River Basin Management

Recent grants of legal rights to rivers would seem to infuse traditional
anthropocentric river governance with greater eco-centrism.
Through a thought experiment, we scrutinize this proposition for
the Rhine basin. We consider the governance implications of
granting (procedural/material) rights to the river and elaborate
on their implications for the three highly institutionalized regimes
of the Rhine River of water quality, flooding and transport. Since
we find that a shift to more eco-centrism has already occurred and
since the right granted to the river would not be absolute, we
deem radical transformations unlikely.

In a pressurized water conveyance system, such as a hydropower system, during hydraulic transients, maximum and minimum pressures at various controlling sections are of prime concern for designing a safe and efficient surge tank. Similarly, quick damping of surge waves is also very helpful for the sound functioning of the hydro-mechanical system. Several parameters like diameter of the surge tank, diameter of the orifice, operating discharge, working head, etc., influence the maximum/minimum surge, damping of surge waves in the surge tank, and the difference of maximum pressure head at the bottom tunnel and maximum water level in the surge tank. These transient behaviors are highly conflicting in nature, especially for different diameters of orifices (D O) and diameters of surge tanks (D S). Hence, a proper optimization method is necessary to investigate the best values of D O and D S to enhance the safety and efficiency of the surge tank. In this paper, these variables are accurately determined through numerical analysis of the system by the Method of Characteristics (MOC). Furthermore, the influence on the transient behavior with changing D O and D S is investigated and finally, optimum values of D O and D S are determined using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to minimize the effects of hydraulic transients on the system without compromising the stability and efficiency of the surge tank. The obtained results show significant improvements over the contemporary methods of finding D O and D S for surge tank design.

The watershed of the Paraíba do Sul river covers the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, allowing multiple uses and water supply to 183 cities. Amidst the hydro shortage, the state of São Paulo, in March 2014, requested the transfer of 5m3/s of water from the river Jaguari to complement the low levels of the Cantareira System reservoirs. Strong reactions came from Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, creating a federative con ict. An interstate agreement allowed the intervention under conditions. Many actors were involved. In this article we will cover the nuances of the opposing vision to the project.

Some riparian areas of the country are in danger of deterioration due to uncontrolled exploitation coupled with loose implementation of environmental protection policies and regulations. Muleta River, a major watershed in Bukidnon, Philippines, was assessed to determine the present condition of its riparian habitat. Abiotic and biotic conditions of the river were assessed. Other factors including land cover, population density, and river geomorphologic characteristics contributing to the river condition were also evaluated. Results revealed that Muleta Watershed is in sub-optimal condition signifying favorable condition for floral and faunal habitat. However, considerable degradation in some isolated cases was likewise spotted. Biotic condition has shown greater degradation approaching marginal condition compared to the abiotic condition which is yet in the upper sub-optimal condition. It was found out that the midstream portion of the watershed is the most disturbed, followed by the downstream area and lastly by the upstream portion. The extent of agricultural cultivation is found as one of the significant factors affecting the health of the riparian habitat areas. It is recommended that riparian protection policies must be formulated and implemented to abate, if not prevent, the impact of anthropogenic interventions resulting to overexploitation in the riparian areas especially in midstream portion of the river.

To document the relative distribution and abundance of the mottled sculpin Cottus bairdi and the aquatic invertebrate fauna of the Colorado River in Middle Park, Colorado in 2010 and compare the results with historical data and records compiled over the past 25-40 years, prior to the construction and operation of Windy Gap Dam in 1983. Document the relative abundance and distribution of the aquatic invertebrate fauna of the upper Colorado River between the confluence with the Blue River and Windy Gap Dam west of Granby, Colorado.

Lao PDR has huge variations of annual stream flow seasonally and regionally. Flood and drought would be presently developed recurrently in Lao PDR. Due to topographic and weather conditions, huge peak flood might be quite quickly developed.

Water  management  system  based  on  real  time  must  be  efficient  one  to  reduce  the damages of lives and properties, and to supply water stable, especially during dry season in Lao PDR.

This system consists of some sub functions,  such as data acquisition  and processing function,  hydrological  and hydraulic  analysis  function,  making  decision  function  and dissemination function.

