Impact of reservoir operation on sediment deposition

Petkovšek, Gregor; Roca, Marta

doi:10.1680/wama.13.00028

Cited by 24 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Estimation of the suspended sediment loads (SSLs) is important in the design and operation of water structures and in the planning of sediment management (yield reduction, routing and removal) to preserve their live storage capacities [1][2][3][4][5]. The temporal variations and changes in SSLs are also an important indicator of the effectiveness of existing watershed management practices or tectonic and land-sliding activities in the catchment area.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variability and Trend Detection in the Sediment Load of the Upper Indus River

Ateeq-Ur-Rehman

Bui

Rutschmann

2017

Water

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Water reservoirs planned or constructed to meet the burgeoning energy and irrigation demands in Pakistan face a significant loss of storage capacity due to heavy sediment load from the upper Indus basin (UIB). Given their importance and the huge investment, assessments of current UIB sediment load and possible future changes are crucial for informed decisions on planning of optimal dams' operation and ensuring their prolonged lifespan. In this regard, the daily suspended sediment loads (SSLs) and their changes are analyzed for the meltwater-dominated zone up to the Partab Bridge and the whole UIB up to Besham Qila, which is additionally influenced by monsoonal rainfall. The gaps between intermittent suspended sediment concentration (SSC) samples are filled by wavelet neural networks (WA-ANNs) using discharges for each site. The temporal dynamics of SSLs and discharges are analyzed using a suite of three non-parametric trend tests while the slope is identified using Sen's slope estimator. We found disproportional spatio-temporal trends between SSLs and discharges caused primarily by intra-annual shifts in flows, which can lead to increased trap efficiency in planned reservoirs, especially upstream of Besham Qila. Moreover, a discernible increase in SSLs recorded at Partab Bridge during summer is being deposited downstream in the river channel. This is due to a decrease in river transport capacity in the monsoonal zone. These findings will not only help to identify these morphological problems, but also accurately anticipate the spatio-temporal changes in the sediment budget of the upper Indus River. Our results will help improve reservoir operational rules and sediment management strategies for existing and 30,000-MW planned dams in the UIB.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variability and Trend Detection in the Sediment Load of the Upper Indus River

Ateeq-Ur-Rehman

Bui

Rutschmann

2017

Water

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“…Celeste and Ventura (2017) compare two parameterisationsimulation-optimisation models (PSO) to an explicitly stochastic optimisation model (SDP) for a reservoir in north-eastern Brazil. An interesting finding is that one of the PSO models performs better than the SDP and therefore proves particularly appealing for reservoir operators due to its greater simplicity compared to the more common SDP.Worldwide, sedimentation threatens the sustainability of reservoir operation and of the services reservoirs provide, including water supply, hydropower and flood control (Petkovsek and Roca, 2014). Turbidity currents are one major mechanism of reservoir sedimentation.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Worldwide, sedimentation threatens the sustainability of reservoir operation and of the services reservoirs provide, including water supply, hydropower and flood control (Petkovsek and Roca, 2014). Turbidity currents are one major mechanism of reservoir sedimentation.…”

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confidence: 99%

Editorial

Dewals

2017

Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Water Manag

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Achieving sustainable clean water for all and managing urban flood risk are two grand challenges for our societies. Both of them are strongly linked to climate change, urbanisation and ageing of infrastructures. Addressing them requires new paradigms to be developed through novel multi-and interdisciplinary approaches involving engineering and other disciplines, such as governance. The interplay between these two grand challenges is remarkably demonstrated by the first two contributions in this issue. In a briefing article, Caffoor et al. (2017) report on an on-going initiative aimed at delivering disruptive socio-technical solutions for water service provision; whereas the paper of Mugume et al. (2017) investigates the influence of rainwater harvesting on the resilience of urban drainage systems to flooding. Caffoor et al. (2017) reflect on the sustainability of current water supply systems, which rely heavily on centralised, ageing and rapidly deteriorating buried infrastructure. While innovative sensing techniques using autonomous vehicles could be game-changing to achieve cost-effective asset rehabilitation, alternate options include the development of water treatment at the point of use and the use of distributed sources from green infrastructure such as sustainable urban drainage. Particularly, rainwater harvesting has the potential to deliver multiple benefits in terms of water supply, water quality compliance and storm water control, as also exposed by Mugume et al. (2017).Caffoor et al. (2017) go one step further by highlighting the natural linkage between water and energy infrastructure, viewing the former as an opportunity for distributed energy storage, heat transfer and recovery, as well as distributed generation of renewable energy. These issues relate closely to an overarching objective of sustainable cities, which consists of moving from an open system depending on the hinterland (e.g. for providing water and energy) towards a more circular model (EEA, 2015). As engineering cannot solve these challenges alone, socio-technical solutions are necessary to reach truly adaptable and resilient water systems.The concept of resilience plays a key part in the analysis detailed by Mugume et al. (2017). Resilience-based approaches assess the continuity and efficiency of system functioning during or after the occurrence of a system failure. Mugume et al. (2017) apply the so-called global resilience analysis method to evaluate the performance of the wide-scale implementation of dual-purpose rainwater harvesting for a case study in Kampala, Uganda. A broad range of failure scenarios is tested, involving random cumulative failures in the links in the urban drainage network. For each scenario, the residual functionality of the system is quantified. In the considered case study, the catchment-scale implementation of multifunctional systems proves more effective than conventional single-objective approaches for reducing impacts of urban flooding. The most promising results are obtained for strategies combining rai...

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“…This degrades storage capacity, blocks outlets, erodes turbines, and can even threaten dam safety. The next paper (Petkovsek and Roca (2014)) presents a very readable account of a numerical study of the influence of different reservoir operation strategies on fine and coarse sediment delta formation and movement, based on the Tarbela reservoir (a huge reservoir on the Indus in Pakistan). The aim is to help reservoir managers visualise what is happening with different operating strategies, and the effects on sometimes conflicting aims of maximising output and controlling sedimentation.…”

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confidence: 99%

Editorial

Hamilton¹

2014

Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Water Manag

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Impact of reservoir operation on sediment deposition

Cited by 24 publications

References 7 publications

Variability and Trend Detection in the Sediment Load of the Upper Indus River

Variability and Trend Detection in the Sediment Load of the Upper Indus River

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