Hydraulic Infrastructure Research Articles

Time-Averaged Turbulent Velocity Flow Field through the Various Bridge Contractions during Large Flooding

Extreme rainfall events, larger than 500-year floods, have produced a large number of flooding events in the land and also close to the shore, and have resulted in massive destruction of hydraulic infrastructures because of scour. In light of climate change, this trend is likely to continue in the future and thus, resilience, security and sustainability of hydraulic infrastructures has become an interesting topic for hydraulic engineering stakeholders. In this study, a physical model experiment with a geometric similarity of the bridge embankments, abutments, and bridge deck as well as river bathymetry was conducted in a laboratory flume. Flow conditions were utilized to get submerged orifice flow and overtopping flow in the bridge section in order to simulate extreme hydrologic flow conditions. Point velocities of the bridge section were measured in sufficient details and the time-averaged velocity flow field were plotted to obtain better understandings of scour and sediment transport under high flow conditions. The laboratory study concluded that existing lateral flow contraction as well as vertical flow contraction resulted in a unique flow field through the bridge and the shape of velocity profile being “fuller”, thereby increasing the velocity gradients close to the bed and subsequently resulting in a higher rate of bed sediment transport. The relationships between the velocity gradients measured close to the bed and the degree of flow contraction through the bridge are suggested. Furthermore, based on the location of maximum scour corresponding to the measured velocity flow field, the classification of scour conditions, long setback abutment scour and short setback abutment scour, are also suggested.

The built memory: presenting the colonization villages in Spain by the newsreel of State NO-DO.

The newsreel of State used to show to Spanish society a determined image of architecture, conditioned by the political needs of Franco’s Regime. In this case, the subject of the cinematographic image of villages of colonization of the Tagus valley as presented by the NO-DO newsreel (Noticiarios y Documentales Cinematográficos) is studied. NO-DO was originally created as a propaganda tool and an instrument for the diffusion of “specially relevant” news from that time period. The analysis of the architecture built by the National Institute of Colonization (INC) and showed in different editions of the newsreel allowed us to understand the ideological approach made by the Regime to the Spanish countryside, through the model of colonization of the territory, and how building was used as propaganda. The urban model proposed was defined by civic centres –usually square-shaped-, and church towers as urban milestones set in the landscape. For this reason, politic demonstrations in the representative public spaces of villages, through the delivering of houses and rural property to settlers, incorporated the context and living conditions in which new villages were built. At the same time, the visits to irrigation farms, new irrigation canals, and hydraulic and hydroelectric infrastructures exemplify the agrarian and irrigation policies during the autarchy, whereas in the next decades, and because of the economic and social development of the countryside, news about reservoirs were just referred to sports and leisure activities. Therefore, these cinematographic images of buildings, irrigation policies and the modernization of rural landscape presented in cinemas through the NO-DO newsreel are relevant, since they build a collective memoryof the architecture and engineering of that time. They also document the social, politic and economic role that the creation of Spanish villages of colonization at river basins had, specifically in one of the biggest rivers, the Tagus.

Estudios científicos sobre el agua en el Boletín de la Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadística, 1857-1869

Research on the country’s water resources was published in the Bulletin of the Mexican Geography and Statistics Association (Boletín de la Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadística). This article identifies the issues about water prevailing in this publication: water resources, hydraulic infrastructure projects, and their use in the city. These three issues highlight the concerns of geographers, physicians, engineers, and naturalists who recognized the value of water for the country’s economic, demographic, and social future, in addition to the difficulties of securing clean water and infrastructure projects to tackle environmental problems.

