Hydraulic Infrastructure Research Articles

Geomechanical Constraints on Hydro-Seismicity: Tidal Forcing and Reservoir Operation

Understanding the risk associated with anthropogenic earthquakes is essential in the development and management of engineering processes and hydraulic infrastructure that may alter pore pressures and stresses at depth. The possibility of earthquakes triggered by reservoir impoundment, ocean tides, and hydrological events at the Earth surface (hydro-seismicity) has been extensively debated. The link between induced seismicity and hydrological events is currently based on statistical correlations rather than on physical mechanisms. Here, we explore the geomechanical conditions that could allow for small pore pressure changes due to reservoir management and sea level changes to propagate to depths that are compatible with earthquake triggering at critically-stressed faults (several kilometers). We consider a damaged fault zone that is embedded in a poroelastic rock matrix, and conduct fully coupled hydromechanical simulations of pressure diffusion and rock deformation. We characterize the hydraulic and geomechanical properties of fault zones that could allow for small pressure and loading changes at the ground surface (in the order of tens or hundreds of kPa) to propagate with relatively small attenuation to seismogenic depths (up to 10 km). We find that pressure diffusion to such depths is only possible for highly permeable fault zones and/or strong poroelastic coupling.

Adapting pastoral breeding to global changes in West and Central tropical Africa: Review of ecological views

Pastoral livestock is defined as a reproduction-oriented, grazing-based familial livestock system with community-managed resources. Pastoral breeders differ from one another in the diversity of species and breeds raised, the size and management of herds and the extent of their regional mobility. The social, economic and environmental weight of pastoralist livestock in West and Central sub-Saharan Africa is evoked together with its imputation of environmental degradation. Global changes faced by pastoral livestock are sorted out by domains, climatic and societal, and by time scales, short or long. The incriminated impacts of livestock on ecosystems are assessed in the short and long terms. The functions of pastoral breeding already affected by global changes whether climatic or societal are analyzed. The capacity of two alternative livestock breeding systems, ranching and stall-feeding, to respond to these constraints is reviewed. Finally, pastoral breeding has been recognized as being able to adapt best to long-term climate change and to short- and long-term societal changes, provided that national and international investments are made. Civil security must be restored and pastoralists’ access to water and fodder resources must be secured. Professional organizations and associations should be empowered to negotiate grazing rights, and their skills should be enhanced. There is the need to complete, rehabilitate and manage hydraulic and veterinary infrastructures, but also to invest significantly in adapted health, education and communication infrastructures in long-neglected pastoral areas.

Design and Implementation of a Pressure Monitoring System Based on IoT for Water Supply Networks.

Increasing the efficiency of water supply networks is essential in arid and semi-arid regions to ensure the supply of drinking water to the inhabitants. The cost of renovating these systems is high. However, customized management models can facilitate the maintenance and rehabilitation of hydraulic infrastructures by optimizing the use of resources. The implementation of current Internet of Things (IoT) monitoring systems allows decisions to be based on objective data. In water supply systems, IoT helps to monitor the key elements to improve system efficiency. To implement IoT in a water distribution system requires sensors that are suitable for measuring the main hydraulic variables, a communication system that is adaptable to the water service companies and a friendly system for data analysis and visualization. A smart pressure monitoring and alert system was developed using low-cost hardware and open-source software. An Arduino family microcontroller transfers pressure gauge signals using Sigfox communication, a low-power wide-area network (LPWAN). The IoT ThingSpeak platform is used for data analysis and visualization. Additionally, the system can send alarms via SMS/email in real time using the If This, Then That (IFTTT) web service when anomalous pressure data are detected. The pressure monitoring system was successfully implemented in a real water distribution network in Spain. It was able to detect both breakdowns and leaks in real time.

Small is beautiful but not trendy: Understanding the allure of big hydraulic works in the Euphrates-Tigris and Nile waterscapes

ABSTRACT The number of massive hydraulic infrastructures such as large-scale dams, huge hydropower plants, and broad irrigation networks has increased to an unprecedented level during the twentieth century. While the trend has recently slowed, building giant water infrastructures is still an utmost priority in many parts of the world across state elites. Informed by insights from major transboundary waterscapes – the river basins of the Euphrates-Tigris and the Nile – this paper analyses how states´ elites justify their hydraulic mission, finding that four distinctive discursive practices are efficiently used in the case studies: securitization, opportunization, de-politicization, and framing.

