Premium
The Roadford Scheme: Minimizing Environmental Impact on Affected Catchments
Author(s) -
LAWSON J. D.,
SAMBROOK H. T.,
SOLOMON D. J.,
WEILDING G.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
water and environment journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1747-6593
pISSN - 1747-6585
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-6593.1991.tb00685.x
Subject(s) - zoning , environmental science , water quality , scheme (mathematics) , hydrology (agriculture) , drainage basin , flow (mathematics) , streams , water resource management , abstraction , fishery , environmental resource management , computer science , ecology , geography , geology , civil engineering , engineering , mathematics , mathematical analysis , computer network , philosophy , geometry , geotechnical engineering , cartography , epistemology , biology
Roadford reservoir, located in the River Tamar catchment and commissioned in 1989, operates in conjunction with two other reservoirs and increased abstraction from six rivers in North and South Devon. The scheme affects the flow regime in all rivers, as well as their water quality, ecology and, particularly, their important salmon and sea trout fisheries. The paper describes how the detailed operating rules for the scheme have been designed to minimize the impact on the environment by means of changes to the flow regime, without jeopardizing the yield of the scheme. The complex operating rules include the zoning of the reservoir storage, varying prescribed minimum flows, spate sparing rules, and special releases for fisheries purposes. A programme of environmental monitoring will allow further refinement of the operating rules.