Contribution of Electrical Resistivity Tomography and Boring Technique in the Realization of Ten (10) Large Boreholes in a Crystalline Basement Rocks in the Centre-West of Benin

In order to ensure access to drinking water for Benin populations by 2021, the Emergency Measure program for the reinforcement of the drinking water supply system of Savalou city was initiated in 2018. This program focuses on densification and extension of hydraulic infrastructures. Therefore, it is prominent to use rigorous approach for implementation and execution of drilling activities. The present work has the advantage of combining the use of electrical resistivity tomography and borehole technique to locate ten high flow drilling in Savalou city. The electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) panels were made based on the dipole-dipole arrays with 48 electrodes with 5 m inter-electrode spacing. The drilling was carried out over ten selected points and in two stages: confirmation test using piezometer and borehole diameter enlargement. Moreover, only piezometers with flow rate greater than 10 m3/h were enlarged. The tomography processing has identified 10 fractured zones that are defined by 250 - 1000 ohm.m resistivity values and a width between 15 - 55 m. The confirmation test carried out over ten piezometers exhibits high flow rates ranging from 9 to 35 m3/h with depths of 30 to 68 m. Nine over the ten boreholes with a flow rate equal or greater than 10 m3/h, have improved their flow rates by 50% to 100% after the boring technique. Thus, the cumulative flow rate has reached 252. 7 m3/h for Savalou city and his surrounding areas.

The USSR as a hydraulic society: Wittfogel, the Aral Sea and the (post-)Soviet state

Wittfogel’s Oriental Despotism is not only a scholarly exposition of the ‘hydraulic hypothesis’ but also a political polemic about Soviet ‘totalitarianism’. Wittfogel does not mention that these two themes are connected: the USSR itself may be construed as a hydraulic state, especially in the Central Asian periphery, where expansion of irrigation depended on and cemented the power of the apparatus. The environmental consequences famously include the regression of the Aral Sea. This article first explores irrigation in Soviet Central Asia: while there was a connection between the centralizing tendency of Soviet bureaucracy and water’s susceptibility to political control, environmental problems were exacerbated by relatively weak control from the centre and by material qualities of water which escaped control. I then draw on my ethnographic research in Aral’sk, Kazakhstan, to examine the role of hydraulic infrastructure in imagining the strong, centralized state. I take Wittfogel’s particular constellation of connections between water, infrastructure and power as a Cold War artefact, which I compare with accounts of Soviet hydraulic projects from inhabitants of the Aral region today. Finally, I examine post-Soviet projections of statehood through a recent dam which has restored part of the Aral and mixed local reactions to it. Hydraulic infrastructure may project centralized authority, but I show that readings of the relationship between the two depend on contextual factors.

Perspectivas de funcionamiento del Trasvase Tajo-Segura (España): efectos de las nuevas reglas de explotación e impulso de la desalinización como recurso sustitutivo

El Trasvase Tajo-Segura se ha convertido desde su inauguración en 1979 en una de las infraestructuras hidráulicas que más tensiones interterritoriales ha originado en España. A ello se une su valor estratégico para el desarrollo de las provincias del sureste peninsular, donde atiende consumos agrícolas y urbano-turísticos con grandes implicaciones sociales y económicas. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar las causas y las consecuencias del funcionamiento del Trasvase Tajo-Segura con la reciente modificación de sus normas de explotación (límite de no trasvase cuando en los embalses de cabecera almacenen menos de 400 hm3) y el impulso de la desalinización en la cuenca receptora como sustitución a los trasvases. Para ello se han analizado los efectos del funcionamiento de las nuevas normas de explotación y se plantean posibles alternativas para resolver un conflicto que se agrava durante cada ciclo de intensa y prolongada sequía sin que el Estado ni las autonomías, a través de la planificación hidrológica, hayan dado una respuesta satisfactoria a las regiones cedentes y receptoras.

