river ecosystem. Wulong River Basin in Yantai City of China was taken as example here. Based on the runoff data collected in the Tuanwang Hydrological Station from 1960 to 2016, the measured runoff data was restored to natural runoff sequence by adopting the item-by-item investigation method. The different ecological base flows of Wulong River were calculated by adopting the Tennant Method, the Qp90 Method, the Texas Method, the Base Flow Ratio Method, the Tessman Method, and Wetted Perimeter Method. The research findings have shown that the Base Flow Ratio Method proves to be the optimal approach for calculating the ecological base flow of Wulong River. Based on the analysis of the assurance degree of ecological base flow, the period from April to June is the period with the lowest assurance degree of ecological base flow.

An Ecology-Oriented Single–Multi-Objective Optimal Operation Modeling and Decision-Making Method in the Case of the Ganjiang River

“…Based on previous research [11,54] and the current situation in the middle and lower reaches of the Ganjiang River [55], the ecological flow of the river channel was calculated hierarchically and phased, as shown in Figure 6. The minimum ecological flow is determined using the "monthly minimum ecological runoff calculation method".…”

“…At present, more than 200 kinds of ecological flow calculation methods [7] have been put forward at home and abroad, including hydrological, hydraulic, habitat simulation, and overall comprehensive analysis methods. These mainly include the Tennant method [8], 7Q10 method [9], wet perimeter method [10], base-flow ratio method [11], and improved methods. Some scholars have also studied ecological flow from the perspective of water temperature, critical water depth [12], and the life cycle of target species [13].…”

Ecological Base Flow Characteristics of Typical Rivers on the North Slope of Kunlun Mountains under Climate Change

“…At present, relevant research on ecological base flow mainly focuses on ecological water transportation and scheduling, fishery resources and biodiversity protection, ecological environment governance and restoration, tourism and navigation demand maintenance, ecological compensation mechanism countermeasures, river ecosystem balance, and watershed ecological protection and renewable development, which are derived from ecological base flow calculation methods and their guarantee rates [15][16][17]. Moreover, a relatively complete theoretical and computational system has been formed and there are relatively rich evaluation indicators [18,19].…”