Assessing the Establishment and Implementation of Environmental Flows in Spain

Mezger, Gabriel; Stefano, Lucía De; Tánago, Marta González del

doi:10.1007/s00267-019-01222-2

Cited by 26 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…In this case, the magnitude and timing of water releases to the river require a careful evaluation in order to optimize the ecological and anthropogenic benefits (Krajenbrink et al, 2019; McManamay, Brewer, et al, 2016; Wu et al, 2020). The implementation of protective measures is often underdeveloped compared to the advances in the field of environmentally sustainable flows (e‐flows) (Grantham et al, 2014; Mezger et al, 2019; Opperman et al, 2019; Ramos et al, 2018; Renöfält et al, 2010). For instance, the release of minimum flows (MFs) is yet one main measure globally adopted to mitigate the hydrological alterations of regulated rivers subjected to water withdrawal (Ma et al, 2019; Mezger et al, 2019; Opperman et al, 2019; Ramos et al, 2018; Wu et al, 2020), including Alpine streams, but concerns arise about its effectiveness (Quadroni et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The implementation of protective measures is often underdeveloped compared to the advances in the field of environmentally sustainable flows (e‐flows) (Grantham et al, 2014; Mezger et al, 2019; Opperman et al, 2019; Ramos et al, 2018; Renöfält et al, 2010). For instance, the release of minimum flows (MFs) is yet one main measure globally adopted to mitigate the hydrological alterations of regulated rivers subjected to water withdrawal (Ma et al, 2019; Mezger et al, 2019; Opperman et al, 2019; Ramos et al, 2018; Wu et al, 2020), including Alpine streams, but concerns arise about its effectiveness (Quadroni et al, 2017). In fact, river protection by e‐flows requires the restoration of a range of flows, not only some static flow conditions as provided by standard MF approach (Poff, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Response of benthic macroinvertebrates to different hydropower off‐stream diversion schemes

Quadroni

Salmaso

Gentili³

et al. 2020

Ecohydrology

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Despite significant advancement in environmental flow science, the release of minimum flows (MFs) still represents one of the main measures globally adopted to mitigate off‐stream diversion in regulated rivers. In the Lake Como basin (Italy), we monitored water‐depleted reaches below hydropower reservoirs and intakes and reaches unimpacted by water withdrawal. Our aim was to verify if the gradient in streamflow alterations resulted in detectable differences in the structure and functions of benthic assemblages, possibly identifying streamflow metrics explaining the observed differences. The macroinvertebrate assemblages sampled below reservoirs showed significant differences from those from unimpacted reaches, including the reduced relative richness of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera (mainly stoneflies) and the higher abundance and richness of dipterans. These differences were well explained by the corresponding streamflow pattern, characterized by a rather constant flow throughout the year, occasionally interrupted by sharp peaks related to spilling episodes. In contrast, the shift from unimpacted conditions was minor for benthic assemblages collected at reaches below intakes, where the seasonal streamflow variation was partly preserved. Our results suggest that an increase of the e‐flow released by hydropower dams during the seasons characterized by larger run‐offs could support improved benthic assemblages. Dewatered river sections below reservoirs could thus be prioritized for updating the current MF management, in the study area as well as in comparable contexts. At least to our knowledge, specific investigations are so far unavailable regarding the exploration of the different responses of benthic macroinvertebrates to intakes and reservoirs operations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Response of benthic macroinvertebrates to different hydropower off‐stream diversion schemes

Quadroni

Salmaso

Gentili³

et al. 2020

Ecohydrology

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“…While the tradeoffs between water using sectors and environmental ows in water-scarce river basins have been assessed in terms of the productive e ciency of water in general, including in the Ebro River Basin (Crespo et al 2019), full appreciation of these tradeoffs would only come from also including the productive e ciency of environmental water (Horne et al, 2018). Setting up monitoring programs for environmental ow releases that largely exist in Mexico with RedMORA (Salinas-Rodríguez et al, 2021) but are currently still under development in Spain (Mezger et al, 2019) could enable active adaptive management protocols designed to incrementally average ecological models and responses (Williams, 2010) and be assisted by already codi ed bene t-sharing approaches (e.g., IUCN, 2021) in terms of facilitating the sciencemanagement partnership. Another key interconnected process for scientists, wetland managers and water operators alike is the development of Ramsar Site management plans.…”