A multi-scalar approach for assessing the impact of dams on the cultural heritage in the Middle East and North Africa

Abstract This paper provides a detailed assessment on the impact of dams on archaeological sites in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and emphasizes the lack of established protocols for documenting and preserving cultural heritage at the local, national and international level. We considered four case studies at different scales – Turkey, the Euphrates river, the two Aswan dams and the planned Makhul dam – in order to identify different issues related to the construction of dams as well as to propose some best practices for pre-flooding assessment of dam impact on cultural heritage. Our method integrates archaeological and geo-spatial open-access datasets, organized in a GIS environment made available through the online platform http://www.orientlab.net/orientdams/ in order to foster data sharing and research replicability. We have mapped almost 2500 flooded archaeological sites and approximately 1300 km of ancient rivers submerged by dam reservoirs in the selected case studies across the MENA area. These numbers are actually incomplete, since large portions of the reservoir areas have not been systematically investigated. We conclude by underlining the urgent need for strategies for the documentation and protection of archaeological sites and monuments in the planning of hydraulic infrastructures at the international, national and local levels, as well as the need for a general operative protocol. Funders of development works, first and foremost the World Bank, should review their current policies, which do not offer sufficient protection of cultural heritage.

Coastal Flood Modeling Challenges in Defended Urban Backshores

Coastal flooding is a significant and increasing hazard. There are multiple drivers including rising coastal water levels, more intense hydrologic inputs, shoaling groundwater and urbanization. Accurate coastal flood event prediction poses numerous challenges: representing boundary conditions, depicting terrain and hydraulic infrastructure, integrating spatially and temporally variable overtopping flows, routing overland flows and incorporating hydrologic signals. Tremendous advances in geospatial data quality, numerical modeling and overtopping estimation have significantly improved flood prediction; however, risk assessments do not typically consider the co-occurrence of multiple flooding pathways. Compound flooding refers to the combined effects of marine and hydrologic processes. Alternatively, multiple flooding source–receptor pathways (e.g., groundwater–surface water, overtopping–overflow, surface–sewer flow) may simultaneously amplify coastal hazard and vulnerability. Currently, there is no integrated framework considering compound and multi-pathway flooding processes in a unified approach. State-of-the-art urban coastal flood modeling methods and research directions critical to developing an integrated framework for explicitly resolving multiple flooding pathways are presented.

Los costes sociales del proyecto de la presa El Zapotillo: el caso de Temacapulín

En este artículo se abordan los impactos sociales ocasionados por la construcción de una presa que permitirá el trasvase de agua de una cuenca a otra para el suministro urbano de agua a dos ciudades en crecimiento: Guadalajara y León. El trabajo realizado en campo hace énfasis en los costes sociales asociados a la construcción de la presa de El Zapotillo, cuyo embalse amenaza con inundar tres comunidades rurales en los Altos de Jalisco. El propósito es dar testimonio de los costos sociales que conlleva la construcción de grandes obras de infraestructura hidráulica para una población que es forzada a desalojar su territorio y con ello, sus medios de sustento y su patrimonio. Los costos sociales trascienden la pérdida del patrimonio material de las personas afectadas; puesto que también implica la pérdida irreversible del patrimonio cultural tangible e intangible que los pobladores han forjado a lo largo de siglos de historia. Aquí se presenta una descripción etnográfica como un aporte antropológico para entender las verdaderas pérdidas que dan origen al movimiento de resistencia de los pobladores de Temacapulín.

New Perspectives for UAV-Based Modelling the Roman Gold Mining Infrastructure in NW Spain

This contribution discusses the potential of UAV-assisted (unmanned aerial vehicles) photogrammetry for the study and preservation of mining heritage sites using the example of Roman gold mining infrastructure in northwestern Spain. The study area represents the largest gold area in Roman times and comprises 7 mining elements of interest that characterize the most representative examples of such ancient works. UAV technology provides a non-invasive procedure valuable for the acquisition of digital information in remote, difficult to access areas or under the risk of destruction. The proposed approach is a cost-effective, robust and rapid method for image processing in remote areas were no traditional surveying technologies are available. It is based on a combination of data provided by aerial orthoimage and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) to improve the accuracy of UAV derived data. The results provide high-resolution orthomosaic, DEMs and 3D textured models that aim for the documentation of ancient mining scenarios, providing high-resolution digital information that improves the identification, description and interpretation of mining elements such as the hydraulic infrastructure, the presence of open-cast mines which exemplifies the different exploitation methods, and settlements. However, beyond the scientific and technical information provided by the data, the 3D documentation of ancient mining scenarios is a powerful tool for an effective and wider public diffusion ensuring the visualization, preservation and awareness over the importance and conservation of world mining heritage sites.

