Ecological Flow Response Analysis to a Typical Strong Hydrological Alteration River in China

Rui Xia, Hao Sun, Yan Chen (), Qiang Wang, Xiaofei Chen, Qiang Hu and Jing Wang
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Rui Xia: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
Hao Sun: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
Yan Chen: Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing 400714, China
Qiang Wang: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
Xiaofei Chen: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
Qiang Hu: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
Jing Wang: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 3, 1-14

Abstract: Ecological flow is an important indicator for reflecting the stability of a watershed ecosystem. The calculation of ecological discharge under hydrological variation has become a research hot-spot. The Ganjiang River south of Poyang Lake in China was taken as an example in this study. Hydrological Alteration Diagnosis System methods were used to detect the change-points. The Distributed Time Variation Gain Model (DTVGM) was used to carry out runoff restoration. The Probability-weighted Flow Duration Curve was applied to calculate the ecological flow. The results showed that: (1) The hydrological alteration of the Waizhou Station occurred in 1991, the annual runoff increased by 10%, and the Gini coefficient (GI) increased by 0.07 after the change-point. The change in precipitation was the main driving factors. (2) The R value and NSE of the DTVGM were greater than 0.84, which represents the feasibility of the model used to restore runoff. (3) Compared to the traditional hydrological method, the proposed method can better reflect the inter-annual difference of ecological flow, flow ranges for high, normal, and low flow years are 398–3771 m 3 /s, 352–2160 m 3 /s, and 277–1657 m 3 /s, respectively. The calculation method of ecological flow in rivers considering hydrological variation can more scientifically reflect the impact of hydrological variation on ecological flow process, ecological flow under different human activities that can be calculated, such as dam control, water intake and water transfer, furthermore, it also provides a scientific basis for water resources planning and allocation under changing environment.

Keywords: hydrological alteration; ecological flow; DTVGM; flow duration gurve; Ganjiang River (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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