Sizing an Off-stream Reservoir with Respect to Water Availability, Water Quality, and Biological Integrity

    Authors

    N. B. Chang; H. W. Chen; S. K. Ning; H. Y. Hsu; K. T. Shao;T. C. Hung

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Environ. Model. Assess.

    Keywords

    Reservoir sizing; Environmental flow; Water quality management; Ecological conservation; Water resources management; Sustainable; development; BIOTIC INTEGRITY; FISH COMMUNITIES; RISK-ASSESSMENT; DESIGN; MANAGEMENT; INFLOW; INDEX; SYSTEMS; SUSTAINABILITY; SEDIMENTATION; Environmental Sciences

    Abstract

    Sizing a new reservoir is a challenging task, which normally requires simultaneously a cost-effective, risk-informed, and forward-looking decision analysis with respect to basin-wide hydrological features, environmental quality, and biological integrity. Such a sustainable planning approach takes into account the global trend to balance the needs of economic growth, ecological conservation, and environmental protection. To achieve the goal of sustainability, emphasis in this paper was placed upon the correlation of three physical, chemical, and biological indices, including the dissolved oxygen (DO), the 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD(5)), and the index of biotic integrity (IBI), for the optimal planning of a reservoir in a river basin. This new methodological paradigm has been employed for sizing an off-stream reservoir in the Hou-Lung River Basin, central Taiwan. The internal linkage between the water quality parameters (DO and BOD(5)) and the IBI levels further enables us to formulate a special biotic integrity constraint which reflects fish community attributes to suit a relatively low-density and unspecialized freshwater fish fauna in response to the changing water quality conditions in the river basin. The tradeoffs among economic, environmental, and ecological aspects for reservoir sizing can then be based on the river flow patterns, the water demand, the water quality standards, and the anticipated biological integrity in some critical river reaches. Findings in a preliminary case study suggest that an optimal pumping scheme may be smoothly maintained on a yearly basis within a combined multicriteria and multiobjective decision-making process.

    Journal Title

    Environmental Modeling & Assessment

    Volume

    15

    Issue/Number

    5

    Publication Date

    1-1-2010

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    329

    Last Page

    344

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000282742800004

    ISSN

    1420-2026

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