Integration of ecosystem services into catchment management: monitoring and modelling to provide solutions

The India-UK Water Centre (IUKWC) promotes cooperation and collaboration between the complementary priorities of NERC-MoES water security research. This State of Science Brief was produced as an output from an India–UK Water Centre supported Researcher Exchange on Ecosystem Services Assessment and its Implementation in UK hosted at Cranfield University, UK in May-June 201

Ecosystem Services Assessment and its Implementation in UK

The India-UK Water Centre (IUKWC) promotes cooperation and collaboration between the complementary priorities of NERC-MoES water security research. This report represents an overview of the activities and conclusions of a Junior Researcher Exchange undertaken at Cranfield University between 15th May and 2nd June 2017, and convened by Sumit Sen (Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India) and Andrea Momblanch (Cranfield University, UK). It outlines the aims of the exchange, describes the programme and the activities developed to meet the objectives, and details the outputs generated, as well as the ongoing and future collaboration. Finally, it assesses the support received from the IUKWC through the Researcher Exchange Scheme. The present report is intended for India-UK Water Centre members and water security stakeholders

Integrating water management, habitat modelling and water quality at basin scale environmental flow assessment - Tormes River (Spain)

"This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Hydrological Sciences Journal on 2014, available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2013.821573"Multidisciplinary models are useful for integrating different disciplines when addressing water planning and management problems. We combine water resources management, water quality and habitat analysis tools that were developed with the Decision Support System AQUATOOL at a basin scale. The water management model solves the allocation problem through network flow optimisation and considers the environmental flows in some river stretches. Once volumes and flows are estimated, the water quality model is applied. Furthermore, the flows are evaluated from an ecological perspective by using time series of aquatic species habitat indicators. This approach was applied in the Tormes River Water System, where agricultural demands jeopardise the environmental needs of the river ecosystem. Additionally, water quality problems in the lower part of the river result from wastewater loading and agricultural pollution. Our methodological framework can be used to define water management rules that maintain water supply, aquatic ecosystem and water quality legal standards. The integration of ecological and water management criteria in a software platform with objective criteria and heuristic optimisation procedures allows for the realistic assessment and application of environmental flows. Here, we improve the general methodological framework by assessing the hydrological alteration of selected environmental flow regime scenarios.This study was partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the SCARCE project [Consolider-Ingenio 2010 CSD2009-00065].Paredes Arquiola, J.; Solera Solera, A.; Martinez-Capel, F.; Momblanch Benavent, A.; Andreu Álvarez, J. (2014). Integrating water management, habitat modelling and water quality at basin scale environmental flow assessment - Tormes River (Spain). Hydrological Sciences Journal. 59(3-4):878-889. https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2013.821573S878889593-4Acreman, M. (2005). Linking science and decision-making: features and experience from environmental river flow setting. Environmental Modelling & Software, 20(2), 99-109. doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2003.08.019Andreu, J., Capilla, J., & Sanchís, E. (1996). AQUATOOL, a generalized decision-support system for water-resources planning and operational management. Journal of Hydrology, 177(3-4), 269-291. doi:10.1016/0022-1694(95)02963-xBelmar, O., Velasco, J., & Martinez-Capel, F. (2011). Hydrological Classification of Natural Flow Regimes to Support Environmental Flow Assessments in Intensively Regulated Mediterranean Rivers, Segura River Basin (Spain). Environmental Management, 47(5), 992-1004. doi:10.1007/s00267-011-9661-0Bovee, K.D., 1982.A guide to stream habitat analysis using the Instream Flow Incremental Methodology.Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service Instream Flow Information Paper #12.Garcia De Jalon, D. and Lurueña, J., 2000. Estudio para la determinación de caudales mínimos en varios tramos de la cuenca del Tormes y del Alberche (provincia de Ávila). Technical Report of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid for Junta de Castilla y León. (In Spanish)Liu, Y., Gupta, H., Springer, E., & Wagener, T. (2008). Linking science with environmental decision making: Experiences from an integrated modeling approach to supporting sustainable water resources management. Environmental Modelling & Software, 23(7), 846-858. doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2007.10.007Martinez-Capel, F.et al. 2006. Validació biològica del règim de cabals de manteniment definits al pla sectorial de les conques internes de Catalunya en 10 trams fluvials. Technical report of the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia for the Agència Catalana de l’Aigua (Generalitat de Catalunya). (In Spanish)Olaya-Marín, E. J., Martínez-Capel, F., Soares Costa, R. M., & Alcaraz-Hernández, J. D. (2012). Modelling native fish richness to evaluate the effects of hydromorphological changes and river restoration (Júcar River Basin, Spain). Science of The Total Environment, 440, 95-105. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.07.093Olden, J. D., & Poff, N. L. (2003). Redundancy and the choice of hydrologic indices for characterizing streamflow regimes. River Research and Applications, 19(2), 101-121. doi:10.1002/rra.700Bain, M. B., & Meixler, M. S. (2008). A target fish community to guide river restoration. River Research and Applications, 24(4), 453-458. doi:10.1002/rra.1065Paredes, J., Andreu, J., & Solera, A. (2010). A decision support system for water quality issues in the Manzanares River (Madrid, Spain). Science of The Total Environment, 408(12), 2576-2589. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2010.02.037Paredes-Arquiola, J., Andreu-Álvarez, J., Martín-Monerris, M., & Solera, A. (2010). Water Quantity and Quality Models Applied to the Jucar River Basin, Spain. Water Resources Management, 24(11), 2759-2779. doi:10.1007/s11269-010-9578-zParedes-Arquiola, J.et al. 2011. Implementing environmental flows in complex water resources systems – case study: the Duero river basin, Spain.River Research and Applications, 29, 451–468. doi:10.1002/rra.1617Poff, N. L., Allan, J. D., Bain, M. B., Karr, J. R., Prestegaard, K. L., Richter, B. D., … Stromberg, J. C. (1997). The Natural Flow Regime. BioScience, 47(11), 769-784. doi:10.2307/1313099POFF, N. L., RICHTER, B. D., ARTHINGTON, A. H., BUNN, S. E., NAIMAN, R. J., KENDY, E., … WARNER, A. (2010). The ecological limits of hydrologic alteration (ELOHA): a new framework for developing regional environmental flow standards. Freshwater Biology, 55(1), 147-170. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2427.2009.02204.xSolomon, S.et al. 2007.Climate change 2007: The physical science basis.Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press

