Water Management In River Basins Research Articles

The Three-Points Sponge Policy approach; toward an enhanced multi-level resilience strategy

Urban water management is confronted with more frequent, more extreme weather events. This paper introduces the Three-Points Approach (3PA) into Sponge City concept, to create a novel framework aimed at guiding water management interventions across local, urban, regional, and river basin scales. The 3PA integrates three domains—Day-to-day, Design, and Extreme —offering a nuanced strategy for flood and drought risk mitigation, also for extreme events. Notably, the 3PA emphasizes the fusion of blue-green infrastructure (BGI) with conventional gray approaches to enhance both multifunctionality and resilience in extreme weather conditions. The study identifies critical issues of implementing this Three-Points Sponge Policy (3PSP) approach, including spatial and temporal scales, transitioning from gray to blue-green infrastructure, asset management, data handling, and effective communication. Interventions spanning various spatial scales and addressing flood protection, drought resilience, and water quality are explored in a first and indicative application in Zhengzhou. The case study distills key design principles, highlighting the imperative of never shifting problems, embracing ecosystem-based adaptation, seeking synergy between interventions, and incorporating adaptability into designs. The 3PSP approach emerges as a holistic framework that considers both risks and benefits, contributing valuable insights to the discourse on integrating urban and river basin water management, improving our ways of dealing with extreme weather events while maximizing the day-to-day benefits of our interventions.

Non-Indigenous Freshwater Fishes as Indicators of Ecological Quality in Running Waters

The European Union Water Framework Directive (WFD) is a comprehensive initiative guiding river basin water management, addressing pressures such as pollution from diffuse and point sources, and hydromorphological alterations. However, pressures that can deteriorate the ecological quality of water bodies through biotic changes (i.e., by the introduction of non-indigenous species) are not rigorously addressed by the WFD. This study explores associations between conventional ecological quality indices based on physicochemical and biotic quality elements (fish and macroinvertebrates) against the presence and densities of non-indigenous freshwater fish species (NIFS) in lotic ecosystems of Greece, aiming to unravel the potential usage of NIFS in future ecological assessments. The dataset comprises 277 samplings at 115 sites, covering physicochemical and biotic (fish and macroinvertebrate) quality indices, and anthropogenic pressure variables. Based on our findings, the occurrence and densities of four NIFS (Lepomis gibbosus, Pseudorasbora parva, Gambusia holbrooki, and Carassius gibelio) were highly associated with the ecological quality assessments of the applied indices. Higher occurrences and densities of these NIFS were related to samplings of lower ecological quality. In addition, NIFS exhibited a positive association with anthropogenic pressures, likely due to their adaptability to less optimal environmental conditions or higher tolerance to pollution and other stressors. Our findings underscore the need for a paradigm shift in ecological quality assessments, emphasizing the use of NIFS either as a potential indicator of ecosystem health or as a pressure that deteriorates ecological quality.

Identification and Diagnosis of Transboundary River Basin Water Management in China and Neighboring Countries

Numerous studies have demonstrated that a complex distribution of water resources, regional development, and management mechanisms create significant management challenges for transboundary river basins. We utilized diagnostic thinking to examine the water management issues of the 14 main transboundary watersheds in three regions (Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest) of China. Our four diagnosis points were water quantity, water quality, ecological stability and human health, and cooperation among watershed stakeholders. We found that the watersheds faced varying water management issues. The Indus and Ganges basins have the worst problems, whereas the Tarim basin’s ecological environment is the most vulnerable and the Ob basin is the fittest. Therefore, depending on each basin’s results, we provide practical water management ideas for each. Furthermore, we summarized and classified the geographical settings of each basin and determined the water management issues in each major region in China. Our results provide direction for both new research on and cooperation with transboundary basin water management.

