Workshop 2
W.K. Annable, PhD, PhD, PEng, PE, PGeo
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
University of Waterloo,
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 5M1
Workshop 2: The Effects of Hydromodification on River Channels. Why Restoration to Memorable Times May Not be the Most Effective Strategy for a Sustainable Future.
Course Participants:
This workshop is designed for stream practitioners, engineers, hydrologists, water resource planners, researchers and other related fields interested in watershed planning, restoration and management, especially those working in watersheds whose hydrology has been altered by landuse changes.
Course Description:
Many of our watersheds have undergone and continue to experience changes to their hydrologic and sediment regimes, which complicates how we manage and restore rivers. Attempts to restore pre-impact conditions to streams is often not achievable because of watershed level changes in controlling conditions. Determining appropriate characteristics for a quasi-equilibrium channel following irreversible changes in hydrology and sediment supply/transport has not been well explored. In the absence of this information, practitioners have transferred quasi-equilibrium characteristics found within rural and wilderness settings to define future conditions of these highly altered watercourses.
This Workshop will cover some outstanding questions in regards to the management and rehabilitation of rivers within heavily altered watersheds: 1) Do quasi-equilibrium river reaches exist within watersheds subjected to significant change? 2) If so, what are their specific characteristics, and how do they compare to rural or wilderness settings in the same hydrophysiographic region? 3) Are there central tendencies common to both altered and rural fluvial processes that can be prescribed to mitigate the adverse effects of irreversible landuse change? These questions are the basis of the workshop with data and restoration projects applied with new trajectories to altered state systems.
See Abstract