High‐resolution mapping of the world's reservoirs and dams for sustainable river‐flow management

Lehner, Bernhard; Liermann, Catherine Reidy; Revenga, Carmen; Vörösmarty, Charles J; Fekete, B M; Crouzet, Philippe; Döll, Petra; Endejan, Marcel; Frenken, K.; Magome, Jun; Nilsson, Christer; Robertson, James; Rödel, Raimund; Sindorf, Nikolai; Wisser, Dominik

doi:10.1890/100125

Cited by 1,833 publications

(1,573 citation statements)

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“…Additionally, infrastructure may be present to regulate flow for flood control, water supply, irrigation, recreation, navigation, and hydropower (WCD, 2000), causing managed and natural flow regimes to differ drastically. This becomes important, as globally more than 33 000 records of large dams and reservoirs are listed (ICOLD, 2009), with geo-referencing available for 6862 of them (Lehner et al, 2011). Nearly 50 % of large rivers with average streamflow in excess of 1000 m 3 s −1 are significantly modulated by dams (Lehner et al, 2011), often significantly attenuating flow hydrographs and flood volumes (20 % of GRDC stations fall into this category).…”

Section: Methodsology For Defining Sub-basin-scale High-flow Seasonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This becomes important, as globally more than 33 000 records of large dams and reservoirs are listed (ICOLD, 2009), with geo-referencing available for 6862 of them (Lehner et al, 2011). Nearly 50 % of large rivers with average streamflow in excess of 1000 m 3 s −1 are significantly modulated by dams (Lehner et al, 2011), often significantly attenuating flow hydrographs and flood volumes (20 % of GRDC stations fall into this category). The PAMF, as previously defined, can aid in identifying stations affected by upstream reservoirs through low PAMF values.…”

Section: Methodsology For Defining Sub-basin-scale High-flow Seasonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Defining high-flow seasons using temporal streamflow patterns from a global model

Lee

Ward

Block

2015

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Globally, flood catastrophes lead all natural hazards in terms of impacts on society, causing billions of dollars of damages annually. Here, a novel approach to defining high-flow seasons (3-month) globally is presented by identifying temporal patterns of streamflow. The main high-flow season is identified using a volume-based threshold technique and the PCR-GLOBWB model. In comparison with observations, 40 % (50 %) of locations at a station (subbasin) scale have identical peak months and 81 % (89 %) are within 1 month, indicating fair agreement between modeled and observed high-flow seasons. Minor high-flow seasons are also defined for bi-modal flow regimes. Identified major and minor high-flow seasons together are found to well represent actual flood records from the Dartmouth Flood Observatory, further substantiating the model's ability to reproduce the appropriate high-flow season. These high-spatial-resolution high-flow seasons and associated performance metrics allow for an improved understanding of temporal characterization of streamflow and flood potential, causation, and management. This is especially attractive for regions with limited observations and/or little capacity to develop early warning flood systems.

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Section: Methodsology For Defining Sub-basin-scale High-flow Seasonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsology For Defining Sub-basin-scale High-flow Seasonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Defining high-flow seasons using temporal streamflow patterns from a global model

Lee

Ward

Block

2015

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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“…For example, some previously published maps focus on precipitation and the atmospheric water cycle (Kubota et al 2007), river networks (Yamazaki et al 2009), dams and reservoirs (Lehner et al 2011) or other relevant aspects. A map of BGroundwater Resources of the World ( Richts et al 2011;WHYMAP 2008) has been prepared within the framework of the World-wide Hydrogeological Mapping and Assessment Programme (WHYMAP) coordinated by UNESCO-IHP (BGR 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The World Karst Aquifer Mapping project: concept, mapping procedure and map of Europe

et al. 2017

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Karst aquifers contribute substantially to freshwater supplies in many regions of the world, but are vulnerable to contamination and difficult to manage because of their unique hydrogeological characteristics. Many karst systems are hydraulically connected over wide areas and require transboundary exploration, protection and management. In order to obtain a better global overview of karst aquifers, to create a basis for sustainable international water-resources management, and to increase the awareness in the public and among decision makers, the World Karst Aquifer Mapping (WOKAM) project was established. The goal is to create a world map and database of karst aquifers, as a further development of earlier maps. This paper presents the basic concepts and the detailed mapping procedure, using France as an example to illustrate the step-by-step workflow, which includes generalization, differentiation of continuous and discontinuous carbonate and evaporite rock areas, and the identification of non-exposed karst aquifers. The map also shows selected caves and karst springs, which are collected in an associated global database. The draft karst aquifer map of Europe shows that 21.6% of the European land surface is characterized by the presence of (continuous or discontinuous) carbonate rocks; about 13.8% of the land surface is carbonate rock outcrop.

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“…Post-fire inputs of chemical constituents derived from ash and the underlying soil can lead to long-term effects on water-storage reservoirs [62]. It has been estimated that there are 16.7 million reservoirs globally [63]. Only one study has attempted to identify reservoirs in the western USA that are at risk from post-fire sedimentation [64], pointing to a data gap in our assessment of long-term effects of fire on water supplies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

At the nexus of fire, water and society

Martin¹

2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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The societal risks of water scarcity and water-quality impairment have received considerable attention, evidenced by recent analyses of these topics by the 2030 Water Resources Group, the United Nations and the World Economic Forum. What are the effects of fire on the predicted water scarcity and declines in water quality? Drinking water supplies for humans, the emphasis of this exploration, are derived from several land cover types, including forests, grasslands and peatlands, which are vulnerable to fire. In the last two decades, fires have affected the water supply catchments of Denver (CO) and other southwestern US cities, and four major Australian cities including Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide and Melbourne. In the same time period, several, though not all, national, regional and global water assessments have included fire in evaluations of the risks that affect water supplies. The objective of this discussion is to explore the nexus of fire, water and society with the hope that a more explicit understanding of fire effects on water supplies will encourage the incorporation of fire into future assessments of water supplies, into the pyrogeography conceptual framework and into planning efforts directed at water resiliency. This article is part of the themed issue ‘The interaction of fire and mankind’.

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High‐resolution mapping of the world's reservoirs and dams for sustainable river‐flow management

Abstract: Humans have built dams and impoundments for thousands of years for various purposes, including flood control, water supply, irrigation, recreation, navigation, and the generation of hydropower (WCD 2000). Yet the number and storage volumes of dams and reservoirs have in-

Cited by 1,833 publications

References 40 publications

Defining high-flow seasons using temporal streamflow patterns from a global model

Defining high-flow seasons using temporal streamflow patterns from a global model

The World Karst Aquifer Mapping project: concept, mapping procedure and map of Europe

At the nexus of fire, water and society

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