The riverine bioreactor: an integrative perspective on biological decomposition of organic matter across riverine habitats

Riverine ecosystems can be conceptualized as ‘bioreactors’ (the riverine bioreactor) which retain and decompose a wide range of organic substrates. The metabolic performance of the riverine bioreactor is linked to their community structure, the efficiency of energy transfer along food chains, and complex interactions among biotic and abiotic environmental factors. However, our understanding of the mechanistic functioning and capacity of the riverine bioreactor remains limited. We review the state of knowledge and outline major gaps in the understanding of biotic drivers of organic matter decomposition processes that occur in riverine ecosystems, across habitats, temporal dimensions, and latitudes influenced by climate change. We propose a novel, integrative analytical perspective to assess and predict decomposition processes in riverine ecosystems. We then use this model to analyse data to demonstrate that the size-spectra of a community can be used to predict decomposition rates by analysing an illustrative dataset. This modelling methodology allows comparison of the riverine bioreactor's performance across habitats and at a global scale. Our integrative analytical approach can be applied to advance understanding of the functioning and efficiency of the riverine bioreactor as hotspots of metabolic activity. Application of insights gained from such analyses could inform the development of strategies that promote the functioning of the riverine bioreactor across global ecosystems

Knowledge priorities on climate change and water in the Upper Indus Basin: a horizon scanning exercise to identify the top 100 research questions in social and natural sciences

