Deliverables

Best practice guidelines for improved reservoir operation to accommodate environmental flows and meet Water Framework Directive objectives

The importance of environmental flows to the overall health of riverine ecosystems is now well recognised and reflected in many laws and policies worldwide. For the European Union (EU), Guidance Document No.31 is the key document in this regard and covers how environmental flows can be incorporated into river basin management plans to meet the objectives of the Water Framework Directive.

This guideline document complements the EU guidance document by looking specifically at the operation of reservoirs. It presents insights from wide-ranging, global efforts to change reservoir operations to accommodate environmental flows. The guidelines begin with a brief overview of the EU Water Framework Directive and how environmental flows fit within the objective of the framework. This is followed by a review of the approaches taken to change the operations of reservoirs to accommodate environmental flows as reported in the literature. Subsequently five guidelines are presented that aim to improve reservoir operations. The evidence-based, key guidelines presented in this document are complementary to other guidelines on water allocation, environmental flows hydropower sustainability and water management.

Deliverable D6.5: Best practice guidelines for improved reservoir operation to accommodate environmental flows and meet Water Framework Directive objectives

Authors: Afua Owusu^1,2, Marloes Mul¹, Pieter van der Zaag^1,3, Jill Slinger².

¹ IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, Land and Water Management Department , ² Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, ³ Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geoscience

Reviewers: Lee Brown, Nataša Smolar-Žvanut, Michael McClain, Martina Bussettini, Judy England, Sarah Peet, Mike Dunbar.

This document provides guidelines for reservoir operators and water managers to accommodate environmental flows and thereby improve reservoir operations for the environment and other users. Views represent those of the authors and not the Environment Agency.