Temporal changes of the hydrological health index of the Neor wetland outflow in Ardabil province

The quantity and quality of river flow is one of the factors that are related to the health of humans and living organisms, and it is strongly affected by watershed activities, which are naturally or artificially caused by human activities. In this regard, it is necessary to evaluate the effects of human activities on river flow regime to optimally use of water resources. Therefore, in the present study, the temporal changes in the flow health of water outflow from Neor Wetland has been assessed in pre and post construction of Neor Dam in (1978-1987) and (1987-2019) periods. Therefore, temporal changes in the flow health of Neor river flow were evaluated using Flow Health software. The results indicated that the value of the Flow Health index was equal to 0.77 in the period before the construction of the Neor Dam. While in the period after the construction of the dam, the value of the Flow Health index has been decreased (0.74). Among the nine investigated indicators, the indicators of persistently very low and lowest monthly flow had not changed in the study period. In addition, the index of flood flow interval has the most deviation from the natural condition. On the other hand, the results showed that the precipitation in the study area had a non-significant increasing trend, while the flow discharge had no-significant decreasing trend. The results of the present research can be used in interpretating the effects of storage dam on the flow variability and hydrological river flow health.