River systems originating from the Upper Indus Basin (UIB) are dominated by runoff from snow and glacier melt and summer monsoonal rainfall. These water resources are highly stressed as huge populations of people living in this region depend on them, including for agriculture, domestic use, and energy production. Projections suggest that the UIB region will be affected by considerable (yet poorly quantified) changes to the seasonality and composition of runoff in the future, which are likely to have considerable impacts on these supplies. Given how directly and indirectly communities and ecosystems are dependent on these resources and the growing pressure on them due to ever-increasing demands, the impacts of climate change pose considerable adaptation challenges. The strong linkages between hydroclimate, cryosphere, water resources, and human activities within the UIB suggest that a multi- and inter-disciplinary research approach integrating the social and natural/environmental sciences is critical for successful adaptation to ongoing and future hydrological and climate change. Here we use a horizon scanning technique to identify the Top 100 questions related to the most pressing knowledge gaps and research priorities in social and natural sciences on climate change and water in the UIB. These questions are on the margins of current thinking and investigation and are clustered into 14 themes, covering three overarching topics of “governance, policy, and sustainable solutions”, “socioeconomic processes and livelihoods”, and “integrated Earth System processes”. Raising awareness of these cutting-edge knowledge gaps and opportunities will hopefully encourage researchers, funding bodies, practitioners, and policy makers to address them

Knowledge Priorities on Climate Change and Water in the Upper Indus Basin: A Horizon Scanning Exercise to Identify the Top 100 Research Questions in Social and Natural Sciences

River systems originating from the Upper Indus Basin (UIB) are dominated by runoff from snow and glacier melt and summer monsoonal rainfall. These water resources are highly stressed as huge populations of people living in this region depend on them, including for agriculture, domestic use, and energy production. Projections suggest that the UIB region will be affected by considerable (yet poorly quantified) changes to the seasonality and composition of runoff in the future, which are likely to have considerable impacts on these supplies. Given how directly and indirectly communities and ecosystems are dependent on these resources and the growing pressure on them due to ever-increasing demands, the impacts of climate change pose considerable adaptation challenges. The strong linkages between hydroclimate, cryosphere, water resources, and human activities within the UIB suggest that a multi- and inter-disciplinary research approach integrating the social and natural/environmental sciences is critical for successful adaptation to ongoing and future hydrological and climate change. Here we use a horizon scanning technique to identify the Top 100 questions related to the most pressing knowledge gaps and research priorities in social and natural sciences on climate change and water in the UIB. These questions are on the margins of current thinking and investigation and are clustered into 14 themes, covering three overarching topics of ‘governance, policy, and sustainable solutions’, ‘socioeconomic processes and livelihoods’, and ‘integrated Earth System processes’. Raising awareness of these cutting-edge knowledge gaps and opportunities will hopefully encourage researchers, funding bodies, practitioners, and policy makers to address them

Geomorphological and flow data for the Beas River, India, in 2020

This dataset contains data on geomorphological characteristics and flow-related variables along the Beas River (Punjab, India) between Pong dam and Harike barrage in January 2020. The variables provided include cross-sectional area, water depth, river channel width, river flow velocity and dry-season discharge measured at ten reference sites with stable banks and straight, linear channels without islands or other mid-channel structures.,The data was generated from direct measurements of river width, water depth and flow velocity. The measurements were taken through a boat-based survey along a chainage distance of 102 km using a handheld acoustic depth and a cup-type water current meter with a digital recorder providing direct velocity indication.

Hydrogeol. J.

The protection of environmental flows, as a management objective for a regulating agency, needs to be consistent with the aquifer water balance and the degree of resource renewability. A stylized hydro-economic model is used where natural recharge, which sustains environmental flows, is considered both in the aquifer water budget and in the welfare function as ecosystem damage. Groundwater recharge and the associated natural drainage may be neglected for aquifers containing fossil water, where the groundwater is mined. However, when dealing with an aquifer that constitutes a renewable resource, for which recharge is not negligible, natural drainage should explicitly appear in the water budget. In doing so, the optimum path of net extraction rate does not necessarily converge to the recharge rate, but depends on the costs associated with ecosystem damages. The optimal paths and equilibrium values for the water volume and water extraction are analytically derived, and numerical simulations based on the Western La Mancha aquifer (southwest Spain) illustrate the theoretical results of the study