A review of sedimentation rates in freshwater reservoirs: recent changes and causative factors

Laureano Gonzalez Rodriguez; Adrian McCallum; Damon Kent; Charith Rathnayaka; Helen Fairweather

doi:10.1007/s00027-023-00960-0

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A review of sedimentation rates in freshwater reservoirs: recent changes and causative factors

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A review of sedimentation rates in freshwater reservoirs: recent changes and causative factors

Laureano Gonzalez Rodriguez, Adrian McCallum, Damon Kent, Charith Rathnayaka and Helen Fairweather

Aquatic Sciences, Vol.85, pp.1-19

2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-023-00960-0

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Abstract

freshwater reservoirs

sedimentation rate

storage capacity

land use change

climate change

measurement methods

Sediment deposition in water reservoirs has major implications for storage capacity, reservoir lifetime, and water quality. Changes in rainfall patterns and land use will consequently alter the rate of erosion and therefore have a direct effect on sedimentation rates. This literature review employed a systematic mapping approach to collate and describe evidence of contemporary sedimentation trends for impounded reservoirs and natural lakes with emphasis on studies which analysed impacts on water storage capacity. Fourteen studies determined an overall increase in sedimentation rate, 13 identified a recent decline and another 5 reported mixed results. Interestingly, 83.3% of the articles that studied natural lakes found an increase in recent contemporary sedimentation, while 54.5% of the articles on impounded reservoirs indicated recent declines in sediment deposition. Land use change was the main causative factor responsible for sedimentation rate increase followed by the combined effects of land activities and climate change. Soil and sediment management strategies, implemented in and upstream of some impounded reservoirs, have proved to be effective in mitigating and remediating reservoir sedimentation. From the 147 papers preselected, only 33 contain sufficient sedimentation data to infer recent rate trends with only about 45% of these articles reporting quantities of storage capacity loss caused by sedimentation. Across these 33 studies, assessments of sedimentation and associated storage capacity loss are compromised by the limited spatiotemporal resolution of current measurement methods, reinforcing the requirement to develop new, more robust techniques to monitor sedimentation and storage capacity changes.

Details

Title: A review of sedimentation rates in freshwater reservoirs: recent changes and causative factors
Authors: Laureano Gonzalez Rodriguez (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Adrian McCallum (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Damon Kent (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Charith Rathnayaka (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Helen Fairweather (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Publication details: Aquatic Sciences, Vol.85, pp.1-19
Publisher: Birkhaeuser Science
Date published: 2023
DOI: 10.1007/s00027-023-00960-0
ISSN: 1420-9055; 1015-1621
Copyright note: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Grant note: Open Access funding enabled and organized by CAUL and its Member Institutions. LGR received financial support for the submitted work through the Research Training Program.
Organisation Unit: Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre; Cancer Research Cluster; School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Sustainability Research Cluster
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99715298902621
Output Type: Journal article