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Annual water yield, stormflow peaks and volumes, and low flows can be affected by
activities on upland watersheds including timber harvesting, wildfires, roads, and
vegetative conversions. Some key points that should be understood concerning the
above relationships include
1. What changes in vegetative cover usually result in an increase in the quantity of
water yield? What are the exceptions?
2. What methods are available to estimate changes in water yield caused by changes
in vegetative cover?
3. How can land-use practices affect streamflow during periods of high flows and of
low flows?
4. What are some examples of changes in a watershed that can result in _ higher
flows during the dry season; _ higher flows during the wet season; and _ lower flows
during both the dry and the wet season?
5. Does clear cutting of forests cause flooding to increase? If so, explain why.
6. How do wildfire and prescribed fire differ in their effects on streamflow regimes?
7. In what way do land-use activities and environmental change affect hydrologic
processes on watersheds and the ultimate streamflow response? What are the
relations between hydrologic processes on a watershed?
8. What factors are important in determining how much of a change in water yields
from an upland watershed might reach downstream reservoirs?
The protection and maintenance of high-quality surface water are also fundamental
goals of watershed management.
Wildland watersheds should be managed such that the management practices and
other land-use activities do not cumulatively have adverse impacts on the other
beneficial uses. Obtaining the multiple benefits available on many wildland
ecosystems is often compatible with efforts to maintain or increase the flows of high-
quality water. For example, removal of chaparral shrubs to increase forage
production can also increase water yield in some instances and can benefit certain
wildlife species and reduce fire hazards. However, the same reductions in shrubs can
be detrimental to other wildlife species. A watershed manager must understand how
the collective set of management and land-use actions on a watershed complement
or compete with multipleresource objectives and mitigate unwanted effects. The
overall objective is to achieve production goals without adversely affecting soils and
water flows.
The amount and timing of water flow from first-order watersheds and the
downstream flow and sediment relationships in the channel are all affected by
environmental changes, watershed management practices, and land-use activities on
the watershed. Changes in vegetative composition, density, age structures, and
continuity across the landscape can affect ET losses and, as a consequence, influence
water yields and timing streamflow discharge at different parts of a watershed.

The flow of water and sediment from upland watersheds affects both the storage and
operation of reservoirs that can be designed to meet one or more of the following
goals:
 To provide water for agricultural irrigation, municipal uses, and
hydroelectric-power generation;
 To maintain instream flows during the dry season; and
 To provide storage to mitigate flood hazards.
 10.1. Effects of forest removal on upstream and downstream stormflow
hydrographs where desynchronization of stormflow hydrographs occur

Whether a reservoir remains operational to meet these goals depends to a large

extent on the management and condition of the upland watersheds contributing
water to the reservoir. For example, watershed management practices that maintain
high rates of infiltration and lowflows of surface runoff should be considered when
flood control is an objective.
Wetland areas within a watershed attenuate stormflow peaks, and, therefore, their
protection should also be part of the overall watershed management program when
flooding is a concern. However, an accelerated rate of sedimentation resulting from
land use on upland watersheds can cause a loss of reservoir storage and the ability of
that reservoir to meet the demands for which it was designed.
Determining the storage capacity of a reservoir requires that the inflows of water to
the reservoir and rates of sediment deposition be balanced against projected
demands for water. The total storage capacity of a reservoir is the sum of the active
storage and dead storage.
Active storage is that needed to meet all demands; that is, to prevent shortages and
(in some cases) to provide flood-control benefits. Dead storage is that part of the
reservoir allocated to trap and hold sediment and, therefore, must be of sufficient
volume to prevent sedimentation from affecting the active storage for a period equal
to the economic-design life of the reservoir. The gates in a dam to release water from
the reservoir are located above the upper level of the dead-storage zone.

The general operating procedures of a reservoir can best be understood by

considering the storage requirements for the multipurpose reservoir illustrated in
Figure 10.2. This reservoir has storage space allocated for both conservation (water
supply) and flood-control purposes. Within the conservation storage is a buffer zone,
the top of which is used as a threshold to allocate water releases from the reservoir
during critical dry periods. Once the elevation of the reservoir pool drops to the top
of the buffer zone, water can be released only for those purposes determined to be
most important such as providing municipal-water supplies. Lesser needs will not be
met until the pool elevation is higher than the top of the buffer pool.
Several buffer zones can be used as a mechanism to allocate water on a priority basis
in periods of shortages. If the reservoir has a hydroelectric-power-generating
capacity, the amount of head required to drive the turbines and the corresponding
storage would be an added operational zone in the reservoir. Once sediment begins
to encroach into the respective storage spaces, operating the reservoir to meet the
respective demands becomes more difficult. As shown in Figure 10.2, sediment does
not necessarily settle out only in the dead-storage space. Coarse materials are
deposited at inflow points in the upper reaches of the reservoir pool while finer
sediments tend to settle out near the dam.
The capability of a reservoir to meet all of the anticipated demands for water
becomes limited as sediment fills the active-storage space. Storage volumes in the
conservation pool can be inadequate to meet demands in periods of drought or there
might not be adequate storage space in the flood-control pool to control major flood
events. Some of these problems can be addressed by applying an operational rule
curve approach to reallocate storage space for different purposes seasonally. Rule
curves provide operational guidelines for the most efficient use of reservoir storage.
For example, the season in which irrigation supplies are needed is often the period
in which the threat of large floods is minimal. Therefore, the elevation of the
conservation pool can be raised into the normal flood-control pool during that time.
When the flood season approaches, the conservation pool is then lowered to provide
flood-control space. Rule curves allow demands to be met with a smaller total
storage capacity in the reservoir. But even rule-curve operations might not suffice
when sedimentation becomes excessive.