The effect of wealth on the choice of household drinking water sources in West Africa

AbstractMany developing countries are experiencing high population growth rates (an average of 2.7%). The increase in their respective populations leads to an increase in the need for drinking water. However, governments fail to provide the population with sufficient hydraulic infrastructure in terms of quality and quantity, with regard to the various priorities. In such situations, households take individual initiatives. However, the weakness of the available means may be a significant obstacle. This article seeks to identify the factors that determine the choice of household water sources in West African countries by putting an emphasis on the role of wealth. The study covers four countries, Burkina Faso, Mali, Ghana and Nigeria, and uses data from 28,444 observations from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and statistics agencies of the four countries being studied. When applied to the adjusted logit model, the data reveal that the higher the household wealth, the greater the chance of using piped water. There are also other factors, such as household size, the number of women and children, and the level of education that also determine the choice of water sources. These results suggest that governments need to increase their efforts to reduce inequalities between rural and urban areas in terms of improved access to drinking water and introduce a subsidy or fee policy to enable poor households to have adequate access to drinking water.

Reconstructing past flood events from geomorphological and historical data. The Giétro outburst flood in 1818

ABSTRACT The 16th of June 1818, the failure of the Giétro glacier in the Swiss Alps provoked an outburst flood that devastated the Bagnes valley, causing 34 deaths and major damages to buildings, road system, hydraulic infrastructures and crops. This disaster had a major impact on the economy of the valley and created a great movement of solidarity. It remains today a well-known historical natural disaster. In order to reconstruct the course of the wave and to map the flood, we used an interdisciplinary approach by crossing historical and geomorphological data. We first compiled and mapped the large number of historical data available in the local and state archives. These data were then completed by geomorphological observations made on the field and on numerical documents. The resulting map presents the spatial extent of the flood and water depths. This article shows the validity of interdisciplinary approaches for reconstructing past natural disasters.

Implementing resilience in flood risk management

Implementing resilience in flood risk management

Incorporation of non-stationarity in precipitation intensity-duration-frequency curves for Kerala, India

Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) curve is an essential hydrologic tool used for the design of hydraulic infrastructure. In a changing climate scenario, the assumption of a static return period of precipitation extremes is not valid; the under-estimation of rainfall intensity values may lead to the failure of critical infrastructure. This paper is focused on identifying the extent of non-stationary behaviour at different locations in Kerala. The annual maxima rainfall data prepared from daily time series was idealized into non-stationary Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) distributions, with time-varying parameters after rainfall disaggregation operation. Non-stationary rainfall intensities were estimated using different non-stationary models, and the best model was identified using Akaike Information Criteria (AIC). From the analysis using station-wise data, it was found that districts including Palakkad, Malappuram, Idukki and Pathanamthitta were experiencing significant non-stationarity in extreme precipitation events. Non-stationary rainfall extremes were concentrated at Eastern regions of Kerala compared to coastal and midlands of Kerala.

Top-down and bottom-up water management: A diachronic model of changing water management strategies at Angkor, Cambodia

The Greater Angkor region, in northwestern Cambodia, was home to several successive capitals of the Khmer Empire (9th to 15th centuries CE). During this time, the Khmer developed an extensive agricultural and water management system characterized by top-down state-sponsored hydraulic infrastructure. Archaeological evidence now shows that the well-documented state temples and water management features formed the core of an extended settlement complex consisting of many thousands of ponds, habitation mounds, and community temples. These community temples are difficult to date, and so far, the lack of chronological resolution in surface archaeological data has been the most significant challenge to understanding the trajectory of Angkor’s growth and decline. In this paper, we combine heterogeneous archaeological datasets and create diachronic models of the landscape as it was developed for agricultural production. We trace the foundation of new temple communities as they emerge on the landscape in relation to the construction of extensive state-sponsored hydraulic infrastructure. Together, these two forms of water management transformed over 1000 km2 of the Greater Angkor Region into an elaborate engineered landscape. Our results indicate that, over time, autonomous temple communities are replaced by large, state-sponsored agricultural units in an attempt by the state to centralize production.

