Abstract
Rainfed perennial streams have a highly disturbed ecosystem. Seasonal drying and wetting are stressful for the spawning and breeding activities of aquatic faunas in those stretches. In this work, an integrated hydrological and hydrodynamic modelling study is carried out to estimate the ecological flow requirement in Bhogdoi river, India, a southern tributary of Brahmaputra river. Escalating anthropogenic activities continuously deteriorating the flow scenarios and degrading the aquatic health in the study area. The consequence of hydrological alterations is addressed in terms of the environmental flow regimes derived from FDCA (flow duration curve analysis) and FDC (flow duration curve) shifting method. Flow rates under different environmental management scenarios are evaluated and based on the analysis it is found that under the existing basin condition a minimum flow of 13.42–18 cumec is required for the river ecosystem. The flow depth and the current speed corresponding to the observed maximum flow and the ecological flow rates are computed from a two-dimensional hydrodynamic routing model. The model is calibrated and validated with the measured data. This eco-hydrological approach will be helpful to undertake the conservation and restoration strategies in the study site.
Similar content being viewed by others
Available data and material
Discharge data can be provided upon request.
References
Adeva-Bustos A, Alfredsen K, Fjeldstad HP, Ottosson K (2019) Ecohydraulic modelling to support fish habitat restoration measures. Sustainability (Switzerland). https://doi.org/10.3390/SU11051500
Arthington Angela H, Naiman RJ, McClain ME, Nilsson C (2010) Preserving the biodiversity and ecological services of rivers: new challenges and research opportunities. Freshw Biol 55(1):1–16 ((Special Issue on Environmental Flows; Science and Management))
Brown C (2006) Environmental flows: striking the balance between development and resource protection. Ecol Soc 11(2):11. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-01682-110226
Burkhardt-Holm P, Giger W, Guttinger H, Ochsenbein U, Peter A, Scheurer K (2005) Where have all the fish gone? Environ Sci Technol. https://doi.org/10.1021/es053375z
Chen H, Zhao YW (2011) Evaluating the environmental flows of China’s Wolonghu wetland and land use changes using a hydrological model, a water balance model, and remote sensing. Ecol Model 222(2):253–260
Christos T, Anastasios Stamou TA, Rutschmann SIP, Skoulikidis N (2020) Hydrodynamic habitat modelling based on freshwater macroinvertebrates. Cooperative Instream Flow Service Group
Dauwalter D, Fisher W (2008) Spatial and temporal patterns in stream habitat and smallmouth bass populations in Eastern Oklahoma. Trans Am Fish Soc 137:1072–1088. https://doi.org/10.1577/T06-170.1
Dollar L, Ganzhorn J, Goodman S (2007) Primates and other prey in the seasonally variable diet of cryptoprocta ferox in the dry deciduous forest of Western Madagascar
Dyson M, Bergkamp G, Scanlon J (2003) The essential of environmental flows. IUCN, Gland
Entwistle N, Heritage G, Milan D (2019) Ecohydraulic modelling of anabranching rivers. River Res Appl 35(4):353–364. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.3413
Folkard AM, Gascoigne JC (2009) Hydrodynamics of discontinuous mussel beds: laboratory flume simulations. J Sea Res 62(4):250–257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seares.2009.06.001
Frothingham KM, Brown N (2002) Objective identification of pools and riffles in a human modified stream system. Middle States Geographer 35:52–60
HR Wallingford (2003) National flood risk assessment 2002, HR Wallingford Report EX4722
Hannah L, Midgley G, Andelman S, Araújo M, Hughes G, Martínez-Meyer E (2007) Protected area needs in a changing climate. Front Ecol Environ 5:131–138. https://doi.org/10.1890/1540-9295(2007)5[131:PANIAC]2.0.CO;2
Hughes D, Smakhtin V (1996) Daily flow time series patching or extension: a spatial interpolation approach based on flow duration curves. Hydrol Sci J 41. https://doi.org/10.1080/02626669609491555
Ian Maddock B, Katherine F, By Atle H, Paul Kemp A, Paul Wood B, Maureen F (2020) Ecohydraulics: an integrated approach
Karmokar S, De M (2020) Flash flood risk assessment for drainage basins in the Himalayan foreland of Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling Districts, West Bengal. Model Earth Syst Environ 6(4):2263–2289. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40808-020-00807-9
Kashaigili J, Kadigi R, Lankford B, Mahoo H, Mashauri D (2005) Environmental flows allocation in river basins: exploring allocation challenges and options in the Great Ruaha River catchment in Tanzania. Phys Chem Earth Parts A/B/C 30:689–697. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2005.08.009
Kashaigili JJ, McCartney MP, Mahoo HF, Lankford BA, Mbilinyi BP, Yawson DK, Tumbo SD (2006) Use of a Hydrological Model for Environmental Management of the Usangu Wetlands, Tanzania
Khwairakpam E, Khosa R, Gosain A, Nema A (2020) Habitat suitability analysis of Pengba fish in Loktak Lake and its river basin. Ecohydrology. https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.2164
