RESERVOIR OPERATION:

Water Supply and Hydropower Operation of a Single Reservoir

The reservoir operation is a multi-objective task involving water
supply, energy generation, flood management, and environmental issues
etc.
No algorithm is known to be capable of handling all these aspects of the
reservoir operation problems. Most of the existing algorithms are,
therefore, attempted on single- or bi-objective operation problem.
This is even true for algorithms, which are usually tested on the most
simplest operation problems, namely single-objective operation of
single reservoirs.
The single-objective operation of reservoirs can be either benefitbased or reliability based.
In a benefit-based operation, the reservoir is operated such that the net
benefit of the operation is maximized while the reliability-based
operation is concerned with maximizing the reliability of meeting a set
of pre-defined demand over the operation period.
Different operational policies with different objectives are defined,
developed for the operation of single or multi-reservoir systems and used.
Thus the reservoir operation is defined with the objective to find a set of
releases such that a predefined pattern of demands, like for water or
energy, are observed as closely as possible over the operation period.
For no of reservoirs in operation, organized by reservoir configuration, in
series or in parallel, and by various operating purposes , additional new
special-case rules are derived for water quality, water supply, reservoir
recreation and hydropower production etc.
The vast majority of reservoir planning and operation studies are based
predominantly or exclusively on simulation modelling, and thus require
intelligent specification of operating rules.
Practical real-time operations also usually require the specification of
reservoir operating rules. These rules determine the release and storage
decisions for each reservoir at each time-step during the simulation and
help guide reservoir operators.
Real-time studies, with an hourly or daily time-step, often have more
detailed safety, habitat, and facility limitations not usually important for
studies using coarser time-steps or longer operating horizons.

Defining optimum operation rules for reservoir systems with multiple

purposes:
Considering scarcity of water resources for water supply, the operation
practice is to follow a proper set of rule curves in reservoir operation so as
not only to reduce the water shortage amount and duration for
downstream demand but also to enhance the hydropower efficiency.
Water yield of a multireservoir system can be evaluated by employing a
simulation model, which is a representation of physical system under a
given set of conditions.
Simulation model using historic discharge data of at least 30 years long
(USCOE, 1981) includes a specification of operation rules and massbalance among all the water components.
Simulation model permits very detailed realistic representation of complex
physical characteristics of a reservoir system. Simulation approach may
need more time for users to find system's water yield with hydropower
purpose by applying a cut and trial procedure. Because hydropower
effectiveness evaluation based on reservoir operating rule curves
involving relations among hydropower plants efficiency, flow rate,
reservoir water head and storage is highly nonlinear and complex,
and the traditional optimization techniques are insufficient to such
problem.
General operating policy for multireservoir in parallel system in which the
operating policy for reservoir is performed by coupling the Genetic
Algorithms (GAs) with simulation modelling to overcome computationally
intractable of the multireservoir systems.
However, for the complicated reservoir system including several
reservoirs in parallel and/or in series for both joint and side demands, rule
curves of individual reservoir are not sufficient. Therefore, this uses an
optimization-simulation approach for implementing joint operating policies
for a parallel multiple reservoir system.
The optimization-simulation uses the historical inflow.
Under such a joint operating policy, the rule curve of individual reservoir
specifies the release toward each side demand. With respect to the joint
demand, the release from each reservoir is defined as a function of the
individual storage, the time of a year and balanced level indices BLI, and
yields the ideal distribution of storage levels among the reservoirs.

This study results indicate that the optimal operating rule curves of the
parallel multireservoir system can achieve the highest hydropower benefit
and meet the designed firm yield for water supply simultaneously.

Search process for optimal operating rule curves alternative

Simulation module with hydropower purpose

1. hydropower and hydropower efficiency

Reservoir type hydropower involves two parts, i.e.,
firm power and secondary power.
Firm power based on the corresponding energy is the amount of power
that can be generated with little interruption, and the secondary power
will be generated in excess of firm power.
The maximum power that can be generated by a hydropower plant under
the conditions of normal water head and full flow is called the plant
capacity.

