ECOLOGICAL FLOW

REQUIREMENTS:
WHY BOTHER!
Jack Imhof
Director of Conservation Ecology
Trout Unlimited Canada
Ecological Flow Requirements Workshop, GRCA
October 27, 2011

What is it?
Definition A holistic look at natural flow
regimes that support healthy aquatic
ecosystems.
Flow has been described as the master
variable driving river health (Poff et al. 1997)

How Seriously Do People Take Their

Watersheds These Days?

In British
Columbia,
they can
be
found.

Problem Statement
We are placing more
and more demands
on our water
resources
Realize that our
rivers and their
watersheds are in
various stages of
deterioration
Do we want to go
here?

Some of the Management Issues

DEMAND
More people placing more demand on the
watershed and its rivers

SCALE
Use can be both distributed (eg. water abstraction
for irrigation) or centralized (e.g. hydro-electric or
flood control) or a combination of both

COMPLEXITY
Each watershed is unique with complex features so
application of management solutions is complicated
One target does not fit all problems

No Simple Solution
Clearly half of the peak discharge will not
move half of the sediment, half of the
migration motivational flow will not move half
of the fish, and half of an overbank flow will
not inundate half of the floodplain.
Poff et al. (1997)

ITS A COMPLEX ENVIRONMENT FOR

ENGINEERS AND OTHER PROFESSIONALS

Important Considerations
Aquatic ecosystems, their plants and animals
have evolved to cope with water flow
regimes and their stochastic events
Human uses tend to be seasonal or chronic
(e.g.):
agriculture, aggregate extraction, hydro-electric, golf
course irrigation, commercial water taking, municipal
water supplies and urbanization to mention a few

This places an un-natural burden on

ecosystem functioning

Ecological Concepts and Design

Principles

Spatial and Temporal Scales are important

Species in rivers and their corridors have likely coevolved to the pattern and dynamics of the ENTIRE
flow regime and the rivers forms and patterns
Aquatic animals are extremely mobile
Habitat does not just occur longitudinally, it occurs
laterally (channel elasticity) AND vertically
(groundwater and Hyporheic zone)

Pathways within the watershed

Two Key Pathways: Hydrologic and
Ecologic
Hydrologic pathways describe how
and where water flows over and
through the landscape
Creates the unique characteristics
of each watersheds groundwater
and surface water regimes
Ecologic pathways drive ecological
process in the valley that create
opportunities for plants and
animals
These regimes drive the flow
regime, sediment regime, nutrient
regime and thermal regime

Longitudinal Habitat
Use operates as
several Nested
scales (e.g.
migration, feeding,
reproduction).
At the watershed scale
hydrology creates
opportunities for migration
and movement
The reach creates the
habitat form and supply, the
site provides specific
hydraulic features used
moment by moment.
From: Newbury and Gaboury 1993

Longitudinal
Connectivity
Traditionally we viewed
aquatic ecosystems as
many small pieces on the
landscape.

We now realize that

animals travel great
distances as part of their
HOME territories.
From Fausch et al. (2002)

Major Ecologically Related Design

Stages Linking Habitat to Physical
Features and Processes
The interplay
of flow stages
on the
morphology of
the channel
and floodplain
create and
refresh
ecological
features and
processes

FOUR MAJOR DESIGN STAGES

FOR NATURAL CHANNEL/VALLEY MANAGEMENT

NATURAL RIVER VALLEY

VALLEY

BASEFLOW 2-3x ANNUALLY

(FISHERIES)
BANKFULL 1:1.5YR RETURN
RIPARIAN

1:2-20YR RETURN

VALLEY

1:100YR RETURN

RIPARIAN
BANKFULL

BASEFLOW
(FISHERIES)

Channel Elasticity and Habitat

Stream move
laterally over the
course of the year
providing different
habitats for various
species (e.g.
reproduction; flood
refugia, feeding
areas, etc.)

Groundwater:
Surface Water
Interactions
These interactions are
complex but need to be
understood as part of
Ecological Flow
Requirements since they
drive many ecological
processes

Major
discharge
areas

Key Flow Regime Building Blocks

Low Flow Regime minimum living space controlling
maximum population size
Channel Forming Flow maintenance of channel
structure and habitat
Flushing Flows periodic cleansing of seasonally
accumulated materials (silts, algae, etc.)
Migratory/Reproductive Flows connectivity and
reproductive capability

FLOW

FORM(a)

%(b)

ABIOTIC FUNCTION

BIOTIC FUNCTION

HIGH
(short term, pattern
and channel forming,
gradually-varied)

Alternating thalweg
Helical circulation
(meandering)
Plunging profile
Swifts/rapids

Meander migration, Bank erosion,

Pointbar construction, Substrate
partitioning, Sediment transport,
Debris accumulation, Floodplain
saturation