A socio-environmental geodatabase for integrative research in the transboundary Rio Grande/R\xedo Bravo basin

Integrative research on water resources requires a wide range of socio-environmental datasets to better understand human-water interactions and inform decision-making. However, in transboundary watersheds, integrating cross-disciplinary and multinational datasets is a daunting task due to the disparity of data sources and the inconsistencies in data format, content, resolution, and language. This paper introduces a socio-environmental geodatabase that transcends political and disciplinary boundaries in the Rio Grande/Río Bravo basin (RGB). The geodatabase aggregates 145 GIS data layers on five main themes: (i) Water & Land Governance, (ii) Hydrology, (iii) Water Use & Hydraulic Infrastructures, (iv) Socio-Economics, and (v) Biophysical Environment. Datasets were primarily collected from public open-access data sources, processed with ArcGIS, and documented through the FGCD metadata standard. By synthesizing a broad array of datasets and mapping public and private water governance, we expect to advance interdisciplinary research in the RGB, provide a replicable approach to dataset compilation for transboundary watersheds, and ultimately foster transboundary collaboration for sustainable resource management.

Rivers’ Temporal Sustainability through the Evaluation of Predictive Runoff Methods

The concept of sustainability is assumed for this research from a temporal perspective. Rivers represent natural systems with an inherent internal memory on their runoff and, by extension, to their hydrological behavior, that should be identified, characterized and quantified. This memory is formally called temporal dependence and allows quantifying it for each river system. The ability to capture that temporal signature has been analyzed through different methods and techniques. However, there is a high heterogeneity on those methods’ analytical capacities. It is found in this research that the most advanced ones are those whose output provides a dynamic and quantitative assessment of the temporal dependence for each river system runoff. Since the runoff can be split into temporal conditioned runoff fractions, advanced methods provide an important improvement over classic or alternative ones. Being able to characterize the basin by calculating those fractions is a very important progress for water managers that need predictive tools for orienting their water policies to a certain manner. For instance, rivers with large temporal dependence will need to be controlled and gauged by larger hydraulic infrastructures. The application of this approach may produce huge investment savings on hydraulic infrastructures and an environmental impact minimization due to the achieved optimization of the binomial cost-benefit.

Developing Irrigation Management at District Scale Based on Water Monitoring: Study on Lis Valley, Portugal

Irrigation districts play a decisive role in Portuguese agriculture and require the adaptation to the new water management paradigm through a change in technology and practices compatible with farmers’ technical know-how and economic sustainability. Therefore, improvement of water management, focusing on water savings and increasing farmers’ income, is a priority. In this perspective, an applied research study is being carried out on the gravity-fed Lis Valley Irrigation District to assess the performance of collective water supply, effectiveness of water pumping, and safety of crop production due to the practice of reuse of drainage water. The water balance method was applied at irrigation supply sectors, including gravity and Pumping Irrigation Allocation. The average 2018 irrigation water allocated was 7400 m3/ha, being 9.3% by pumping recharge, with a global efficiency of about 67%. The water quality analysis allowed identifying some risk situations regarding salinization and microbiological issues, justifying action to solve or mitigate the problems, especially at the level of the farmers’ fields, according to the crops and the irrigation systems. Results point to priority actions to consolidate improved water management: better maintenance and conservation of infrastructure of hydraulic infrastructures to reduce water losses and better flow control; implementation of optimal operational plans, to adjust the water demand with distribution; improvement of the on-farm systems with better water application control and maintenance procedures; and improvement of the control of water quality on the water reuse from drainage ditches. The technological innovation is an element of the modernization of irrigation districts that justifies the development of multiple efforts and synergies among stakeholders, namely farmers, water users association, and researchers.

Representations of dams: infrastructures, concessions and controversies

This paper synthesises the objectives, methodologies and results of my PhD thesis. As we observe the resurgence of dam building throughout the world, this research analyses the representations of dams and their spatial and temporal trajectories. Building on the literature of social and cultural geography on representation, and the writings of political ecology on discourse, the thesis confronted different sources (newspapers, interviews and archives), study areas (in France and Australia) and methodological approaches (quantitative and qualitative) in order to follow the discursive evolution of hydraulic infrastructure. The points of view of various stakeholders were also considered: inhabitants, engineers and hydraulic institutions, opponents to dams, administrations in charge of nature protection and scientists who produce environmental knowledge. From a methodological perspective, the dissertation highlights the limits in using certain material and illustrates the necessity to consider different sources in parallel. The results show the evolution of waterscapes, hydrosocial spaces and cycles – the gradual concessions made to environmentalists at the expense of hydraulic bureaucracies – but they also illustrate, on a broader perspective, the production and the flow of discourses on the environment – the decline of a Promethean discourse on nature and the multiplication of different and sometimes opposing representations of the environment – particularly during conflicts and controversies.