Government of Laos (GoL) has encountered a conservation of forest areas for sustainable of in water resources management. The objectives of water resources management are to emphasize value of water resources, to provide sufficient amount of water during dry season especially agricultural production and hydropower generation. A sustainable development  of  water  resources,  it  should  be  a  implementing  clearly  Water  policy
,Combination  of water  sectors,  Human  resources  including  research  and  awareness  , implemented poor infrastructures condition of water sectors, construct National Water Resources Management/Information System including synthetic data base,  Survey water resources in basin wide especially water shortage  situations, and so on.

There is no integrated plan of water resources sectors in Lao PDR, even rich country of water resources. The integrated plan must be also focused on the correlation among water sectors, such as flood, hydropower and water use for agriculture. Lao PDR is a richest country of water resources in Southeast Asia .
At the present, a key water resources sectors in Lao PDR are agriculture and hydropower. Water is a vital input for the country’s economic development which is mainly based on agricultural production and hydropower generation.

The European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires EU member states to produce and implement river basin management plans, which are to be designed and updated via participatory processes that inform, consult with, and actively involve all interested stakeholders. The assumption of the European Commission is that stakeholder participation, and institutional adaptation and procedural innovation to facilitate it, are essential to the effectiveness of river basin planning and, ultimately, the environmental impact of the Directive. We analyzed official documents and the WFD literature to compare implementation of the Directive in EU member states in the initial WFD planning phase (2000-2009). Examining the development of participatory approaches to river basin management planning, we consider the extent of transformation in EU water governance over the period. Employing a mixed quantitative and qualitative approach, we map the implementation "trajectories" of 13 member states, and then provide a detailed examination of shifts in river basin planning and participation in four member states (Germany, Sweden, Poland and France) to illustrate the diversity of institutional approaches observed. We identify a general tendency towards increased, yet circumscribed, stakeholder participation in river basin management in the member states examined, alongside clear continuities in terms of their respective pre-WFD institutional and procedural arrangements. Overall, the WFD has driven a highly uneven shift to river basin-level planning among the member states, and instigated a range of efforts to institutionalize stakeholder involvement-often through the establishment of advisory groups to bring organized stakeholders into the planning process.

Places 15.1 38 "Mississippi Floods" investigates how representations of the Mississippi River-maps, surveys, photographs, engineering reports-have been used to construct a meaning for the landscape, and, ultimately, to frame design and management policies. Jurors praised the project for its beauty and its ability to convey the complexity of the life of the river and to suggest that both landscapes and the way we construct them in our minds are constantly evolving. Anuradha Mathur and Dilip da Cunha, landscape architects and instructors at the University of Pennsylvania, began studying the Lower Mississippi after the floods of 1993, contrasting its physical elusiveness to human efforts to capture it as a river and as a cultural idea. They assembled a range of material and experiences-reviewing maps, publications and working documents held by public agencies ; travelling the landscape by canoe, towboat, car and airplane; visiting flood control structures and river-related enterprises such as catfish farms; even interviewing blues musicians and lawyers whose art and practice are rooted in the river-to understand how representations have been used as ideological instruments. Their work was presented in an exhibition and a book, Mississippi Floods: Designing a Shifting Landscape, published by Yale University Press. It is when the Mississippi floods, Mathur and da Cunha argue, that these constructions are most provocative. They describe two opposing ways of representing floods: as a natural disaster that ought to be controlled by engineering interventions, or a cultural disaster that necessitates the withdrawl of human settlement. They suggest that rather than searching for solutions to flooding, we might question the frameworks that shape our thinking about floods in the first place.