Cover development
Detritus transport
Spawning bed development
Nursery habitat creation

MODERATE
(Recurring, persistent,
pattern inherited,
locally-varied)

Pools/glides (inherited)
uniform
60
Partitioned states
40

Sediment re-sorting
Detritus accumulation

Up, down, and lateral mobility

Food accumulation
Food circulation
Cover

Riffles/runs (inherited)
mixed state
100

Transparency
Aeration
Local scour

Benthic insolation, Oxygen,

Food concentration,
Reproduction, Refugia, Fish
passage

Pools (inherited)
still
(stratified)
wind circulation

Storage
Persistence
Groundwater storage

Thermal and light refugia (oversummer and over-winter)

Aeration
Continuity

connectivity

shear planes
eddy trains
V & H circulation

convergence
separation
V & H rotation

LOW
(recurring, long term.
Pattern inherited,
locally-varied)

Trickles, seepage
(inherited)
mixed states

100
80
80
20

5
10
25

20
5
55/20

95
5

100

Natural Flow Regime components provide important biotic and abiotic

Cause:Response forms and functions (from Newbury, pers. Comm.)

Lowflow in Context
Lowflow is only one state that
aquatic animals must cope with;
Considerations for changes in
lowflow volumes:

Stream Order
Stream Location
Stream Form
Time of year and duration
Species and life stage

Bankfull/Lowflow
Linkage
The Formative flows
cumulatively adjust the
shape and structure of
the channel.
The structure and
shape of the channel at
lowflow confines the
flow and controls the
relative quality of
habitat for fish.

Different stream forms will hold low and high flows

differently and therefore respond differently to
changes in flow regime

Simple cause:effect relationships are rare when

examining the impact of a stressor on a natural
system.
The response of animals in the river may be dictated
by the interplay of a variety of variables operating
together and disturbance patterns happening over
time.

The response will also be coloured by the time of

year, state conditions at that time of year and the
stage or state in the animal or populations life cycle.

Framework and Tool Considerations

All sizes will NOT fit all therefore need a
flexible Framework that is holistic, hierarchical
and adaptive.
Tools that should be considered:
Stream Form Classification
Valley Classification (e.g. ALIS/MNR)
Flow Regime analysis
Drainage network characteristics
Groundwater:Surface Water Linkages
Development of Cause:Response Relationships
Benthic and Fish Community Characterization

Ecological Assessment Framework

Framework that
incorporates a
examination of
the system,
that has scale
and is adaptive
(from Bradford
2008)

Context Setting
The process of developing
an integrated context
begins with selecting the
spatial hierarchy that helps
to integrate the sciences.
Implementation will occur
at several scales, selected
to be the most appropriate
to the issue.
With EFR design will likely
occur at watershed and
reach level

Considerations for Framework

Application
Type of water abstraction or flow modification
(e.g. water abstraction vs hydro-electric)
Geophysical characteristics of the watershed
Location in the drainage network
Valley type and stream form
Level of Human Modifications already existing
Balancing Flow Regime Management with
Stochastic Events important to ecological reset
Be willing to test and learn (Adaptive Approach)

A Major Outcome of Re-establishing

Ecological Flows
Re-establishing
functional stream
corridors provide more
opportunities for more
complex trophic
structures where
nutrients can be cycled
and stored in long-lived
organisms (e.g. shrubs,
trees, fish) leading to
healthier system and
better water quality

Valley Wall

Valley
Wall

EFR and Natural Infrastructure

EFR is a major step in rehabilitating
a watersheds Natural Infrastructure
Unrealistic to think that we can
return systems to historical
conditions;
The key is to try to return the
landscape, flow regime, stream
corridors and their land:water
linkages to a healthy, functional
state for people and environment
We re-build this infrastructure by
developing Ecological Flow
Requirements and a semblance of
Natural Flow Regime.

SoWhy Bother?
Aquatic ecosystems are topographically unique in
occupying the lowest position in the landscape,
thereby integrating catchment-scale processes
(Naiman et al. 2002)
EFR is a key component in Watershed and Water
Resource Management aimed at improving the
quality and resiliency of a Watersheds Natural
Infrastructure
If we dont better manage our systems, we will
temporarily have a high standard of living in a
degraded environment.this is NOT a long-term
sustainability option

So, Lets Move Forward

Lets begin to determine the steps needed to
imbed current and emerging science into
water resource management for EFR
Will it be easy?.....NO, but
WE CANNOT SOLVE TODAYS
PROBLEMS WITH THE SAME LEVEL
OF THINKING THAT CREATED
THEM.
Albert Einstein

MOVING FORWARD
WE CANNOT SOLVE TODAYS
PROBLEMS WITH THE SAME LEVEL
OF THINKING THAT CREATED
THEM.

Albert Einstein