Dynamic Adaptive Environmental Flows (DAE‐Flows) to Reconcile Long‐Term Ecosystem Demands With Hydropower Objectives

Abstract

Decisions on how we operate and allocate water resources, combined with hydroclimatic conditions, can significantly limit the capacity of freshwater ecosystems to cope with and recover from stress periods (e.g., drought events). In reservoir systems, allocating water to environmental demands, characterized by flow regimes (e-flows), is necessary to mitigate impacts on ecosystem functioning (e.g., supporting fish reproduction cycles), but it also presents tradeoffs as it bounds the water storage availability and therefore water allocation to present and future uses in the watershed (Grantham et al., 2014;Wineland et al., 2022).Among the several academic contributions to calculate reoperation tradeoffs between environmental needs and other competing demands with optimization frameworks, a common approach represents e-flows constraining water allocation to multiple economic uses (Chen et al., 2013;Xu et al., 2020). This may include explicit

Effectiveness of an ecological flow regime to assure successful recruitment of anadromous Coregoninae populations in the Rupert River (northern Quebec, Canada)

“…However, the benefits of e-flows can be considerably reduced or even eliminated if the flows are not adequate (Arthington et al 2006;Bradford et al 2011;Ceola et al 2018;Ryan et al 2021) or if the flow targets are not met (Pennock et al 2022). Thus, there is a growing consensus that a flexible and dynamic approach must be adopted in the management of e-flows (e.g., Arthington et al 2018;Thompson et al 2018;Dalcin et al 2023). Such an approach (often termed "adaptive flow management"; Sakaris 2013) involves evaluation of the e-flow regime's effect on habitat and biota and, if needed, the recommendation of a new and improved management regime.…”