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Dam Design can Impede Adaptive Management of Environmental Flows: A Case Study from the Opuha Dam, New Zealand

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Abstract

The Opuha Dam was designed for water storage, hydropower, and to augment summer low flows. Following its commissioning in 1999, algal blooms (dominated first by Phormidium and later Didymosphenia geminata) downstream of the dam were attributed to the reduced frequency and magnitude of high-flow events. In this study, we used a 20-year monitoring dataset to quantify changes associated with the dam. We also studied the effectiveness of flushing flows to remove periphyton from the river bed. Following the completion of the dam, daily maximum flows downstream have exceeded 100 m3 s−1 only three times; two of these floods exceeded the pre-dam mean annual flood of 203 m3 s−1 (compared to 19 times >100 m3 s−1 and 6 times >203 m3 s−1 in the 8 years of record before the dam). Other changes downstream included increases in water temperature, bed armoring, frequency of algal blooms, and changes to the aquatic invertebrate community. Seven experimental flushing flows resulted in limited periphyton reductions. Flood wave attenuation, bed armoring, and a shortage of surface sand and gravel, likely limited the effectiveness of these moderate floods. Floods similar to pre-dam levels may be effective for control of periphyton downstream; however, flushing flows of that magnitude are not possible with the existing dam infrastructure. These results highlight the need for dams to be planned and built with the capacity to provide the natural range of flows for adaptive management, particularly high flows.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Opuha Dam Company, Ltd., Alpine Energy, Ltd. and the New Zealand Ministry for Science and Innovation through the Water Allocation Programme (Contract C01X0308) for funding support. We thank Dave Kelly, Laura Drummond, Tobias Buser, Chris Robinson, Glenn Cooper, Elliott Tuck, and Jon Tunnicliffe for field assistance as well as Paul Lambert and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric research analytical laboratory for laboratory assistance. Jo Bind assisted with the hydrodynamic modeling. We also thank Cathy Kilroy and Clive Howard-Williams for their technical assistance, advice and friendly reviews. This paper was improved significantly by the insightful reviews of Celso Garcia and two anonymous reviewers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, P.O. Box 8602, Riccarton, Christchurch, 8440, New Zealand

    JoAnna Lessard, D. Murray Hicks, Ton H. Snelder, Scott T. Larned, Doug Booker & Alastair M. Suren

  2. Stroud Water Research Center, 970 Spencer Road, Avondale, PA, 19311, USA

    David B. Arscott

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  1. JoAnna Lessard
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Correspondence to JoAnna Lessard.

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Lessard, J., Murray Hicks, D., Snelder, T.H. et al. Dam Design can Impede Adaptive Management of Environmental Flows: A Case Study from the Opuha Dam, New Zealand. Environmental Management 51, 459–473 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-012-9971-x

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