Large debris flows in Chosica, Lima, Peru: the application of hydraulic infrastructure for erosion control and disaster prevention

Large debris flows in steep-sloped ravines debouching to the Rimac River, in metropolitan Lima (Peruvian capital), have resulted in considerable loss of life and property adversely impacting communities in the region. Temporal, spatial and volumetric features of debris flows are difficult to predict, and it is of utmost importance that achievable management solutions are found to reduce the impact of these catastrophic events. The emotional and economic toll of these debris flows on this increasingly densely populated capital city in South America is devastating where communities must live in such inadequate and dangerous conditions. To address this problem, the application of advanced Japanese technology, Sustainable Actions Basin Orientation (SABO), has been investigated using a geomorphological modelling to develop an implementation plan. Rayos de Sol stream basin in Chosica, was selected as a pilot to develop the proposal, as it is considered high risk due to the presence of ancient debris flows and recent flows in 2012, 2015 and 2017. The recurrence of debris flows in this location has resulted in numerous deaths and catastrophic property losses. This study combines geologic and geomorphic mapping and hydraulic and landform evolution numerical modelling. The implementation of a SABO Master Plan based on the multidisciplinary assessment hazard scenarios, will allow the implementation of feasible mitigation actions. The SABO technology has been applied successfully in Japan and other countries in areas with steep short slopes, similar to the conditions surrounding the Peruvian capital. Results from this study will be presented to the Peruvian Government as part of an action plan to manage debris-flow impact.KEY POINTSHigh-risk mass slope failure is linked to poor urban planning in urban developing regions of Lima the capital of Peru.A multidisciplinary study including geotechnical and hydrological analysis, engineering design, and socio-economic research is required to implement a SABO Master Plan, and this basin is pilot study basin.At the present time, a maintenance programme for existing hydraulic structures should be implemented, and a flood risk management plan developed may propose the relocation of some communities and infrastructure.

Hubristic Hydraulics: Water, Dictatorship, and Modernity in the Dominican Republic

In this article, I focus on how water operated as symbolic capital during the notoriously repressive dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo (1930–61) in the Dominican Republic. Under his regime, alongside an apex of territorial control and modern aesthetics came a nadir of political freedoms. During Trujillo's tenure, water took on important symbolic and material dimensions as a conduit for authoritarianism: it served as a tool to bind together dictatorial power and spatial order through a mode of territorial and urban design rooted in hubristic hydraulics. With hubristic hydraulics I refer to the strategic ways that water flow was harnessed through infrastructure and choreographed through landscape and monumental architecture to embody and lionize the dictator's power. Channeled into reflecting pools, nationwide irrigation works, and monumental fountains, water functioned at the juncture of aesthetics and politics as an important tool in the modernization of urban space and the territory at large. Water was a strategic resource that enabled Trujillo to be cast as the “arquitecto de la patria nueva” (the architect of a new fatherland), and the ways it was made to flow through modern architecture and infrastructure offer an illuminating means to expose the entanglement of territorial control, urban modernity, and authoritarian politics.

Architecture and urbanism of Colonia Patricia in Hadrian’s times: new contributions

espanolLa llegada al poder de Adriano no solo influyo en Italica, sino que tambien parece haber repercutido en Cor-doba, caputprovinciae de Baetica. El objetivo de la presente contribucion es tratar de reconstruir la imagen urbana de Co-lonia Patricia en epoca adrianea, prestando especial atencion a la arquitectura publica, pero sin olvidar la infraestructura defensiva, viaria e hidraulica, asi como la arquitectura do-mestica, productiva y funeraria. A la hora de alcanzar dicha meta hemos recopilado y analizado diversos testimonios ar-queologicos, arquitectonicos, escultoricos y epigraficos. Aun cuando en muchos casos la documentacion sugiera una data-cion del siglo II d.C., o mas concretamente de la primera mi-tad de dicha centuria, en ocasiones si hemos podido identifi-car determinados elementos bien fechados en epoca adrianea. EnglishHadrian’s government impacted not only in Italica,but also in Corduba, caput provinciae of Baetica. The aim of this contribution is to reconstruct the urban image of Colo-nia Patricia during Hadrian’s times, highlighting the public architecture, without forgetting the defensive, road, and hy-draulic infrastructures, as well as the residential, industrial, and funerary architectures. In order to achieve this objective, we have gathered and studied a wide range of archaeological, architectural, sculptural and epigraphic testimonies. Although in many cases the available documentation suggests a dating within the second century AD, it has been possible to identify certain elements dated in Hadrian’s times.