Exploring Cooperative Transboundary River Management Strategies for the Eastern Nile Basin.

A water resource modeling process is demonstrated to support multistakeholder negotiations over transboundary management of the Nile River. This process addresses the challenge of identifying management options of new hydraulic infrastructure that potentially affects downstream coriparian nations and how the management of existing infrastructure can be adapted. The method includes an exploration of potential management decisions using a multiobjective evolutionary algorithm, intertwined with an iterative process of formulating cooperative strategies to overcome technical and political barriers faced in a transboundary negotiation. The case study is the addition of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and considers how its operation may be coordinated with adaptations to the operations of Egypt's High Aswan Dam. The results demonstrate that a lack of coordination is likely to be harmful to downstream riparians and suggest that adaptations to infrastructure in Sudan and Egypt can reduce risks to water supplies and energy generation. Although risks can be substantially reduced by agreed releases from the GERD and basic adaptations to the High Aswan Dam, these measures are still insufficient to assure that no additional risk is assumed by Egypt. The method then demonstrates how improvements to water security for both downstream riparians can be achieved through dynamic adaptation of the operation of the GERD during drought conditions. Finally, the paper demonstrates how the robustness of potential management arrangements can be evaluated considering potential effects of climate change, including increased interannual variability and highly uncertain changes such as increases in the future persistence of droughts.

Water, Infrastructure and Power: Contention and Resistance in Post‐colonial Cities of the South

Water, Infrastructure and Power: Contention and Resistance in Post‐colonial Cities of the South

Environmental flow assessment for rivers feeding a coastal wetland complex in the Pacific coast of northwest Mexico

AbstractHydrological variability is one of the main drivers for rivers structure, and functionality, making the environmental flow (EF) assessment a key element to understand some ecological processes depending on it. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the EF regime for the main rivers feeding a coastal wetland complex in northwest Mexico, following the hydrologic methodology officially approved by the Mexican National Water Commission based on daily data series (1975–2014). A mean annual runoff around 11 556 Mm3 was estimated to feed the Marismas Nacionales (MN) wetlands system from the discharge of seven rivers. It is expected that the estimated flows, regarded as necessary for the MN system to function properly as a whole, will change because of regional hydraulic infrastructure plans, threatening the discharge of the San Pedro and Baluarte rivers by reducing the flow significantly with negative effects on the MN wetlands.

Flood hazard assessment of the Rhône River revisited with reconstructed discharges from lake sediments

Abstract Accurate flood hazard assessments are crucial for adequate flood hazard mapping and hydraulic infrastructure design. The choice of an acceptable and cost-effective solution for such assessments depends upon the estimation of quantiles for different characteristics of floods, usually maximum discharges. However, gauge series usually have a limited time length and, thereby, quantile estimates associated to high return periods are subject to large uncertainties. To overcome this limitation, reconstructed flood series from historical, botanical or geological archives can be incorporated. In this study, we propose a novel approach that i) combines classic series of observations with paleodischarges (of the Rhone River) reconstructed from open lake sediments (Lake Bourget, Northwestern Alps, France) and ii) propagates uncertainties related to the reconstruction method during the estimation of extreme quantiles. A Bayesian approach is adopted in order to properly treat the non-systematic nature of the reconstructed flow data, as well as the uncertainties related to the reconstruction method. While this methodology has already been applied to reconstruct maximum discharges from historical documents, tree rings or fluvial sediments, similar applications need to be tested today on open lake sediments as they are one of the only archives that provide long and continuous paleoflood series. Reconstructed sediment volumes being subject to measurement errors, we evaluate and account for this uncertainty, along with the uncertainty related to the reconstruction method, the parametric uncertainty, and the rating-curve errors for systematic gauged flows by propagating these uncertainties through the modeling chain. Reconstructed maximum discharges appear to largely overcome values of observations, reaching values of approximately 2,600, 4,200, 2,450 and 2,500 m3/s in 1689, 1711, 1733 and 1737 respectively, which correspond to historically-known catastrophic floods. Extreme quantiles are estimated using direct measurements of maximum discharges (1853-2004) only and then combined to the sedimentary information (1650-2013). The comparison of the resulting estimates demonstrates the added value of the sedimentary information. In particular, the four historical catastrophic floods are very unlikely if only direct observations are considered for quantile estimations.

