Optimal Location of Created and Restored Wetlands in Mediterranean Agricultural Catchments

Abstract

Simple tools and accessible information are needed by environmental planners to select sites for the restoration or creation of wetlands. A flexible suitability model for allocating wetlands is demonstrated in small (20-2,000 ha) agricultural catchments in the semiarid Ebro basin (NE Spain). The model used improved existing data layers (soil and geomorphology), simple geographical transformations (slope and distance to frequently flowing streams) and other created data layers (land use). Detailed scales of data layers (∼1:5,000 and <30 m cell-size) are needed to work with small catchments. A deep knowledge of the study area is a requirement for reducing the subjectivity associated with experts' decision. The studied cases proved that 31% of catchment areas were suitable to create wetlands, and another 12% were very suitable. In 11 out of 12 studied catchments 100% of their existing wetlands fell into the area selected by the model as suitable. Most of the suitable area was situated in the lower parts of the catchments examined in the study. There is enough very suitable area in all catchments to fulfil the functional requirements of the wetlands to improve water quality. The model is a simple and useful tool for environmental planning in areas degraded by irrigated agricultural use.

Multi-Criteria Evaluation and Sensitivity Analysis for the Optimal Location of Constructed Wetlands (METland) at Oceanic and Mediterranean Areas

“…In this sense, some generic analysis had been conducted for WWT [ 41 ] and nature-based solutions [ 42 ], thus a specific analysis should be address for each technology and situation, taking into account the stakeholders interests. Additionally, some authors have previously analyzed different variables for specific technologies such as stabilization ponds [ 44 ] or restored wetlands [ 49 , 87 ].…”

“…MCE and GIS have been previously implemented in the water sector, mainly focus on rainwater collection [ 38 ], sewage treatment plants [ 39 ], decentralized WWTs [ 40 ], nature-based solutions for treating WW [ 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ] and wetland creation or restoration [ 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 ]. To the best of our knowledge, no studies related to the CW for treating WW are available based on the methodology proposed.…”

The Use of Constructed Wetland for Mitigating Nitrogen and Phosphorus from Agricultural Runoff: A Review

“…Furthermore, GIS combined with remote sensing (RS) has been used to map the isolated wetlands in a karst landscape [129]. Moreover, GIS has been used for site evaluation of constructed wetlands and restored wetlands in the agricultural catchment [130].…”

Development of a constructed wetland network for mitigating nonpoint source pollution through a GIS-based watershed-scale inexact optimization approach

“…Previously, a number of Geographic Information System (GIS)-based methods were developed for identifying the site and size of wetlands at the watershed-scale (Babbar-Sebens et al, 2013;Moreno-Mateos et al, 2010;Palmeri and Trepel, 2002;Van Lonkhuyzen et al, 2004;Zhang and Song, 2014). For example, White and Fennessy (2005) developed a GIS-based ranking model to identify and prioritize potentially sustainable wetland restoration sites, with evaluation indicators including land-use, soil and topographic.…”