Impacts of droughts on environment flow (Case study: Minab River, Hormozgan, Iran)

Subject Areas : Water and Environment

Saeedeh Rostam Afshar ¹ , Seyedeh Hoda Rahmati ² , Hedayat Fahmi ³

1 - Msc Student of Environmental Engineering – Water Resources, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
2 - Assistant professor, Department of Environmental Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. *(Coresponding Author)
3 - Industrial Advisor, Deputy of Water & Wastewater Macro Planning Bureau, Ministry of Energy of Iran, Tehran, Iran.

Received: 2020-09-24 Accepted : 2020-12-08 Published : 2022-02-20

Keywords: Minab River, Drought, Flow duration curve, Minimum environmental flow, Modified Montana method,

Abstract :

Background and Objective: One of the the most effective method to protect environment, is to know minimum amount of water required for environment at the right time. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of drought on the environmental flow of Minab River, in order to create environmental balance.Material and Methodology: Because of insufficient knowledge of different methods in Iran and their compatibility with management and climatic conditions of the country, after reviewing all available methods, the modified Montana and the flow continuity were selected as the optimal methods.Findings: After selecting the study area, flow discharge at the Brentin station in the Minab River during the years 1963 to 2017 were collected. Firstly, monthly average flow was calculated and later, annual average flow was determined which was equal to 8.16 cubic meters per second. Since the monthly average flow for October, November amd May to September are less than the annual average flow, they were considered as low water period and from December to April were considered as high water period. In the next step, river flow for low-water period and high-water period were calculated and equaled to 2.80 and 15.65 cubic meters per second respectively. Finally, based on different management classes, environmental flow of the Minab River using modified Montana method was calculated and equalled to 0.28 for the low water period and 1.56 for the high water period. Environmental flow with flow duration method equaled to 1.24 cubic meters per second.Discussion and Conclusion: The results reveals that, minimum flow to meet the environmental needs for the Minab River during low water period should be considered 0.28 and between 1.24 and 1.56 cubic meters per second at high water period repectively. 

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