Integrating Ecological Needs into Comprehensive Water Resource Management

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nutrient cycling
Integrating Ecological Needs into Comprehensive
Water Resource Management
Eloise Kendy, Ph.D. Director, Environmental Flows
Program The Nature Conservancy
August 9, 2007 Western States Water
Council Bozeman, Montana
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Comprehensive Water Resource Management
Integrates growth and water supply impact
scenarios
Based on actual physical and legal water
availability
Plans for droughts and floods
Accounts for cumulative impacts
Assesses climate change adaptation strategies
Balances desirable growth and protection of the
natural environment
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Environmental Flow The flow of water in a
natural river or lake that sustains healthy
ecosystems and the goods and services that
humans derive from them. Water for People, Water
for Nature
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Environmental Flow
Ecologically defined
Entire river community
Patterns of flow
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Relation between environmental flow and
ecological function TRINITY RIVER, CALIFORNIA
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Managing for Natural Variability
Postel and Richter, 2003
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Environmental Flow Prescriptions by River
Rivers for which environmental flows have been or
are being prescribed
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Ecological Limits of Hydrologic Alteration
(ELOHA) A new framework for regional
environmental flow assessment and management
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Flow and ecology are explicitly linked
Flow - Ecology Response Curve
Initial recommendations based on existing data
Flow targets based on societal values
Excellent Very Good Good Fair Poor
ECOLOGICAL CONDITION
0 0.6 1.0 1.5
2.0 2.5 3.0
ENVIRONMENTAL FLOW TARGET
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Hydrologic Foundation
Comprehensive Water Resource Management Tool
Streamflow database
Water use database
Basin characteristics, climate database
Hydrologic model

Climate change
Hydrographs for all analysis points

Population growth

Infrastructure upgrade
Analyses
Implementation

Environmental flow targets
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Implementing Environmental Flow Targets
Protection
Land-use decisions (growth management)
Comprehensive water management plan
Withdrawal permitting
Restoration
Dam re-operation
Conjunctive ground- / surface-water use
Drought management planning
Demand management (conservation)
Water transactions
Moving diversion points
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nutrient cycling
For more information
TNC state chapters - nature.org ELOHA -
ekendy_at_tnc.org nature.org/freshwaters