Impacts of retention basins on downstream flood peak attenuation in the Odaw river basin, Ghana

Abstract

Study regionOdaw River Basin (ORB) in Ghana Study focusWe simulated and examined the impacts of retention basin as a hydraulic structure in attenuating the flood peaks downstream of the ORB with a coupled HEC-HMS and HEC-RAS models for different flood scenarios. Calibrated and validated HEC-HMS models were used to forecast floods in terms of peak flows and results forced into the 2D Unsteady flow HEC-RAS model to simulate flood inundation areas.New hydrological insight for the region: The calibrated and validated HEC-HMS model indicated good performance (NSE > 0.65) in simulating the runoff characteristics of the basin. Forecasted peak flows with the calibrated model for return periods of 30-to-1-year were 131.1 m3/s, 121.6 m3/s, 106.4 m3/s, 88.8 m3/s and 59.3 m3/s respectively for the “without” a retention basin scenario within the ORB. In the “with” retention basin scenario, attenuated peak flows were observed downstream the ORB by 8.1 % (120.5 m3/s), 8.4 % (111.4 m3/s), 9.1 % (96.7 m3/s), 13.6 % (76.7 m3/s) and 13.2 % (51.5 m3/s) respectively for the different return periods. Flood volumes reaching downstream of the basin reduced by 2.3 %, 2.5 %, 2.7 %, 3.0% and 3.8 % respectively due to the presence of the retention basin. The retention basin increased the basin lag time by an average of 4 h across all different flood scenarios. The introduction of retention basins will serve a pivotal role in flood management and planning in the ORB.