The secondary power value is much lower than the plant capacity value.
However, the available reservoir water volume restricts the amount of
energy generated by a hydropower plant.
Power available from a river is directly proportional to the flow rate Q that
passes through the turbines and the potential head available to operate
the turbines.
Hydroelectrical power HP (in terms of horsepower, hp) that can generated
by a turbine is HP =
Q g h et/550
In the above equation, Q is the flow rate in cfs through the turbine, g is
the specific weight of water in lb/ft3 , and h is the effective potential head
available in feet, and et is the turbine efficiency of the power generating
units.

The overall efficiency of a hydropower plant (ep) can be obtained by

multiplying hydraulic efficiency, the ratio of the net head to the gross
head, and turbine efficiency (et).
According to the economic evaluation criteria for hydropower project firm
power is typically thought as that available in 85 percent of time.

Water release operating policies

Solutions for water releases from parallel multireservoirs are derived from
governing equations including water mass balance and balanced water

level index where water release from reservoirs will maintain equal for all
the reservoirs.
Water release from each reservoir can be related to temporal level index,
which is calculated from the prevailing reservoir water level (RWL) and
rule curves.

The volume of each reservoir is divided into four operation zones. The
lower and the upper bounds of level indices are respectively 0 and 4. An
index corresponding to a RWL at the end of time period t is equal to an
integer number adding a decimal fraction number denoting the ratio of
current reservoir storage volume above the curve to the storage capacity
between water levels corresponding to two rule curves

Encapsulating simulation results in a Genetic algorithm

Herein, a search technique, Genetic Algorithms, based on the mechanics
of nature selection and natural genetics, which are theoretically, and
empirically proven to provide robust and efficient search in complex
spaces, is employed to find decision variables automatically. GAs (Genetic
Algorithms) imitate the way populations of species genetically evolve to
suit their environment over numerous generations. Based on this analogy,
a process that involves selection, crossover and mutation can be applied
to evolve a population of potential solutions for a scheme design and to
analyze problems to yield improved solutions. These solutions will satisfy
the specified constraints, while minimizing or maximizing the objective
function.
The studies to waters close to the land surface of Earth only is covered in
hydrology. Water in the atmosphere is studied as part of meteorology.
Water in the oceans and seas is studied within the science of
oceanography, water in lakes and inland seas within limnology, and ice on
the land surface within glaciology.
In actual, there is overlap between these major scientific disciplines; all
are linked by the fundamental concept of the water cycle (or hydrologic
cycle), according to which the waters of the sea are evaporated, are
subsequently condensed within the atmosphere, fall to Earth
as precipitation, and finally flow in the rivers back to the sea.
Hydrology deals with that part of the water cycle from the arrival of water
at the land surface as precipitation to its eventual flow and loss from the

land either by evaporation or transpiration back to the atmosphere or by

surface and subsurface flow to the sea. It is thus primarily concerned with
waters close to the land surface.
Hydrology is the science that encompasses the occurrence, distribution,
movement and properties of the waters of the earth and their relationship
with the environment within each phase of the hydrologic cycle.

Water balance
Water balance, an expression out of the water cycle for an area of the land
surface in terms of conservation of mass in a simple form may be
expressed as
S = P Q E G,
Where,

S is the change of water storage in the area over a given time

period,
P is the precipitation input during that time period,
Q is the stream discharge from the area,
E is the total of evaporation and transpiration to the atmosphere
from the area, and
G is the subsurface outflow.

Most hydrologic studies are concerned with evaluating one or more terms
of the water balance equation. Because of the difficulties in quantifying
the movement of water across the boundaries of an area under study, the
water balance equation is most easily applied to an area draining to a
particular measurement point on a stream channel. This area is called a
catchment (or sometimes a watershed). Typically, the topographic
boundary of a catchment coincides with the hydrologic boundary causing
any precipitation falling on to the catchment to be routed to a stream
where it is transported out of the catchment. The line separating adjacent
catchments is known as a topographical divide, or simply a divide.
The water cycle, or hydrologic cycle, is a continuous process by which
water is purified by evaporation and transported from the earth's surface
(including the oceans) to the atmosphere and back to the land and
oceans.
All of the physical, chemical and biological processes involving water as it
travels its various paths in the atmosphere, over and beneath the earth's
surface and through growing plants, are of interest to study the hydrologic
cycle.

