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Continuous streamflow monitoring in shared watersheds using advanced underwater acoustic tomography system: a case study on Zayanderud River

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Abstract

Iran has experienced a severe drought during the past two decades. Increasing water demand and decreasing available water resources have led the country to critical conflicts, particularly in shared watersheds. In these basins, the precise measurement of releasing water from upstream to downstream can be a key data for resolving water conflicts. The Iranian Ministry of Energy (MOE) makes the streamflow measurements through regional water administrative offices, mainly using the classical rating curve (RC) method. The documented measurements of runoff by adjacent offices usually present different estimations of the water resources, due to high uncertainties of the RC approach. Fluvial acoustic tomography (FAT) is a reliable technology for continuously monitoring streamflow, which can be implemented to solve this problem of shared basins. In this study, FAT is applied to the Zayanderud basin, an Iranian shared watershed and its results are compared with the RC methods. The main terms of FAT streamflow measurement uncertainty are velocity resolution component, and the selected flow angle between the stream direction and acoustic transmission path. Therefore, a new equation is proposed to carefully choose accurate angles for different river widths to decrease FAT measurement error in this paper. The obtained results show that the measured streamflow by FAT and RC are 9.89 m3/s and 10.3 m3/s, respectively, and the largest possible error of FAT is less than 15%.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Noriaki Gohda and Prof. Arata Kaneko of Hiroshima University/Aqua Environmental Monitoring Limited Liability Partnership (AEM-LLP) for their strong support in constructing the FAT system.

Funding

This study was funded by the Water Research Institute grant number 320/9609/-12 and Isfahan Regional Water Organization grant number 658201.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Water Research Institute, Ministry of Energy, Tehran, Iran

    Masoud Bahreinimotlagh, Reza Roozbahani & Mortaza Eftekhari

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University, 1-4-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi, Hiroshima, 739-8527, Japan

    Kiyosi Kawanisi & Mohammad Basel Al Sawaf

  3. Regional Water Organization of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

    Abbas Kazemi Khoshuie

Authors
  1. Masoud Bahreinimotlagh
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  2. Kiyosi Kawanisi
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  3. Mohammad Basel Al Sawaf
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  4. Reza Roozbahani
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  5. Mortaza Eftekhari
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  6. Abbas Kazemi Khoshuie
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Correspondence to Masoud Bahreinimotlagh.

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Bahreinimotlagh, M., Kawanisi, K., Al Sawaf, M.B. et al. Continuous streamflow monitoring in shared watersheds using advanced underwater acoustic tomography system: a case study on Zayanderud River. Environ Monit Assess 191, 657 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-019-7830-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-019-7830-4

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