Suspended Sediment Concentration Estimation from Landsat Imagery along the Lower Missouri and Middle Mississippi Rivers Using an Extreme Learning Machine

Monitoring and quantifying suspended sediment concentration (SSC) along major fluvial systems such as the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers provide crucial information for biological processes, hydraulic infrastructure, and navigation. Traditional monitoring based on in situ measurements lack the spatial coverage necessary for detailed analysis. This study developed a method for quantifying SSC based on Landsat imagery and corresponding SSC data obtained from United States Geological Survey monitoring stations from 1982 to present. The presented methodology first uses feature fusion based on canonical correlation analysis to extract pertinent spectral information, and then trains a predictive reflectance–SSC model using a feed-forward neural network (FFNN), a cascade forward neural network (CFNN), and an extreme learning machine (ELM). The trained models are then used to predict SSC along the Missouri–Mississippi River system. Results demonstrated that the ELM-based technique generated R2 > 0.9 for Landsat 4–5, Landsat 7, and Landsat 8 sensors and accurately predicted both relatively high and low SSC displaying little to no overfitting. The ELM model was then applied to Landsat images producing quantitative SSC maps. This study demonstrates the benefit of ELM over traditional modeling methods for the prediction of SSC based on satellite data and its potential to improve sediment transport and monitoring along large fluvial systems.

Neolithic water management and flooding in the Lesser Caucasus (Georgia)

River management is generally thought to have started at 5500 cal. BC within the development of eastern Neolithic societies. In the Lesser Caucasus, evidence of early river management has been discovered around the famous Neolithic sites of Shulaveri, Gadachrili Gora, and Imiris Gora in Georgia. Here we report a preliminary data set indicating that river management was set up at 5900 cal. BC leading to the flooding, destruction, and local abandonment of the hydraulic infrastructures of the Gadachrili village between 5750 and 5430 cal. BC. The hydraulic infrastructures were developed during a more humid period encompassing the 8200 cal. BP (6200 cal. BC) climatic event, probably to optimize agricultural yield. It potentially led to the first prehistoric engineering accident for which there is evidence, which may have been followed by the reorganisation of the occupation and/or to architectural modifications.

Boosting hydropower output of mega cascade reservoirs using an evolutionary algorithm with successive approximation

The high complexity of multi-objective joint reservoir operation imposes challenging barriers to the pursuit of optimal hydroelectricity output. Inasmuch as multi-objective evolution optimization algorithms, including the Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II (NSGA-II), are trapped in the curse of dimensionality which could not be effectively solved the multi-objective operation of more than ten reservoirs. This study proposes a methodology that integrate the NSGA-II with a successive approximation approach to optimize the hydropower output for conquering the curse of dimensionality under the joint operation of 21 mega cascade reservoirs located in the Upper Yangtze River Basin of China. The successive approximation approach could effectively decompose the mutually related M-dimensional problem into M individual one-dimensional problems, which ingeniously overcomes the curse of dimensionality. The proposed model is anchored with strategies of advancing impoundment timings and raising water levels of cascade reservoirs. We show that our methodology, without adding or upgrading hydraulic infrastructures, empowers the joint operation to reach 110.79 billion kW·h/year (9.8% improvement) in hydropower output, which could reduce 86.97 billion kg/year in CO2 emission, and to provide 44.97 billion m3/year in water supply with flood risk less than 0.016. The results suggest that our methodology can spur hydroelectricity output to support China’s tactics in fulfilling the pledge of carbon emission reduction and non-fossil energy expansion to 20% by 2030.