Runof
In runoff analysis process, the relationship between precipitation and
runoff affected by various storm and basin characteristics is very
complex.
Various techniques which range from simple lumped models to
sophisticated continuous simulation models have been developed for
runoff prediction.
Simple lumped models may be suitable for planning analysis of runoff
while continuous simulation may be appropriate for design analysis.
Runoff occur when precipitation exceeds the hydrologic losses. It starts
with overland flow which is then collected and transported by various
drainage pathways such as streams and storage reservoirs and eventually
discharged to receiving water bodies such as rivers and lakes.
The precipitation-runoff process involves numerous flow routing
interactions in the watershed. Additionally, the spatial and temporal
characteristics of precipitation also make the prediction of runoff a
challenge to engineers.
Watershed characteristics which affect runoff include:
1. Stream patterns
Stream patterns affect the pathways of runoff at a watershed.
Runoff from different parts of a watershed will interact with each
other in accordance with their runoff pathways
2. Geomorphology of drainage basins
Both large scale and local geologic activity and structure affect the
storage and movement of surface waters. The nature of land forms
determines drainage pattern which in turn also affects the surface
geometry through the process of erosion.
3. Overland flow lengths and stream lengths
Overland flow length is the distance from the ridge line or drainage
divide, measured along the path of surface flow which is not
confined in any defined channel, to the intersection of this flow path
with an established flow channel.
The flow length to any point is the sum of overland flow lengths and
stream lengths. The flow length is important in the application of
Rational Method of runoff peak calculations.

4. Areal characteristics
Drainage area has been used as a parameter in regression models
of precipitation-runoff process. As drainage basins increase in size,
they become longer and narrower. Drainage density is defined as
the ratio of total channel segment lengths cumulated for all stream
orders within a basin to the basin area.
5. Channel and Basin Gradients
The slopes of a drainage basin and its channels have a strong
influence on the runoff process as they affect the runoff rate
6. Area-elevation relation
The distribution of area between contour in a drainage basin is an
important characteristics as it relates to the storage and flow
characteristics of the basin.
A stream hydrograph is a continuous plot of discharge rate versus
time at a point along a stream during a storm event.
Streamflow is usually measured by stage (i.e., depth). Therefore, it starts
with the plot of stage versus time. Then, it is transformed into flow versus
time using a rating curve (i.e., stage-discharge curve) at the point of
measurement.
Streamflow hydrographs provide information on peak flows, time
distribution of flows, the total flow volume over a certain duration which
can be used to determine flooding potential and size reservoirs, storage
tanks, detention ponds, and other facilities.
A hydrograph has four components:
1. direct surface runoff;
2. interflow
3. groundwater or base flow;
4. channel precipitation.

The rising limb is called concentration curve, the region in the vicinity of
the peak is called the crest segment, and the falling limb is called the
recession curve. The shape of a hydrograph is a function of precipitation
pattern characteristics and basin properties.
In general, there is a baseflow component which are considered to be
normal day-to-day flow. The runoff component can be divided into the
abstraction and direct runoff. If baseflow and abstraction are removed
from the streamflow hydrograph, the resulting hydrograph is called direct
runoff hydrograph. The main component to be separated from the
streamflow hydrograph is the baseflow.
There are two main approaches in modelling rainfall to runoff.
Deterministic models assume the same inputs will produce the same
outputs. On the other hands, stochastic models assume both inputs and
outputs are random variables and the same inputs may produce different
outputs. However, the preferable modelling approach is a function of time,
budget, expertise of the users and the purpose of the analysis. The
following diagram shows two common deterministic models for rainfallrunoff transformation.

Hydrologic Channel Routing

Hydrologic routing is used to simulate the temporal and spatial variations
of a flood wave as it traverses a river reach or detention reservoir. In
hydrologic routing, the equation of continuity and a linear or curvilinear
relation between discharge and storage within a river and reservoir are
used.

