Quantifying the Impact of Cascade Reservoirs on Streamflow, Drought, and Flood in the Jinsha River Basin

Keyao Zhang, Xu Yuan, Ying Lu (), Zipu Guo, Jiahong Wang and Hanmin Luo
Additional contact information
Keyao Zhang: Institute of International Rivers and Eco-Security, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China
Xu Yuan: Institute of International Rivers and Eco-Security, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China
Ying Lu: Institute of International Rivers and Eco-Security, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China
Zipu Guo: Institute of International Rivers and Eco-Security, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China
Jiahong Wang: Institute of International Rivers and Eco-Security, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China
Hanmin Luo: Institute of International Rivers and Eco-Security, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 6, 1-17

Abstract: The Jinsha River Basin (JRB) is the largest hydropower base in China, serving as the main source of the Western Route of China’s South-to-North Water Diversion Project. Under the influence of the reservoirs operation and climate change, the general hydrological regime in the JRB has been altered. Although the change process can be determined through a runoff time-series analysis and hydrological simulation, the individual impacts of the reservoirs have not been quantified. This study aimed to clarify the impact of the reservoirs in the JRB on the runoff, flood, and drought processes using a framework coupling long short-term memory (LSTM) and flood drought assessment techniques. The results are as follows: (1) From 1998 to 2020, reservoirs in the JRB changed the average daily runoff at Pingshan Station by −5.64%, +10.95%, and −10.93% at the annual and seasonal (dry and rainy) scales, respectively. (2) The operation of dams reduces the risk of flood disasters effectively. Compared with the natural river flow, the flood frequency decreased by 7.69%, and the total flow over the threshold was reduced by 37.86%. (3) The operation of dams has changed the duration and severity of drought, reducing extreme drought and increasing moderate and severe drought. In conclusion, the reservoirs in the JRB have positive effects on water resource regulation, and their mitigation of floods and extreme drought provides security for the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. This study provides a reference for the LSTM modeling of reservoir basins, quantifying the impact of reservoirs on runoff, flood, and drought in the JRB.

Keywords: dam; LSTM; neural network; hydrological model; Upper Yangtze; runoff (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/6/4989/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/6/4989/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:6:p:4989-:d:1094118

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().