Pareto-optimal solutions for environmental flow schemes incorporating the intra- and inter-annual variability of the natural flow regime
Resource
Water Resources Research 43 (6): W06443
Journal
Water Resources Research
Journal Volume
43
Journal Issue
6
Pages
-
Date Issued
2007
Date
2007
Author(s)
Shiau, Jenq-Tzong
Abstract
[1] The temporal variations of natural flows are essential elements for preserving the ecological health of a river which are addressed in this paper by the environmental flow schemes that incorporate the intra-annual and interannual variability of the natural flow regime. We present an optimization framework to find the Pareto-optimal solutions for various flow schemes. The proposed framework integrates (1) the range of variability approach for evaluating the hydrologic alterations; (2) the standardized precipitation index approach for establishing the variation criteria for the wet, normal, and dry years; (3) a weir operation model for simulating the system of flows; and (4) a multiobjective optimization genetic algorithm for search of the Pareto-optimal solutions. The proposed framework is applied to the Kaoping diversion weir in Taiwan. The results reveal that the time-varying schemes incorporating the intra-annual variability in the environmental flow prescriptions promote the ecosystem and human needs fitness. Incorporation of the interannual flow variability using different criteria established for three types of water year further promotes both fitnesses. The merit of incorporating the interannual variability may be superimposed on that of incorporating only the intra-annual flow variability. The Pareto-optimal solutions searched with a limited range of flows replicate satisfactorily those obtained with a full search range. The limited-range Pareto front may be used as a surrogate of the full-range one if feasible prescriptions are to be found among the regular flows. Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union.
Other Subjects
Computer simulation; Ecology; Hydrology; Pareto principle; Flow variability; Natural flow; Pareto-optimal solutions; Precipitation index; Stream flow; Computer simulation; Ecology; Hydrology; Pareto principle; Stream flow; annual variation; fitness; hydrological modeling; hydrological regime; river flow; weir; Asia; Eurasia; Far East; Kaoping River; Taiwan
Type
journal article
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