When a flood wave enters a river section, the water surface within the
section is not always parallel to the channel bed. The storage in a channel
can be considered as a combination of prism storage and wedge storage
as shown in the following figure. The prism storage is the volume of water
that would exist if the flow were uniform at the downstream depth. The
wedge storage is the volume of water between the actual water surface
profile and the top surface of the prism storage. The wedge storage
increases the flood volume during the rising stage and decreases it during
the receding stage. Thus, the storage-discharge curve of the river section
is a loop reflecting the rising and falling stages. Additionally, local inflows
and seepage within the river section should be accounted for in hydrologic
river routing.

Hydrologic river routing are all based upon the following equation of
continuity:

where I is the inflow rate to the reach; O is the outflow rate from the
research; and (dS/dt) is the rate of change of storage within the reach.
This lecture introduces the Muskingum Method.
Muskingum Method
In order to solve the above equation, a relationship between storage and
inflow and outflow is required. This method utilizes the following
relationship:

where K is the storage time constant for the reach and X (or c in the
textbook) is a weighting factor that varies between O and S. Substituting
Eq. (2) into Eq. (1) and denote subscripts 1 and 2 as the beginning and
ending times, Eq. (1) becomes

Values of K and X (or c in the textbook) for this method are commonly
estimated using K equal to the travel time in the reach and an average
value of X equal 0.2. If inflow and outflow hydrograph records are
available, they can be used to estimate K and X.
This method works best for

slowly changing flows,

streams with small slopes where the storage-discharge curve is

approximately linear,

delta t is much smaller than the travel time of flood wave and small
enough to ensure linear variation of inflows and outflows. A rule of
thumb of delta t is given by

Hydrologic Reservoir Routing

A flood wave which passes through a storage reservoir is delayed and
attenuated as it enters and spreads over the reservoir surface. Water that
is stored is then released through either a controlled or uncontrolled

outlet. To route a flood wave through a nonlinear reservoir, the storageoutflow relation and the continuity equation are combined to determine
outflow and storage at the end of each time step. Thus, both the
elevation-storage curve and elevation-discharge curve must be
developed.
Elevation-storage relation can be estimated by

where A1 is the surface area of the reservoir when h equals zero and A2 is
the surface are of the reservoir when h equals the depth of flow.
Elevation-discharge curve is assumed to be unique for a reservoir and is
described by the following equations:
1. Uncontrolled weir outflows

where Qw is the weir discharge rate; C is the weir coefficient; B is

the weir length; and H is the hydraulic head above the weir crest.
2. Controlled orifice outflows

where Qo is the orifice discharge rate; C is the orifice coefficient; Ao

is the orifice area; g is the gravitational constant (9.81 m/s2); and H
is the depth of water above the centre line of orifice.
The hydrologic volumetric balance equation can be rearranged as follows:

where the unknowns are the terms on the right side. Routing time (delta t)
should not be too short or too long.
The procedure for hydrologic reservoir routing is listed below:
1. Develop elevation-storage and elevation-discharge curves and
combine them to a storage indication curve (i.e., a plot of (2S/delta t
+ O) versus O).
2. Knowing In, In+1, Sn, and On, compute the left hand side of Eq.
(11), i.e., (2Sn+1/delta t + On+1).

3. Determine On+1 from the storage indication curve (i.e., a plot of

(2S/delta t + O) versus O).
4. Compute (2Sn+1/delta t - On+1) by substracting 2On+1 from
(2Sn+1/delta t + On+1).
5. Add In+1, In+2 and (2Sn+1/delta t - On+1) to determine the left
hand side of Eq. (11) and to back to step (3) for the next time step.

One aspect of hydrology that needs more investigation is the effect of

extreme events on water pathways, and runoff timing and yield.
Extreme events are like droughts and floods, but also include a range of
storm types from long-duration, low-intensity storms to short-duration,
high-intensity storms. Extreme events also can include major alterations
of the landscape through deforestation, conversion from one land-use to
another, such as urbanization of agricultural areas, and the effects of fire,
landslides and volcanism. Any of these events can have a pronounced
effect on the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of a
catchment and, in turn, these can affect the hydrology.
One area that needs attention, but probably because management of
large data sets was relatively untenable at least until recently, is the
comparative analysis of hydrologic characteristics among catchments
throughout the world. Recent technological developments, such as
computers and digital data recording devices, make intersite comparisons
much more attractive, but there remains a need for assessing data
quality, and reduction of data accumulated in files other than those on
magnetic or electronic media. It is to this end that high technology
interdisciplinary studies should be encouraged from plot to larger scales in
the same basic units of the landscape, the catchment.

