Abstract
Instream ecological flow (IEF) and flow-related variations were important for healthy river systems. However, water conservancy projects such as reservoirs altered the processes of IEF and thereby posed considerable threat to the health of river systems and aquatic lives. To that end, in this study the effects of reservoir construction on IEF in the upper reaches of the Irtysh River were analyzed using an improved hydrological method. The computed results were in turn used to determine the maximum (MaxIEF), minimum (MinIEF) and optimal (OptIEF) instream ecological flows of the river. Based on the study, reservoir impoundments limited IEF in wet seasons but enhanced it in dry seasons. It also narrowed suitable flow range for reproduction and growth of aquatic life. Reservoirs could be used to regulate Irtysh River discharge. For healthy instream processes in wet years, OptIEF could be set as the lower limit and MaxIEF as the upper limit. For much the same reasons, MinIEF could be set as the lower limit in dry years and OptIEF as a suitable target in normal years.
Highlights
River health very much depended on the characteristics of natural flow regimes (Petts 2009)
The objective of this research was to assess the impacts of water conservancy projects in the upper reaches of the Irtysh River on downstream instream ecological flow (IEF) processes
The study area is the main channel of the upper reaches of Irtysh River, which runs from Buran to Omsk (Fig. 1)
Summary
River health very much depended on the characteristics of natural flow regimes (Petts 2009). Aquatic ecosystems required a certain flow volume to maintain growth and reproduction (King et al 2003). Such flows were usually called environmental flow or instream ecological flow (IEF) conditions. To limit river ecosystem disturbance, degradation or to restore river ecosystems, flow quantity and quality standards for minimum river health have been advanced by a number of scholars (Smakhtin et al 2004). IEF and flow variation characteristics were critical conditions for the protection of healthy river systems (Kumar et al 2010; Guo et al 2008)
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