River Management

"River Dynamics and Integrated River Management” provides comprehensive information on rivers for integrated management, including natural processes, stresses resulting from human activities, and restoration of various parts of the river basin, including the watershed, mountain streams, alluvial rivers, estuaries, and natural and man-made lakes. Essential concepts, traditional and modern, such as river patterns, step-pool systems, vegetation-erosion charts, habitat diversity, and flushing times of bays, are clearly defined physically and explained with figures and pictures. Detailed mathematics and rigorous analyses are avoided so as to facilitate a holistic view of the subject of integrated river management. Researchers can easily familiarize themselves with the science of river management in its widest sense with the impressive pictures and examples in this book. Dr. Zhaoyin Wang is a professor at the Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua University, China. Dr. Joseph H.W. Lee is a Chair Professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, China. Dr. Charles S. Melching is a Professor at the College of Engineering, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA.

From Catchment Management to Managing River Basins: Science, Technology Choices, Institutions and Policy synthesizes key scientific facts crucial for catchment assessment, planning and river basin water accounting. The book presents extensive reviews of international literature on catchment hydrology, forest hydrology and other hydrological processes, such as groundwater-surface water interactions. It discusses not only the science of catchment assessment and planning, but also the catchment planning process. It documents several of the positive international experiences with integrated catchment management and integrated basin management, distilling key learnings. Case studies from India and other parts of South Asia are also included, along with new pilot studies. Finally, the book discusses the theoretical and operational aspects of integrated catchment management and integrated water management in river basins using international best practices and case studies. Discusses the theoretical nuances of scale effects in hydrology and land-use hydrology interactions Focuses on managing water in a situation in which water has become scarce Provides a theoretical discussion on water accounting procedures that is followed by an application of the methodology and tools in real-life case studies in two river basins of India Presents applications of the concept of integrated water resources management for developing a WRM plan for an Indian river basin

This book is intended for those with an academic, scientific and practical interest in river conservation and management. It provides an overview of how changes in legislation, policies, institutional responsibilities, science, technology, practical techniques and public perception have influenced how rivers have been managed over the past 20 years and the challenges that lie ahead during the next 20 years. The book is based on the international conference River Conservation and Management:20 Years On held at York. Thirty-one chapters, with contributions from North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australasia provide a wide-ranging perspective on this complex but profoundly important subject. Following an introduction that chronicles the most important contextual changes, the book is organized into four broad topics: Catchment management, ecosystem integrity and the threats to river ecosystems – this covers progress on understanding and addressing the pressures affecting rivers, many of which will be amplified by climate change and increasing human demands for water; Methods and approaches – illustrating some recent techniques that have been developed to assess condition and conservation status across different types of river; Recovery and rehabilitation – providing an insight into the principles, practice, public involvement and institutional networks that support and make improvements to modified river reaches; Integrating nature conservation into wider river management –demonstrating the importance of integrated planning, involvement of local communities and the use of adaptive management in achieving multiple environmental and economic benefits along rivers used for different purposes. The final chapter discusses the challenges faced in dealing with an uncertain future. More than 1200 different references and numerous web-site citations provide the reader with an invaluable source of knowledge on the subject area.

As the vast expanses of natural forests and the great populations of salmonids are harvested to support a rapidly expanding human population, the need to understand streams as ecological systems and to manage them effectively becomes increasingly urgent. The unfortunate legacy of such natural resource exploitation is well documented. For several decades the Pacific coastal ecoregion of North America has served as a natural laboratory for scientific and managerial advancements in stream ecology, and much has been learned about how to better integrate ecological processes and characteristics with a human-dominated environment. These in sightful but hard-learned ecological and social lessons are the subject of this book. Integrating land and rivers as interactive components of ecosystems and watersheds has provided the ecological sciences with impor tant theoretical foundations. Even though scientific disciplines have begun to integrate land-based processes with streams and rivers, the institutions and processes charged with managing these systems have not done so successfully. As a result, many of the watersheds of the Pacific coastal ecoregion no longer support natural settings for environmental processes or the valuable natural resources those processes create. An important role for scientists, educators, and decision makers is to make the integration between ecology and con sumptive uses more widely understood, as well as useful for effective management.

River Channel Management is the first book to deal comprehensively with recent revolutions in river channel management. It explores the multi-disciplinary nature of river channel management in relation to modern management techniques that bear the background of the entire drainage basin in mind, use channel restoration where appropriate, and are designed to be sustainable. River Channel Management is divided into five sections: ·The Introduction outlines the need for river channel management . ·Retrospective Review offers an overview of twentieth century engineering methods and the ways that river channel systems operate. ·Realisation explains how greater understanding of river channel adjustments, channel hazards and river basin planning created a context for twenty-first century management. ·Requirements for Management explains and examines environmental assessment, restoration-based approaches, and methods that work towards 'design with nature' ·Final Revision speculates about prospects for twenty-first century river channel management. River Channel Management is written for higher-level undergraduates and for postgraduates in geography, ecology, engineering, planning, geology and environmental science, for professionals involved in river channel management, and for staff in environmental agencies.

This book outlines a generic set of procedures, termed the River Styles Framework, which provides a set of tools for interpreting river character, behavior, condition, and recovery potential. Applications of the framework generate a coherent package of geomorphic information, providing a physical template for river rehabilitation activities. management and restoration of rivers is a rapidly growing topic for environmental scientists, geologists and ecologists - this book provides a learning tool with which to approach geomorphic applications to river management describes the essential geomorphological principles underlying river behaviour and evolution demonstrates how the River Styles Framework can turn geomorphic theory into practice, to develop workable strategies for restoration and management based on real case studies and authors extensive experience applicable to river systems worldwide synthesises fluvial geomorphology, ecology and management

The main thrust of this book is focused on addressing the various interrelated processes, analysis and activities bearing upon sound river management. River basins are complex systems. They are open systems with sometimes ill-defined boundaries. It refers to various aspects essential to achieve a sustainable development of river basins, including water demand and river management. Intensified erosion, land water degradation and stream flow pollution which call for appropriate river restoration and training measures. A viable theory for river management must reconcile the various processes that occur at different scales in order to develop a knowledge base by synthesizing research and field studies results. The book is intended to augment the knowledge base of behaviour of rivers and analyse the issues related to rivers so as to develop river system management techniques emerging from in-depth scientific analysis as a priority. This book pools together the expertise, the in-depth knowledge and the experience of the people representing different disciplines bearing on the related aspects of analysis and management of river systems. Audience The book is expected to be useful to academics, practitioners, scientists, water managers, environmentalists, administrators, researchers and students who are involved and have stakes in water management and river system analysis.

The central focus of this volume is a critical comparative analysis of the key drivers for water resource management and the provision of clean water – governance systems and institutional and legal arrangements. The authors present a systematic analysis of case study river systems drawn from Australia, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, UK and USA to provide an integrated global assessment of the scale and key features of catchment management. A key premise explored is that despite the diversity of jurisdictions and catchments there are commonalities to a successful approach. The authors show that environmental and public health water quality criteria must be integrated with the economic and social goals of those affected, necessitating a 'twin-track' and holistic (cross-sector and discipline) approach of stakeholder engagement and sound scientific research. A final synthesis presents a set of principles for adaptive catchment management. These principles demonstrate how to integrate the best scientific and technical knowledge with policy, governance and legal provisions. It is shown how decision-making and implementation at the appropriate geographic and governmental scales can resolve conflicts and share best sustainable practices.