A more active participation by researchers in a variety of fields such as

hydrogeology and plant physiology be encouraged by an international
network of experimental catchments where paired catchment studies and
experiments can be conducted, and scale issues can be investigated from
nested basin results. These catchments can serve as a testing ground for
new ideas as they are formulated and for advances in methods of data
analysis.

Storage Volume Components

For a given reservoir design, storage components are :
1. Operational storage;
2. Equalizing storage;
3. Standby storage;
4. Fire suppression storage; and
5. Dead storage, if any.
Effective Storage
Total volume, as measured between the overflow and the reservoir outlet
elevations, may not necessarily equal the effective volume available to
the water system. Effective volume is equal to the total volume less any
dead storage built into the reservoir.
Momentum=( Mass)(Velocity), provides the required energy, with low
head(velocity) high discharge(mass), the design of reaction type(Kaplan)
turbine provides optimization, and for high head low discharge the
design goes to Pelton wheel, impact type, which provides the energy
optimization. Francis medium head with medium discharge turbine output,
could be optimized at MDDL, like Kaplan by blade angle adjustment.
In practical world, hydro power is mainly used for peak shaving. About the
optimization of pondage type or run-of-the river schemes what usually
followed is to optimize on the power output during peak. For this the level
at the beginning of the peak is to be kept at maximum possible level so
that the power output is maximum .
While doing so, the considerations are:
1. The margin shall be kept to accommodate the excess water if the rate
of inflow is greater than the depletion capability. The depletion capability
shall also consider the probability of forced outage of units.

2. The maximum level shall not exceed the safe reservoir level. Safe
reservoir level is computed from the maximum rate of inflow that could
occur (obtained from statistical analysis).
3. Duration of operation of upstream station, its operation timing and the
time consumed in the flow of water from upstream generator to the
station in the case of cascaded schemes. This may have to be optimized
with respect to the control area load-generation balance with minimization
of cost of power procurement
4. In the case of large storage reservoirs, the MDDL computations occur
only towards the end of the active inflow period an there lowering MDDL is
always advantageous, but it has little to do with any optimization in
operation.
Generally the MDDL is above the dead storage level of reservoir by 2.5D
(D=Dia of intake tunnel);
Dead Storage level is obtained by calculating the silt inflow during the life
period of the reservoir (say 100 years).
After the construction of reservoir till 100 years that level never reaches
& can be utilized by providing the suitable arrangement at intake keeping
the power MDDL level at dead storage level.
Somewhere 1% (corresponding to a about 50 km ) of the storage volume
of the world's reservoir is lost annually due to sediment deposition. If
watershed management which is best option, not carried out effectively,
reservoirs storage lost at much larger rates. In another way, flushing may
be another most economic methods recovering lost storage without
incurring the expenditure of dredging or other mechanical means of
removing sediment. Flushing is the scouring out of deposited sediments
from reservoirs through the use of low level outlets in a dam by lowering
water levels, and thus increasing the flow velocities in the reservoir. It has
limitation causing injection of high sediment concentrations to the
downstream river system; involving large volumes of water being passed
through the dam; usually effective in narrow reservoirs and requiring the
reservoir to be emptied; significant transformations bringing in the
downstream basin due to the redistribution of sediments and discharges.
Another technique for decreasing Reservoir sedimentation is the passing
of turbidity currents through the reservoir and low-level sluices in the
dam. Turbidity currents occur when sediment-laden water enters an
impoundment, plunges beneath the clear water, and travels downstream
along the submerged thalweg. As the current travels downstream, it will
generally deposit the coarser part of its sediment load along the bottom,

