Assessment of Siltation Processes of the Koronowski Reservoir in the Northern Polish Lowland Based on Bathymetry and Empirical Formulas

Abstract

Artificial reservoirs have an important role in water management of river systems in terms of flood control, water supply and sediment budgeting. Therefore, it is important to maximize the time of their effective functioning. Sediment budgeting mainly depends on sediment transport dynamics. This article illustrates the impact of the Koronowski Reservoir on suspended sediments transported by the Brda River. The river system and the reservoir represent a typical lowland river environment. Our research is based on hydrological and sedimentological investigations on the reservoir and the river system. Field measurements were used to create the respective hydrological and sediment budgets. Moreover, we carried out bathymetric measurements to generate present day bathymetry and to calculate the reservoir’s capacity. We assessed the silting of the reservoir following the approaches proposed by Goncarov and Stonawski. We show that the size and dynamics of suspended sediments are mainly determined by the hydrological conditions. Moreover, we illustrate that the suspended sediment measurements made with the filtration method correlate with the nephelometric results. Generally, we show that the Koronowski Reservoir is mainly filled up by suspended sediments. We further illustrate that the level of siltation estimated with the empirical formulas deviates significantly from calculations made by bathymetric measurements.

Influence of Hydrologic Alteration on Sediment, Dissolved Load and Nutrient Downstream Transfer Continuity in a River: Example Lower Brda River Cascade Dams (Poland)

“…The equal river regime of the catchment area above the LBC is influenced by the river's functioning in its river-lake system. The Brda flows through 16. lakes with a capacity from 0.7 million m 3 to 134.5 million m 3 (the largest is Lake Charzykowskie) [25]. The Brda valley's geomorphological evolution is related to the accumulation of outwash sands in the younger phases of the Pomeranian stage of the last glaciation [60,61].…”

“…The aggradational or degradational state of a river system influences channel morphology and substrate textures of the bottom channel below dams [22]. Research on the dynamics of sediments transport includes that by Van Rijn [23], Kondolf [24] and Vörösmarty et al [4], also taking into account research in our study area, the Brda River catchment [25]. Dams reduce the natural connectivity of the fluvial system [26], and the natural regime of rivers is changed [27].…”

Surface Water Quality Analysis Using CORINE Data: An Application to Assess Reservoirs in Poland

“…Additionally, the functioning of reservoirs significantly modifies flows of energy and matter into the World Oceans due to a significantly reduced transport of all kinds of load in the river sections downstream of the dam. Less transport downstream of the dam is directly connected with reservoir accumulation [4,[16][17][18][19][20]. Most of the bed load remains in the reservoir whereas suspended load and wash load is only partly retained.…”

An investigative study on the volume of sediment accumulation in Tagwai dam reservoir using bathymetric and geostatistical analysis techniques

“…Reservoir bathymetry are often required for the following reasons among others [2,3,10,21,24,32,34,40]: (1) to optimize stage/volume curves for routine reservoir survey expedition, (2) to determine the amount of sediment load and yield contributed by the upstream hydrological basin, (3) to help engineers have handy information about what to do if another reservoir is to be design in the same region, (4) to predict sediment spatial distribution pattern within the reservoir in question especially those around useful hydraulic features like the intakes, and (5) to examine the best methods of sediment prevention and/or sediment removal to be adopted.…”

“…All rivers carry sediments, due to surface erosion from watersheds or bank erosion along the river course [6]. Understanding the dynamic equilibrium between sediment supply from upstream and a river's sediment capability is paramount to the success of river engineering design, operation, and maintenance [10,12,16,18,24,38,40].…”