Growth diffusion-limited aggregation for basin fractal river network evolution model

Diffusion-limited aggregation (DLA) model has been widely used to simulate fractal aggregation processes. This DLA model and its improved model growth diffusion-limited aggregation (GDLA) can reasonably plan and manage rivers within the basin scale. In this paper, the growth and evolution of the river network at the basin scale were simulated using the Northwest China Basin as the study area. To achieve this research goal, this paper used gas injection system image processing technology and data analysis methods for overall processing and distributed processing of river basin remote sensing data. A new growth method, unit-gradient growth, was added to the standard DLA model, and a combination of the extracted Daxia River Basin geomorphological features and DEM data was used to optimize the Brownian motion of the model particle growth method. A computational model was proposed: GDLA model to predict the river network growth in the study area. The fractal dimension of the river network in the study area was extracted and corrected by the box-counting method. Finally, the predicted river network was compared with the extracted actual river network. The included angle cosine method was used for modeling evaluation and analysis. The results showed that the fractal dimension of the Daxia River Basin and sub-basin water systems was less than 1.6, indicating that the basin geomorphology was in its infancy. The structural similarity degrees were greater than 0.99, indicating that the GDLA model had a better simulation on fractal river networks, which can successfully reproduce and predict different morphological two-dimensional river networks. Studies showed that using GDLA to model fractal river networks can better predict the river network growth and evolution, ultimately promoting sustainable development of river basin water management.

System model of integrated management of the water resources of the Ingulets River by a basin principal

For integrated water management in river basins in Ukraine, there is no toolkit for system modeling and selection of management structure in river basins according to environmental and economic criteria, which corresponds to the creation of water management systems under conditions of sustainable development. Therefore, the urgent task is to develop a system model of integrated water management on the example of the Ingulets River basin.
 The purpose of the work is to create a system model of integrated water resources management in Ingulets River basin, which provides scenario modeling of technological solutions, their evaluation and optimization of economic criteria for efficient water use under environmental constraints and criteria for achieving a good or excellent ecological status of the river basin.
 The system model is used as a toolkit, the method of decomposition of the river basin into subsystems, analysis of subsystems and their composition into a holistic model of integrated management by the basin principle. Telecommunication methods are proposed to improve monitoring. A method of scenario analysis is proposed, which performs simulation modeling of prospective management scenarios at the first level of the hierarchy, and at the second level - options are evaluated according to the criteria of cost-effective water use with environmental objectives and regulatory restrictions. For simulation modeling, a system of balance difference equations for the dynamics of water masses, mixing and spreading of pollution in rivers and reservoirs is formalized. A system of combined control for the impulse method of river washing was developed. Multicriteria optimization of variants of the control structure is carried out on the Pareto principle.
 A system model has been developed for integrated water resources management in the Ingulets River basin that meets the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive on the establishment of cost-effective water use while ensuring good or excellent ecological status of rivers. The structural and functional diagram of the system model includes the subsystems: the water supply subsystem of the Dnipro-Ingulets canal; a subsystem for flushing the Ingulets River from the Karachunivske reservoir and displacing the saline prism into the Dnipro River; subsystem of environmental safety when discharging pollution into the river Ingulets; subsystem of water supply for irrigation in the Ingulets irrigation system, prevention of soil salinization. A system of technological, economic and environmental criteria for evaluating integrated management by the basin principle has been developed. 
 They include maintaining the water level in reservoirs, displacement of salt water prism and limitation on water quality, ensuring the ecological condition of the river, and the dynamics of water resources consumption. Technological criteria determine the maintenance of water levels in reservoirs. Cost-effective water use is estimated on the basis of the dynamics of water consumption for river washing and irrigation.
 The formalized integrated management system in the Ingulets River basin includes operational water resources management and structure management. Integrated management is carried out according to subsystems, types of management and a system of criteria. For operational management the balance differential equations of water exchange in reservoirs are formalized. A two-layer model of water masses dynamics, pollutants distribution and mixing when flushing rivers from reservoirs is used. 
 Scenario analysis is offered to select the optimal structure of the management system. Simulation scenarios are being simulated. Scenario optimization is performed on the Pareto principle.
 An example of evaluating the effectiveness of the proposed system and its comparison with the existing regulations for Ingulets River flushing is given.

Transformation of the Flow Regime of a Large Allochthonous River in Central Europe—An Example of the Vistula River in Poland