and if the current reaches the dam, it can be vented through low-level
outlets.
When dealing with reservoir-sedimentation problems engineers are
challenged by the difficult questions emerging. How to incorporate
reservoir problems in feasibility studies (cost-benefit analyses) including
environmental and technical effects, limitations on benefit and possible
measures? Or what is the impact of sedimentation on the reservoir
performance such as power generation and water supply, and what is the
impact of the reservoir on the river-system morphology? Obviously a good
prediction of the processes and trying to better understanding of the
reservoir behavior is essential to master the reservoir-sedimentation
issues.
During the 1997 19th Congress of the International Commission on Large
Dams (ICOLD), the Sedimentation Committee passed a resolution
encouraging all member countries to the following measures:
1. Develop methods for the prediction of the surface erosion rate based on
rainfall and soil properties.
2. Develop computer models for the simulation and prediction of reservoir
sedimentation processes.
The most important distribution principles of these sediments in the
reservoir can be subdivided into the following groups:
- Coarse sediment deltaic deposits:
mainly the coarse sediment fractions are deposited in the head of
the reservoir by backwater effects during high discharges, forming a
delta.

To
pset, Foreset, Bottomset beds
The delta proceeds into the reservoir while the foreset slope can be
considered as an area of instability and slumping.
- Fine sediments in homogeneous flow:
A large part of the fine sediments transported in suspension or as wash
load are transported beyond the delta after which they settle out to form
the bottom set bed.
They are more evenly spread than coarse sediment, but there distribution
is highly dependent on reservoir circulation and stratification, for instance
generated by river inflow and wind shear, or precluded by an ice cover.
Also for this type of deposition the quantification methods still yield rough
predictions.
- Turbidity currents:
another important transport mode for fine sediments, i.e., silt and clay, is
the turbidity current. It is formed when the turbid river inflow plunges
below the clear reservoir water and continues as a density underflow. Also
other processes can generate them, such as underwater slides (slumping
of delta front) or coastal erosion.
Turbidity currents are driven by an excess gravity force (negative
buoyancy) due to the presence of sediment-laden water in a clear ambient
fluid.
By focusing on sediment impacts in hydropower plant the following
impacts may be notified:

1. The effect of reservoir sedimentation on regulating water resources and

its impact on power generation
2. The effect of sediment inflow to power intakes and its impacts on
turbine system and other components of the hydropower plant.
The erosion of turbine component depend on:
(i)
eroding particles - size, shape, hardness,
(ii)
(ii) substrateschemistry, elastic properties, surface hardness,
surface morphology, and
(iii) (iii) operating conditions velocity, impingement angle, and
concentration and like that.
Depending on the gradient of the river and distance traversed by the sand
particles, the shape and size of sediment particles vary at different
locations of the same river system, whereas mineral content is dependent
on the geological formation of the river course and its catchments area.
Run-of-river projects are constructed to utilize the available water
throughout the year without having any storage.
These projects usually consist of a small diversion weir or dam across a
river to diver the river flow into the water conveyance system for power
production. Therefore, these projects do not have room to store sediments
but should be able to bypass the incoming bed loads to the river
downstream.
The suspended sediments will follow the diverted water to the conveyance
system. Settling basins are constructed close to the intake to trap certain
fractions of the suspended sediment
Sediment management measures for reservoirs
Sediment management practices for reservoirs are often as different as
their physical and technical conditions and social-economic and
environmental aspects. Based on literatures and existence experiences,
four general categories as observed follows:
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.

watershed rehabilitation (Structural and non- Structural

Measures)
sediment flushing
sediment routing
sediment removal and disposal

Based on the above general categories some of the measures commonly

used to reduce reservoir sedimentation are narrated.
Soil conservation
This strategy focuses on reducing sediment inflow to dam reservoir.

