Environmental requirement assessment in Zarrinehrood River by hydrological methods

Determination of environmental flow in river systems and other watery ecosystems is a new science in Iran and other developing countries. This paper evaluates the ecological requirement in a typical river by different hydrological and eco-hydrological methods. In this study, environmental requirement of Zarrinehrood river (located in North West of Iran), from downstream of Bukan dam up to Urmia lake (near to 140 km), was estimated by four Tennant, Tessman, Desktop Reserve Model (DRM) and FDC Shifting using the hydrometric data of Sariqamish station. According to results, the amounts generated from FDC Shifting method are more proper because of considering the ecological management qualification. Therefore, 16.7 CMS (equals to 33% of mean annually flow) was obtained as average environmental requirement of Zarrinehrood river in ecological management class C (maintains minimum ecological term in river). Also, monthly distribution of recommended environmental flow was compared with monthly flow of Sariqamish hydrometry station. The critical period for the river is during August to October. In this period, the monthly flow of 12.6, 11.6 and 6.3 m3s-1, are required to flow downstream in order to preserve the river life.