Identification of river flow regime and its possible changes caused by natural factors or human activity is one of major issues in modern hydrology. In such studies different approaches and different indicators can be used. The aim of this study is to determine changes in flow regime of the largest river in Poland—the Vistula, using new, more objectified coefficients and indices, based on data recorded in 22 gauges on the Vistula mainstream and 38 gauges on its tributaries in the multi-year period 1971–2010. The paper consists of three main parts: in the first part, in order to recognize changes in the flow regime characteristics along the Vistula, data from gauges located on the river mainstream were analyzed with the help of the theory of entropy. In the second part gauging stations on the Vistula mainstream and its tributaries were grouped; values of the newly introduced pentadic Pardé’s coefficient of flow (discharge) (PPC) were taken as the grouping criterion. In the third part of the study a novel method of determining river regime characteristics was applied: through the recognition of the temporal structure of hydrological phenomena and their changes in the annual cycle sequences of hydrological periods (characteristic phases of the hydrological cycle) on the Vistula River mainstream and its tributaries were identified and their occurrence in the yearly cycle was discussed. Based on the detected changes of the 73-pentad Pardé’s coefficients of flow four main types of rivers were distinguished. Transformation of the flow regime was reflected in the identified different sequences of hydrological periods in the average annual cycle. It was found that while transformation of the Vistula River regime occurred along its whole course, the most frequent changes were detected in its upper, mountainous reaches, under the influence of the flow characteristics of its tributaries. This allowed the Vistula to be considered the allochthonous river. These findings are interesting not only from a theoretical point of view, but they also can be valuable to stakeholders in the field of the Vistula River basin water management and hydrological forecasting, including flood protection, which has recently become a matter of growing concern due to the observed effects of climate change and human impact.

Allocating river water in a cooperative way: a case study of the Dongjiang River Basin, South China

Water resources provide the foundation for human development and environmental sustainability. Water shortage occurs more or less in some regions, which usually causes sluggish economic activities, degraded ecology, and even conflicts and disputes over water use sectors. Game theory can better reflect the behaviors of involved stakeholders and has been increasingly employed in water resources management. This paper presents a framework for the allocation of river basin water in a cooperative way. The proposed framework applies the TOPSIS model combined with the entropy weight to determine stakeholders’ initial water share, reallocating water and net benefit by using four solution concepts for crisp and fuzzy games. Finally, the Fallback bargaining model was employed to achieve unanimous agreement over the four solution concepts. The framework was demonstrated with an application to the Dongjiang River Basin, South China. The results showed that, overall, the whole basin gained more total benefits when the players participated in fuzzy coalitions rather than in crisp coalitions, and $$\left\{ {NHS_{Fuzzy} \,and\, SV_{Crisp} } \right\}$$ could better distribute the total benefit of the whole basin to each player. This study tested the effectiveness of this framework for the water allocation decision-making in the context of water management in river basins. The results provide technical support for water right trade among the stakeholders at basin scale and have the potential to relieve water use conflicts of the entire basin.

Causal Reasoning for the Analysis of Rivers Runoff Temporal Behavior

The accurate knowledge about the influence of time in the behavior of rivers systems is crucial for a proper river basin water management. Traditional techniques such as correlograms or ARMA models have been widespread used over the last decades providing the analyzer with an average behaviour of temporal influence of hydrological series. In the last decade, the development of techniques, under the discipline of artificial intelligent, have increased the range of available analytical tools. On the other hand, hydrological processes have a very strong random nature and they are driven by its high uncertainty and variability. Consequently, it is necessary to build tools, able to incorporate these peculiarities in their analytical functioning. Causal Reasoning through Bayesian Networks (BNs) allows processing and analysing hydrological series, incorporating and assessing all their variability. Causality driven by Bayes´ theorem is used here to dynamically identify, characterize and quantify the influence of time (dependence) for each time step in annual run-off series in five Spanish River basins. Therefore, BNs arise as a powerful tool for getting a deeper understanding on the knowledge of temporal behaviour of hydrological series because this analysis is dynamic and implemented specifically for temporal iterations (decision variables). Implications and applications of this research are largely aimed to improve and optimize the design and dimensioning of hydraulic infrastructures, as well as reducing the risk of negative impacts produced by extreme events such as several droughts or floods, among others.

Quantifying the Process and Performance of River Basin Water Management Decentralisation in Sub-Saharan Africa

This article identifies determinants of the decentralisation processes and performances of river basin management decentralisation in Sub-Saharan Africa, using an institutional analysis framework applied to primary data from twenty-seven river basins in the region. Main findings suggest that water scarcity is a major stimulus to the reform; that water user associations, if not well prepared and trained, may deter the decentralisation process and being part of an existing treaty over an international basin helps foster the process for domestic basins that are part of an international basin. Conditions improving decentralisation process performance include: scarcity of water resources, longer period of implementation, bottom-up creation and appropriate budgetary support of the river basin organisation. Due to the sample size our findings can be seen as suggestive for decentralisation policy in remaining river basins across the continent and elsewhere.