In the upstream watershed of a reservoir, three basic patterns of soil

conservation measures are commonly taken to reduce sediment load
entering the reservoir:
structural measures,
vegetative measures, and
tillage practice.
Structural measures include terraced farmlands, flood interception and
diversion works, gully head protection works, bank protection works,
check dams, and silt trapping dams.
Vegetative measures include growing soil and water conservation forests,
closing off hillsides, and reforestation.
Tillage practice includes contour farming, ridge and furrow farming, pit
planting, rotation cropping of grain and grass, deep ploughing,
intercropping and interplanting, and no-tillage farming. For a large
watershed with poor natural conditions, soil conservation can hardly be
effective in the short term.
Bypass of incoming sediment
Rivers carry most of the annual sediment load during the flood season.
Bypassing heavily sediment-laden flows through a channel or tunnel may
avoid serious reservoir sedimentation.
The bypassed flows may be used for warping, where possible. Such a
combination may bring about high efficiency in sediment management.
When heavily sediment-laden flows are bypassed through a tunnel or
channel, reservoir sedimentation may be alleviated to some extent. In this
method, however, the construction cost of such a facility may be high.
Sediment diverting
Sediment diverting (Warping) has been used around the world. It has a
history of more than 1,000 years in China as a means of filling low land
and improving the quality of salinized land.
Now, this practice may have a dual role, not only improving the land but
also reducing sediment load entering reservoirs.
Warping is commonly carried out in flood seasons, when the sediment
load is mainly concentrated, especially in sediment-laden rivers. Warping
can also be used downstream from dams when hyperconcentrated flow is
flushed out of reservoirs.
Joint operation of reservoirs
Joint operation of reservoirs is a rational scheme to fully use the water
resources of a river with cascade development. For sedimentation
management of reservoirs built on sedimentladen rivers, such an
operation may also be beneficial to mitigate reservoir sedimentation and
to fully use the water and sediment resources, provided a reasonable
sequence of cascade development is made.

There are various patterns of joint operation of reservoirs built in semi-arid

and arid areas. The idea is to use the upper reservoir to impound floods
and trap sediment and to use the lower reservoir to impound clear water
for water supply.
Another idea is to use the upper reservoir for flood detention and the
lower reservoir for flood impoundment. Irrigation water in the lower
reservoir is used first; when it is exhausted, the water in the upper
reservoir is used. The released water from the upper reservoir may not
only erode the deposits in the lower reservoir, but also cause warping by
the sediment-saturated water
Drawdown flushing
Drawdown flushing is a commonly used method of recovering lost storage
of reservoirs. It may be adopted in both large and small reservoirs. The
efficiency of drawdown flushing depends on the configuration of the
reservoir, the characteristics of the outlet, the incoming and outgoing
discharges, sediment concentrations, and other factors.
Sometimes reservoir emptying operations may be used for increasing
efficiency of the flushing.
In the process of reservoir emptying, three types of sediment flushing
occur:
retrogressive erosion and longitudinal erosion,
sediment flushing during detention by the base flow, and
density current venting.
Environmental impacts are the most constraints for drawdown flushing.
Venting density current
Density currents have been observed in many reservoirs around the
world. A density current may carry a large amount of sediment and pass a
long distance along a reservoir bed without mixing with surrounding clear
water. The conditions necessary to form a density current, and allow it to
reach the dam and be vented out if the outlet is opened in time, have
been studied extensively, both from the data of field measurements and
laboratory tests. Venting of density currents is one of the key measures for
discharging sediment from several reservoirs in the world wide. Density
current venting may be carried out under the condition of impoundment,
thus maintaining the high benefit of the reservoirs.
Lateral erosion
The technique of lateral erosion is to break the flood plain deposits and
flush them out by the combined actions of scouring and gravitational
erosion caused by the great transverse gradient of the flood plains. In so
doing, it is necessary to build a low dam at the upstream end of a
reservoir to divert water into diversion canals along the perimeter of the
reservoir. The flow is collected in trenches on the flood plains.
During lateral erosion, because the surface slope of the flood plain is
steep and the flow has a high undercutting capability, intensive caving-in
occurs at both sides of the collecting trench. The sediment concentration

of the flow may be as high as 250 kg/m3. This technique has the
advantage of high efficiency and low cost, and no power or machines are
required.
Siphoning dredging
Siphoning dredging makes use of the head difference between the
upstream and downstream levels of the dam as the source of power for
the suction of deposits from the reservoir to the downstream side of the
dam.
Siphoning dredging has a wide range of applications in small and mediumsize reservoirs. Such an application is valuable to solve reservoir
sedimentation and to fulfill the demand of irrigation if the head difference
is adequate and the distance between upstream and downstream ends of
the siphon is not too great.
Dredging by dredgers
Dredging is used to remove reservoir deposits when other measures are
not suitable for various reasons. In general, dredging is an expensive
measure. However, when the dredged material may be used as
construction material, it may be cost effective.