Melet Çayı, Orta ve Doğu Karadeniz bölümleri arasındaki sınırı oluşturmaktadır. Karadeniz Bölgesi’nin hem debi, hem de uzunluk açısından önemli akarsularından birisidir. Akarsu, taşıdığı alüvyonları ağız kısmında biriktirerek Ordu şehrinin üzerinde bulunduğu küçük bir deltayı meydana getirmiştir. Akarsuyun aşağı kesimlerinin yer yer bataklıklarla kaplı olmasının yanında taşkınların etkisinin fazla olması tarım ve yerleşim alanı olarak kullanılmasını kısıtlamıştır. Deltanın ıslah edilmesinden sonra bu alanlar önce tarıma sonra yerleşme ve sanayi sahasına dönüşmeye başlamıştır. Karadeniz kıyı kentlerini birleştiren sahil yolu deltanın kuzeyinden, yeni çevre yolu ise güneyinden geçmektedir. Bunun yanında deltanın doğusunda üniversite yerleşkesinin kurulması ve havalimanının yapılması bu alanların yoğun olarak yerleşmenin baskısı altında kalmasına neden olmaktadır. Günümüzde de hızlanarak devam eden bu değişim; havzanın bu kesimlerinin yoğun bir şekilde kullanılmasına neden olmuştur. Melet Çayı’nın sahip olduğu kuvvetli akımın yanında ilkbahar-yaz aylarında yağış ve kar erimeleriyle artan debi, taşkınları da beraberinde getirmektedir. Potansiyel taşkın etki
sahasına doğru genişleyen yerleşmeler ve tarım alanları bu durumdan en fazla etkilenenler arasındadır. Taşkından korunmak için kıyı setleri ve hız kesici kaya dolgu gibi birtakım önlemler alınmasına rağmen taşkınların önüne geçilememektedir. Bu önlemler dışında hem taşkın kontrolü hem de elektrik enerjisi elde etmek için 1990’lı yıllardan beri havzaya irili ufaklı birçok baraj yapılmıştır. Bu barajlardan ilki ve en büyüğü Topçam Barajı’dır. Bu çalışmada taşkın sahasına ait 1975-2018 yılları arasının (1975-1987-1990, 2000 ve 2018) hava fotoğrafları ve uydu görüntüleri analiz edilmiştir. Bunları desteklemek amacıyla sahada gözlemlerle birlikte yöre sakinleriyle görüşmeler yapılmıştır. Bu doğrultuda hem sahanın geçmişi ve bugünü hem de taşkından etkilenme durumu üzerinde durularak sorunlara dikkat çekilmiş ve alınabilecek önlemler belirtilmiştir.

This short paper summaries the issues around climate risk in Australia’s Murray Darling Basin (MDB). This issue is back on Australia’s political agenda due to millions of dead fish and a sweltering summer the Climate Council anointed as the ‘angriest’ yet. With the return of drought conditions and the fish kills in the Darling climate change responses are being intensively scrutinised. The interpretation and use of ecological and climate sciences remains critically important to many divisive debates. However, Australia’s intensely political water reforms are plagued by questions about accountability, integrity and interference in scientific independence. Restoring trust in the governance of these rivers is critical after several corrosive scandals.

The bank of river Narmada has been the scene of strenuous spiritual excursions, efflorescence of human civilizations and of a surge of creative activity. It has seen the evolution of human consciousness from a dim and nebulous awareness of the environment, through mundane perceptions, to a magnificent comprehension of the cosmic reality. Legend, apocryphal may be, hyperbolic, to be certain, has grown around the name of the river. While, therefore, it may not be possible to piece together a coherent sequence of human endeavor from the murky cob web of legend, it is still possible to capture the devotion, yearning, the irrepressible urge for self-sacrifice and self expression evoked by this river. The culture that emerges is full of visions of beauty, words of purity and Intimations of immortality.

Los frentes acuáticos se han convertido en uno de los rasgos paisajísticos más valorados por el urbanismo neoliberal de los últimos tiempos. Este artículo aborda las transformaciones urbanas de las zonas costeras de tres municipios de la Región Metropolitana de Buenos Aires (Vicente López, Quilmes y Avellaneda) a lo largo de las últimas décadas, focalizando en los procesos de renovación urbana que afectan estas áreas desde 2004, aproximadamente y en los conflictos territoriales que a partir de entonces han emergido.
La información presentada es fruto de revisión bibliográfica y entrevistas en profundidad realizadas
en el marco de una investigación doctoral en curso.
Sostenemos que los estados locales, en asociación con el sector privado, han orientado las iniciativas
de refuncionalización costera, en buena medida, hacia la obtención de rentas locales, lo que
viene despertando tensiones sociales en torno a lo que debería ser el ambiente y el espacio público
en estos espacios costeros.