Water Resources Governance Stakeholder Analysis and Treatment Network Construction

By introducing social network theory to examine water resources management, we propose a connotation in the governance of water resources management, governance and management features content that water resources management is essentially belongs to a network of public resources around the governance model, different from the traditional bureaucratic model water management, but also from the introduction of market mechanisms and the formation of the market model of water management. Organizational analysis is to establish the basis for management analysis framework, under the guidance in this basic understanding, and further studies are needed on the river basin water management network organizational model to analyze, from the organizational characteristics of basin water resources management to start in order to build for Water Resources governance analysis framework. From Taihu Lake Basin Water Resources Management and other activities of the participants and the organization perspective, management of water resources presents a network organization of the state. Theoretical perspective through social networks, we further basin water management network organizational model for analysis.

U.S. Energy Security and Water: The Challenges We Face

U.S. Energy Security and Water: The Challenges We Face

The Anticommons and the Environment

In 1838 Augustin Cournot defined the concept of a “complementary oligopoly,” where two (or more) independently held inputs are required in order to produce a single output. He also showed that efficiency was achieved when the complementary inputs were supplied by a single firm, rather than competing firms, as any hold-up incentive would be internalized by a single firm. It was the first instance in the literature where consolidation of market power was actually a welfare improving outcome. Recently, the complementary oligopoly paradigm has been adopted in the legal literature and rebranded the “anticommons” (Heller, 1998). In this paper, the paradigm is extended still further by applying it to the regulatory sphere. The contextual example is river-basin water regulation in the U.S., where a vast array of regulatory agencies all exist as independent rights holders into river-related regulatory procedures. As each agency monopolistically controls a particular aspect of river-basin water management, it has the incentive to hold out and require individual demands that, altogether result in high costs and inefficient outcomes. Reform of the regulatory system, towards greater consolidation as Cournot first suggested, would lead to welfare-improving outcomes.

Impact of the European Water Framework Directive on local-level water management: Case study Oxunda Catchment, Sweden

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) of the European Union provides a common framework for water policy that focuses on holistic and integrated water management in river basins. In many member states, implementation of the WFD has shifted the main responsibility for local water issues from the municipal level to the regional or supra-regional levels. In this study, we investigated how the implementation of the WFD has influenced local-level water management including the interpretation of the new environmental quality standards. Specifically, we considered Sweden, which has traditionally had relatively strong governance at the municipal level. Because a sufficient amount of time has now passed for evaluation of WFD-related effects on operational water handling, we interviewed individuals directly involved in water planning and land use planning at the municipal level in one sub catchment in the Northern Baltic Sea River Basin District of Sweden, as well as representatives for superior levels and associations. Despite divergent views regarding the priority of water issues in physical planning among the local-level planners interviewed, they had all participated in successful inter-municipal pre-WFD collaboration projects. Although such collaborations could help increase the understanding and acceptance of WFD-related goals and costs, as well as facilitate conflict solving, as shown in the Oxunda Catchment, they have not gained much attention in the WFD implementation process. Additionally, physical planners have generally been reluctant to accept new environmental quality standards resulting from WFD implementation, in part because they lack precise definitions, but also because they could challenge the municipal routine of weighing various objectives against each other. Furthermore, despite WFD-related increases in ambition levels, lack of resource improvements at the municipal level were identified as potential problems by local environmental planners.

River-Basin Water Management in the U.S.: A Regulatory Anticommons

Many demands are currently made on the United States’ limited water resources, including use for irrigation, recreation, hydropower, municipal use, and instream maintenance. This large set of demands poses a problem because supply is essentially stagnant. Looking forward, this situation of water resource scarcity is only projected to worsen as climate change effects and continued population growth are added to the mix. Given this acute state of affairs, I conduct an assessment of river-basin water regulation in the United States in the hopes of shedding light on whether the current approach is adequate to changing circumstances, or if reform is needed. Using small scale hydropower permitting as the context, this paper argues that reform is essential because river-basin water regulation in the United States today is subject to a decentralized and inefficient management style termed a “regulatory anticommons.” Solutions to the anticommons problem are suggested, including structural, organizational, and legislative-based regulatory reform.