Section: Recommendations For Replicating Experiences With Science-management Partnershipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Securing the Environmental Water Requirements of Seasonally Ponding Wetlands: Partnering Science and Management Through Benefit Sharing

Barchiesi

Camacho

Hernández³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Although environmental flow regime assessments are becoming increasingly holistic, they rarely provoke water managers to enact the adaptive water reallocation mechanisms required to secure environmental water for wetlands. The conditions that cause science-based environmental flow assessments to succeed or fail in informing the management of environmental water requirements remain unclear. To begin to resolve these conditions, we used process tracing to deconstruct the sequence of activities required to manage environmental water in four case studies of seasonally ponding wetlands in Mediterranean and Mesoamerican watersheds. We hypothesized that, when the flexibility and equitability of the socioeconomic system do not match the complexity of the biophysical system, this leads to a failure of managers to integrate scientific guidance in their allocation of environmental water. Diagnostic evidence gathered indicates that science-management partnerships are essential to align institutional flexibility and socioeconomic equitability with the system’s ecohydrological complexity, and thus move from determination to reallocation of environmental water. These results confirm that institutions e.g., river basin organizations need to be supplemented by motivated actors with experience and skill to negotiate allocation and adaptive management of environmental water. These institutional-actor synergies are likely to be especially important in water scarce regions when the need to accommodate extreme hydrological conditions is not met by national governance capacity. We conclude by focusing on benefit sharing as a means to better describe the conditions for successful science-based environmental flow assessments that realize productive efficiency in environmental water allocation i.e., recognition of multiple values for both people and ecosystems.

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“…Environmental flow strategies generally set out objectives based on the assumption of climate stationarity which provides an estimate of the frequency with which different environmental flow components can be achieved (Horne et al, 2019). Environmental flows have been implemented around the world under varying degrees of sophistication in locations such as Africa (Brown and King, 2012), Canada (El-Jabi and Caissie, 2019), Europe (Mezger et al, 2019) and Asia (Chen and Wu, 2019). In many cases these regions are projected to experience wetter conditions under climate change (IPCC, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Robust Climate Change Adaptation for Environmental Flows in the Goulburn River, Australia

John

Horne

Nathan

et al. 2021

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Climate change presents severe risks for the implementation and success of environmental flows worldwide. Current environmental flow assessments tend to assume climate stationarity, so there is an urgent need for robust environmental flow programs that allow adaptation to changing flow regimes due to climate change. Designing and implementing robust environmental flow programs means ensuring environmental objectives are achieved under a range of uncertain, but plausible climate futures. We apply stress testing concepts previously adopted in water supply management to environmental flows at a catchment scale. We do this by exploring vulnerabilities in different river management metrics for current environmental flow arrangements in the Goulburn River, Australia, under non-stationary climatic conditions. Given the limitations of current environmental flows in supporting ecological outcomes under climate change, we tested three different adaptation options individually and in combination. Stress testing adaptation results showed that increasing environmental entitlements yielded the largest benefits in drier climate futures, whereas relaxing river capacity constraints (allowing more targeted delivery of environmental water) offered more benefits for current and wetter climates. Combining both these options led to greater than additive improvements in allocation reliability and reductions in environmental water shortfalls, and these improvements were achieved across a wider range of climatic conditions than possible with either of the individual options. However, adaptation may present additional risks to some ecological outcomes for wetter climates. Ultimately, there was a degree of plausible climate change beyond which none of the adaptation options considered were effective at improving ecological outcomes. This study demonstrates an important step for environmental flow assessments: evaluating the feasibility of environmental outcomes under climate change, and the intervention options that prove most robust under an uncertain future.

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Assessing the Establishment and Implementation of Environmental Flows in Spain

Cited by 26 publications

References 42 publications

Response of benthic macroinvertebrates to different hydropower off‐stream diversion schemes

Response of benthic macroinvertebrates to different hydropower off‐stream diversion schemes

Securing the Environmental Water Requirements of Seasonally Ponding Wetlands: Partnering Science and Management Through Benefit Sharing

Robust Climate Change Adaptation for Environmental Flows in the Goulburn River, Australia

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