Angela Arthington 
Environmental Flows 
Saving Rivers in the Third Millennium

Environmental Flows describes the timing, quality, and quantity of water flows required to sustain freshwater and estuarine ecosystems and the human well-being and livelihoods that depend upon them. It answers crucial questions about the flow of water within and between different kinds of ecosystems. What happens when the flow or the availability of water is curtailed or diverted, either naturally or by human activity? How will climate change alter the availability of water and impact aquatic ecosystems? Methodological developments from the simplest hydrological formulas to large-scale frameworks that inform water management make this book a must-read for water managers and freshwater and estuarine ecologists contending with ever-changing conditions influencing the flow of water.

Table of Content

Preface and Acknowledgments


1. River Values and Threats

2. Global Hydrology, Climate, and River Flow Regimes

3. Catchments, Drainage Networks, and Resource Regimes

4. River Ecology, the Natural Flow Regime Paradigm, and Hydroecological Principles

5. Effects of Catchment Change and River-Corridor Engineering

6. History of Water Control and Dam Impacts

7. Effects of Dams on Sediment, Thermal, and Chemical Regimes

8. Effects of Dams on Habitat and Aquatic Biodiversity

9. Introduction to Environmental Flow Methods

10. Hydraulic Rating and Habitat Simulation Methods

11. Flow Protection Methods

12. Flow Restoration Methods

13. Ecological Limits of Hydrologic Alteration (ELOHA)

14. Environmental Flow Relationships, Models, and Applications

15. Groundwater-Dependent Ecosystems and Threats

16. Sustaining Groundwater-Dependent Ecosystems

17. Wetlands, Threats, and Water Requirements

18. Estuaries, Threats, and Flow Requirements

19. Setting Limits to Hydrologic Alteration

20. Implementing and Monitoring Environmental Flows

21. Legislation and Policy

22. Adapting to Climate Change


Appendix: The Brisbane Declaration (2007)

Literature Cited

Index

About the author

Angela Arthington is Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Environmental Science at Griffith University in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. She is a senior Research Member of the Australian Rivers Institute and advisor to State and Commonwealth governments on environmental water management.