30 Years of technical and organisational development in the UK water sector: Thames Water's experiences of moving from public to private sector

This paper highlights for an international audience, the major technical, socio-economic and political changes which the UK water industry has faced over the period 1974-2006. The author also provides a personal experience of the technical and environmental challenges met by Thames Water in this period. The formation of publicly owned Water Authorities to implement integrated river basin water management is discussed. Government drivers for privatisation and the formation of water industry regulators are reviewed. Privatisation has had impacts on improved water quality and customer service, higher capital investment and changes to pricing mechanisms. A wide range of public and private ownership and service delivery models are now used in the UK water industry.

Assessing Water Availability under a Water Rights Priority System

The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, its partner agencies, and contractors are conducting a statewide Water Availability Modeling (WAM) Project pursuant to Senate Bill 1 enacted by the Texas Legislature in 1997. The Water Rights Analysis Package (WRAP) is the river basin water management simulation model used in the WAM Project. WRAP provides flexible capabilities for analyzing water availability and reliability under a priority-based water allocation system. The water management and use requirements modeled may be quite complex, involving numerous water users governed by various institutional arrangements and configurations of water control facilities. WRAP may be applied to essentially any river basin whether in Texas or elsewhere. This paper describes both the generalized WRAP model and the Texas WAM Project.

Sustainability analysis for irrigation water management : concepts, methodology, and application to the Aral sea region

Sustainable irrigation water management should simultaneously achieve two objectives: sustaining irrigated agriculture for food security and preserving the associated natural environment. A stable relationship should be maintained between these two objectives now and in the future, while potential conflicts between these objectives should be mitigated through appropriate irrigation practices. Lessons learned from unsustainable water management practices around the world demonstrate the necessity—and growing urgency—of applying sustainability principles to water management in river basins where irrigation is a major factor. This paper presents the operational concepts and analytical framework for sustainability analysis of irrigation water management in irrigation-dominated river basins. These are applied to the Aral Sea region in Central Asia, a region famous for its conflict between sustaining irrigated agriculture and preserving the environment. Maintaining current irrigation practices will lead to worsening environmental and economic consequences. Infrastructure improvements and changes in crop patterns will be necessary to sustain the irrigated agriculture and the associated environment in the region. A penalty tax on salt discharge, as an economic incentive, may help address environmental problems while having only a small effect on irrigation profit.

Reflections on the 50-year international search for integrated water management

In the roughly 70 yr since the concept of integrated water management in river basins replaced primarily single-purpose management, there has been increasing question by international science and policy agencies as to the full consequences of such strategies for both social and environmental systems and for fulfillment of the notions underlying sustainable development. The experience suggests there is continuing urgent need for expanding the range of management measures considered as part of the planning process; for deepening the quality of criteria to judge each measure for reconciling the various evaluation principles; and for making incisive, correct post-audits of what actually resulted from their applications. It also reminds us that realization of the full potential of truly integrated water management may be very long in coming. Problems of improved analysis and of necessary institutional reform are formidable.

Evaluation of factors affecting reservoir yield estimates

Estimates of yield versus reliability relationships and firm yields are dependent upon approaches adopted for handling the complexities of modeling a river basin water management system. Factors affecting estimates of reservoir yield are evaluated here within the general categories of basin hydrology, basinwide water management, and reservoir system simulation. Key aspects of reservoir yield analysis are identified and discussed from the perspective of an illustrative case study.

Mixing zone studies in the Grand River Basin

A steady state mathematical model based on the "stream tube" concept was utilized to evaluate the impact of various viable management options on the mixing zone boundaries for nonionized ammonia and total residual chlorine at the Grand River below Waterloo, Kitchener, and Galt, and the Speed River below Guelph. The options evaluated as part of the Grand River Basin Water Management Study include various river flows and effluent flows projected for the planning period 1981–2031. The predictions indicate that a zone of passage equal to 60% of river flow is attainable for chlorine in all cases except in the Speed River below Guelph beyond the year 2001, and in-plant nitrification is required at Waterloo and Kitchener under the present conditions in order to comply with the objective for nonionized ammonia. At Guelph, with in-plant nitrification, the model predicts that the ammonia objective will not be met for existing and future summer conditions and for winter conditions beyond the year 2001. For Galt, the ammonia objective is met with conventional secondary treatment under all options. The maximum longitudinal boundary of limited use zone for various options is also summarized. Key words: ammonia, chlorine, limited use zone, management options, mixing zone, modelling, rivers, zone of passage.