152 research outputs found

    Perspectives on the environmental implications of sustainable hydro-power: comparing countries, problems and approaches

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    Perspectives on the Environmental Implications of Sustainable Hydropower gathers scientific papers from three of the worlds most important hydropower producers to discuss aspects of sustainable hydropower and the means by which it can be studied and achieved. The papers examine the application and use of new technologies and protocols for studying hydropower, adaptive management and the implications and use of long-term data sets for minimizing hydropower impacts on fish populations. The papers include a cross section of biological and hydrological experts. The implicit among country comparisons highlight a number of common hydropower themes, particularly the need to expand from single species studies to include broader consideration of the ecosystem, the importance of maintaining habitat, trait and species diversity and the need for consistently collected long-term data sets. Hydropower Sustainability Long-term studies Brazil Canada NorwaypublishedVersio

    Towards improving the hydrologic design of permeable pavements

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    The common approach to the hydrologic design of permeable pavements (PPs) uses synthetic rainfall events. This study assessed the validity of the design approach using synthetic rainfall events for undrained PP. Synthetic rainfall events (25-year return period) were used to design undrained pavements for five Norwegian cities. The effectiveness of these pavements was tested using long-term simulation (12–30 years) with high temporal resolution (1 min). The Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) was used to generate time series of surface runoff for PPs and flow duration curves were applied to analyse the hydrological performances. Designing PP using synthetic rainfall events was found to underestimate the storage layer depth of the permeable pavements leading to the frequent occurrence of surface runoff, which is considered a failure of the hydrologic design of undrained pavements. Long-term simulation of surface runoff was found to provide valuable information for the hydrologic design of PP and can be used as a basis for the PP hydrologic design. In the future, it is recommended to use long-term precipitation data generated from climate change models to incorporate the effect of climate change in the design of PP.publishedVersio

    Key hydraulic drivers and patterns of fine sediment accumulation in gravel streambeds: A conceptual framework illustrated with a case study from the Kiewa River, Australia

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    Fine sediment processes in gravel beds may have significant impacts to overall river ecosystem function. In addition to gravitational deposition, horizontal intragravel transport has been recognized to influence fine sediment accumulation. However, the specific hydraulic mechanisms and origin of fine sediment movement are not clearly identified. The purpose of this study was to investigate key hydraulic drivers and patterns of fine sediment accumulation. Using a conceptual framework to set the scene, we implemented an experimental setup in a gravel lateral bar subject to irregular flow fluctuations in the Kiewa River (Australia). We installed nine sets of sediment collector pairs and piezometers into the gravel. Each pair included one horizontally and one horizontally-vertically perforated collector. Mid-range, rather than peak flows, covering the site in water drove fine sediment deposited in the collectors. We estimated horizontal contribution to final deposition as 59%. Such contribution resulted from shear stresses > 3 N m− 2 promoting streamwise near-bed turbulence at the water-sediment interface during flooded conditions. Despite high subsurface hydraulic gradients, intragravel transport in the lower sediment layers via Darcy flow did not show any influence to fine sediment deposition. Our findings contribute to an improved understanding of fine sediment accumulation processes, key for overall river ecosystem functioning, particularly in regulated rivers

    Evaluating the stormwater management model for hydrological simulation of infiltration swales in cold climates

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    The Stormwater Management Model (SWMM) is a widely used tool for assessing the hydrological performance of infiltration swales. However, validating the accuracy of SWMM simulation against observed data has been challenging, primarily because well-functioning infiltration swales rarely produce surface runoff, especially over short monitoring periods. This study addresses this challenge by using measured subsurface water storage levels for calibration and validation. The study evaluated three SWMM modules, namely, the snowpack, aquifer, and low-impact development (LID) modules, to simulate subsurface water storage levels of an infiltration swale located in a cold climate region during snow and snow-free periods. Global sensitivity analysis was used to identify influential parameters within these modules. The findings revealed that only a few parameters significantly influenced model outputs. Moreover, the aquifer module outperformed the LID module in simulating subsurface water storage due to limitations in setting the initial saturation of the LID module. Furthermore, simulation accuracy was better during snow-free periods due to challenges in simulating snow dynamics during snow periods with the snowpack module. The calibrated models offer valuable insights into the long-term hydrological performance of infiltration swales, enabling practitioners to identify events that trigger flooding in these systems.publishedVersio

    Practice makes the model: a critical review of stormwater green infrastructure modelling practice

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    Green infrastructures (GIs) have in recent decades emerged as sustainable technologies for urban stormwater management, and numerous studies have been conducted to develop and improve hydrological models for GIs. This review aims to assess current practice in GI hydrological modelling, encompassing the selection of model structure, equations, model parametrization and testing, uncertainty analysis, sensitivity analysis, the selection of objective functions for model calibration, and the interpretation of modelling results. During a quantitative and qualitative analysis, based on a paper analysis methodology applied across a sample of 270 published studies, we found that the authors of GI modelling studies generally fail to justify their modelling choices and their alignments between modelling objectives and methods. Some practices, such as uncertainty analysis, were also found to be limited, despite their necessity being widely acknowledged by the scientific community and their application in other fields. In order to improve current GI modelling practice, the authors suggest the following: i) a framework, called STAMP, designed to promote the standardisation of the documentation of GI modelling studies, and ii) improvements in modelling tools for facilitating good practices, iii) the sharing of data for better model testing, iv) the evaluation of the suitability of hydrological equations for GI application, v) the publication of clear statements regarding model limitations and negative results.publishedVersio
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