Kim SK, Choi SU (2019) Comparison of environmental flows from a habitat suitability perspective: a case study in the Naeseong-cheon stream in Korea. Ecohydrology. https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.2119
Li Q, Cai T, Wang H, Xue Y, Bai L, Li P, You B (2009) Computation methods of minimum and optimal instream ecological flow for the upper Huaihe River, China. In: IAHS-AISH publication, vol 328, pp 122–126
Liang Q, Borthwick A (2009) Adapive quadtree simulation of shallow flows with wet–dry fronts over complex topography. Comput Fluids 38:221–234. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compfluid.2008.02.008
Lytle D, Poff N (2004) Adaptation to natural flow regimes. Trends Ecol Evol 19:94–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2003.10.002
Moyle PB, Leidy RA (1992) Loss of biodiversity in aquatic ecosystems: evidence from fish faunas. Conserv Biol. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-6426-9_6
Munoth P, Goyal R (2020) Hydromorphological analysis of Upper Tapi River Sub-basin, India, using QSWAT model. Model Earth Syst Environ 6(4):2111–2127. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40808-020-00821-x
Nikora V (2010) Hydrodynamics of aquatic ecosystems: an interface between ecology, biomechanics and environmental fluid mechanics. River Res Appl 26(4):367–384. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.1291
Pyrce R (2004) Hydrological low flow indices and their use. Watershed Science Centre, Peterborough, ON, Report No. 04-2004
Richter BD, Baumgartner JV, Powell J, Braun DP (1996) A method for assessing hydrologic alteration within ecosystems. Conserv Biol 10(4):1163–1174
Richter BD, Baumgartner JV, Wigington R, Braun DP (1997) How much water does a river need? Freshw Biol 37:231–249
Richter BD, Baumgartner JV, Braun DP, Powell J (1998) A spatial assessment of hydrologic alteration within a river network. Regul Rivers Res Manag 14(4):329–340
Scheuerell M, Levin P, Zabel R, Williams J, Sanderson B (2011) A new perspective on the importance of marine-derived nutrients to threatened stocks of Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.). Can J Fish Aquat Sci 62:961–964. https://doi.org/10.1139/f05-113
Shaeri Karimi S, Yasi M, Eslamian S (2012) Use of hydrological methods for assessment of environmental flow in a river reach. Int J Environ Sci Technol 9(3):549–558. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-012-0062-6
Shang SH (2014) A general multi-objective programming model for minimum ecological flow or water level of inland water bodies. J Arid Land 7(2):166–176. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40333-014-0077-6
Smakhtin VU (2001) Low flow hydrology: a review. J Hydrol 240 (3–4):147–186
Smakhtin VU, Anputhas M (2006) An assessment of environmental flow requirements of indian river basins. IWMI research report 107. International Water Management Institute, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Smakhtin VU, Eriyagama N (2008) Developing a software package for global desktop assessment of environmental flows. Environ Model Softw 23(12):1396–1406. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2008.04.002
Smakhtin V, Revenga C, Doll P (2004) Taking into account environmental water requirements in global-scale water resources assessments
Stamou A, Polydera A, Papadonikolaki G, Martínez-Capel F, Muñoz-Mas R, Papadaki C (2018) Determination of environmental flows in rivers using an integrated hydrological-hydrodynamic-habitat modelling approach. J Environ Manag 209:273–285. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.12.038
Steffler P, Blackburn J (2002) River 2D, Two-Dimensional depth averaged model of river hydrodynamics and fish habitat
Tanzania J, Kashaigili J, Matthew PM, Henry FM, Bruce AL, Boniface PM, Daniel KY, Siza DT (2020) Use of a hydrological model for environmental management of the Usangu wetlands’
Tennant DL (1976) Instream flow regimens for fish, wildlife, recreation and related environmental resources. Fisheries 1:6–10
Thoms M, Parsons, M (2002) Eco-geomorphology: an interdisciplinary approach to river science. IAHS-AISH Publication, p 276
Wang F, Lin B, Rauen WB (2020) Eco-hydraulics modelling of the ecological water requirement in an Eco-City
Yao WW, ChenY ZY, Zhang W, Fan H (2017) Habitat models for assessing river ecosystems and their application to the development of river restoration strategies. J Freshw Ecol 32(1):601–617. https://doi.org/10.1080/02705060.2017.1371088
Funding
No funding is received for this study.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
Codes are developed in MATLAB.
Code availability
None.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Baruah, A., Sarma, A.K. Ecological flow assessment using hydrological and hydrodynamic routing model in Bhogdoi river, India. Model. Earth Syst. Environ. 7, 2453–2462 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40808-020-00982-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40808-020-00982-9