Interbasin water transfer conflicts. The case of the Tagus-Segura Aqueduct (Spain)

Since its inauguration in 1979, the Tagus-Segura Aqueduct has become one of the hydraulic infrastructures that have given rise to the highest number of inter-regional conflicts in Spain during recent decades. The aim of this paper is to analyse the political, social, environmental and economic conflicts presented in the donor (Tagus) and recipient (Segura) basins of this infrastructure. To this end, through the holding of interviews with the main stakeholders and an analysis of the regulations, an assessment has been made of the results (for and against) of those who defend maintaining this infrastructure, owing to its far-reaching social and economic impact, and those who advocate its immediate or progressive closure. In conclusion, the case analysed here has become one of the foremost inter-regional water conflicts in Spain which, currently, after the proposal and adoption of certain regulatory measures, continues to represent a conflict over water use that may be of interest and comparison in the international scope.

‘Still waters run deep’: cisterns and the hydraulic infrastructure of Constantinople and Alexandria

Les deux grandes villes de Mediterranee orientale, Constantinople et Alexandrie, sont connues pour le nombre important de citernes antiques et medievales qui y sont encore conservees. A partir de r...

Contributions of remote sensing in the diachronic study of the spatial and temporal evolution of the Ahmed El Hansali dam water reservoir from 2002-03 to 2018-19

The OumErRbiabasin is one of the watersheds with the largest number of hydraulic infrastructures in Morocco. These hydraulic structuressupply water for drinking, industrial and agricultural uses. The Ahmed El Hansali dam is a 740 Mm³ reservoir located near Zaouyat Cheikh andhave an active storage of473 Mm³. The succession of dry years in the OumErRbiabasin has had a negative impact on the water resource and has caused a remarkable decrease in the reservoir of the Ahmed el Hansali dam. In this paper, the MNDWI (Modified Normalized Difference Water Index) from Landsat 5-TM, Landsat 7-ETM, and Landsat 8-OLI satellite images was used to estimate the spatial and temporal fluctuations of the volumes of water stored in the reservoir between hydrological years 2002-03 and 2018-19. Results show that the volumes estimated by remote sensing reasonably match the volumes estimated by the OumErRbia Hydraulic Basin Agency (OERHBA)using recorded water levels and reservoir storage curve for years 2002-03 and 2013-14; the determination coefficient R² exceeds 0.90. The mapping of the extent of the dam’s impoundment has shown a very significant decreasein the flooded area level during dry years.

Participatory Modelling of Surface and Groundwater to Support Strategic Planning in the Ganga Basin in India

The Ganga Basin in India experiences problems related to water availability, water quality and ecological degradation because of over-abstraction of surface and groundwater, the presence of various hydraulic infrastructure, discharge of untreated sewage water, and other point and non-point source pollution. The basin is experiencing rapid socio-economic development that will increase both the demand for water and pollution load. Climate change adds to the uncertainty and future variability of water availability. To support strategic planning for the Ganga Basin by the Indian Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and the governments of the concerned Indian states, a river basin model was developed that integrates hydrology, geohydrology, water resources management, water quality and ecology. The model was developed with the involvement of key basin stakeholders across central and state governments. No previous models of the Ganga Basin integrate all these aspects, and this is the first time that a participatory approach was applied for the development of a Ganga Basin model. The model was applied to assess the impact of future socio-economic and climate change scenarios and management strategies. The results suggest that the impact of socio-economic development will far exceed the impacts of climate change. To balance the use of surface and groundwater to support sustained economic growth and an ecologically healthy river, it is necessary to combine investments in wastewater treatment and reservoir capacity with interventions that reduce water demand, especially for irrigation, and that increase dry season river flow. An important option for further investigation is the greater use of alluvial aquifers for temporary water storage.