Optimal Operation of the Eastern Nile System Using Genetic Algorithm, and Benefits Distribution of Water Resources Development

The Eastern Nile Basin is facing a number of transboundary issues, including water resources development, and the associated impacts. The Nile Basin, particularly the Eastern Nile Sub-basin, is considered as one of a few international river systems of potential conflicts between riparian countries. The Eastern Nile is characterized by the high dependency of downstream countries on river water generated in upstream countries, with limited or no contribution to the runoff itself. The aim of this paper is to analyze optimal scenarios for water resources management in the Eastern Nile with regard to hydropower generation and irrigation development. A hydro-economic optimization model based on Genetic Algorithm has been used to determine the maximum benefits for two scenarios: (i) non-cooperative management of hydraulic infrastructure by the riparian countries (status quo), and (ii) cooperative water resources management among the riparian countries. The hydro-economic model is developed using a Genetic Algorithm and deterministic optimization approach covering all hydraulic infrastructures in the Eastern Nile, existing and planned, including the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). The results show that cooperative management yields an increase in hydro-energy returns for all countries compared to the status quo, with a very high increase in Ethiopian’s returns, as expected. Non-cooperative system management would negatively impact the hydro-energy of Egypt compared to the cooperative management (reduced by 11%), without a significant increase of hydro-energy for Ethiopia. For Sudan, the results show that hydropower generation benefits from the presence of GERD, in both management scenarios. Non-cooperative management of the system, along with the internal trade-off between irrigation and hydropower facilities, would negatively impact irrigation supply in Sudan. The findings support the argument of positive impact of GERD development on the three Eastern Nile riparian countries, Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt, provided that the three countries agree to manage the system cooperatively.

Desali‐nation: Techno‐diplomacy and hydraulic state restructuring through reverse osmosis membranes in Singapore

A sea change has occurred in global water management over the last two decades as previously unconventional technologies such as reverse osmosis membranes have been integrated into national supply networks. State‐led, highly politicised programmes of water resources development, characterised by large‐scale hydraulic infrastructure, centralised monopoly control and diplomatic negotiations, have been transformed in many regions by integrated systems supported by private engineering companies, constituting a new “technopolitical regime.” Desalination in particular has become an expedient solution not only to the chronic problem of water scarcity but protracted geopolitical disputes over shared infrastructure. Engaging with literature on geopolitical materialism, technopolitics and the hydraulic state, this paper will examine how desalination has been developed in Singapore to depoliticise the water supply network, bringing into relation a different constellation of actors and enabling an alternative form of techno‐diplomacy. In the 1990s, imported water from Malaysia became increasingly vulnerable due to a worsening of diplomatic relations, therefore Singapore began to leverage on reverse osmosis to circumvent antagonistic, politically charged negotiations. The water authority was subsequently plugged into global industry networks, technologically and institutionally reconfiguring the state through integrated management, corporate intermediaries and strategic nodality. By 2060, reverse osmosis technology is expected to provide 85% of water supply, co‐producing, it is argued, an alternative state ontology.

Country-level assessment of future risk of water scarcity in Europe

Abstract. A methodology for regional assessment of current and future water availability in Europe is presented in this study. The methodology is based on a proposed indicator of risk of water scarcity based on the projections of runoff and water availability for European countries. The risk of water scarcity is the combined result of hydrological processes, which determine streamflow in natural conditions, and human intervention, which determines water management using the available hydraulic infrastructure and establishes water supply conditions through operating rules. Model results show that changes in runoff and availability obtained for individual GCM projections can be large and even contradictory. These heterogeneous results are summarized in the water scarcity risk index, a global value that accounts for the results obtained with the ensemble of model results and emission scenarios. The countries at larger risk are (in this order) Spain, Portugal, Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria, Albania, France and Italy. They are mostly Mediterranean countries already exposed to significant water scarcity problems. There are countries, like Slovakia, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Croatia and Romania, with mild risk. Northern Arctic countries, like Sweden, Finland, Norway and Russia, show a robust however mild increase in water availability.