Storage allocation for a multipurpose reservoir with associated

sedimentation
Wetlands are areas inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency
and duration sufficient to support a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted to
saturated soil conditions. As a result, wetlands have unique vegetation
(hydrophytes) and soils (hydric soils) that distinguish them from adjacent uplands.
Riparian areas can be considered as the interface between terrestrial systems and
either bodies of water or wetlands. However, wetlands can occur in riparian areas.
The hydrologic functions of wetlands include:
 intercepting and reducing the transport of sediment and other pollutants to
downstream water bodies;
 attenuating stormflow peaks;
 supporting hydric plants not found elsewhere on a watershed, thereby
providing enriched biodiversity; and
 providing habitats for many organisms from microbes to migrating waterfowl
– which has led to wetland preservation programs by sportsmen groups
throughout North America.
Wetlands were once considered by many people to be “swamplands” of little
economic value unless they are drained to create agricultural croplands or reduce
the occurrence of mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria. However, because of
their hydrologic, water quality, habitat, and biodiversity values, efforts to manage,
protect, and restore wetlands have become paramount today. The challenge
confronting watershed managers is balancing the needed protection or restoration
(when required) to retain the above values of these ecosystems while under
pressures of agricultural, urban, and other types of development.

Wetlands are often touted as being important groundwater-recharge zones and

systems that attenuate flood peaks and sustain streamflow during the dry season.
Two hydrologic conditions are necessary for wetlands to form:
(1) There is a persistent excess of water at the earth’s surface, and
(2) The topography and climatic regime result in slow-moving water.
Excess water occurs at the earth’s surface under conditions where annual
precipitation exceeds annual PET, where groundwater intersects the surface or
where there are depressions in the landscape that collect runoff or subsurface flow.
Low topographic relief or depressions result in stagnant or slow movement of water,
which are conducive to anaerobic conditions and associated microbial communities
in soils, resulting in the formation of hydric soils and the development of unique
plant communities that are adapted to such conditions.
Wetlands typically have a poorly defined or nonexistent channel-drainage system;
drainage density is very low in contrast to upland areas of a watershed. As a result of
slow-moving water and saturated soils, dead organic material tends to accumulate
with the decomposition of organic matter resulting in even further reduced oxygen
levels in the zone of saturation. Examples of the various surface–groundwater
relationships for wetland formation are illustrated in Figure 10.3.
The flow-through type wetland (A) maintains a fairly stable water table in the
wetland throughout the year because of the direct connection with the regional
groundwater source. In peatlands, this type would be typical minerotrophic
(mineral-rich) fens, which maintain a more diverse plant community than
ombrotrophic (mineral-poor) bogs where water tables are maintained by
precipitation and perched above the regional water table (as in the case of D).
Raised bogs can also form on top of fen peatlands, a situation in which a perched
water table lies immediately above the regional water table. The vegetation in these
raised bogs, however, is not in direct contact with the regional groundwater and as a
result exhibits the same mineral-poor characteristics of a perched bog.
Examples of depressional wetland formation are situations where surface runoff and
groundwater flow into the depression, and when the water table in the wetland is
sufficiently raised, the wetland discharges water from a channel outlet (B).
In drier environments, a depressional wetland can form from seasonal precipitation
excess and surface runoff and either discharge to groundwater (from the edges of
the wetland) during periods of high water tables, as in (C), or can maintain a perched
water table above the regional groundwater (D).
Wetlands can also form in areas where springs or seeps occur (E). This same process
can occur along lakes and coastal areas where the groundwater discharges to the
water body through an adjacent, low-lying area.

: Surface and groundwater relationships that form wetlands

Wetlands that are fed by regional groundwater exhibit a relatively stable water
table. If there is a channel outlet in the wetland, these systems will sustain a
relatively even pattern of streamflow throughout wet and dry seasons. In contrast,
wetlands that have perched water tables and a channel outlet can be separated from
regional groundwater, exhibiting greater seasonal fluctuations in both the water
table and the streamflow discharge.

: Water budgets for a perched peatland bog and a groundwater-

fedpeatland fen. P, precipitation; ET, evapotranspiration; Q, surface discharge; _S,
change in storage; GW, groundwater

Wetland water-budget components of ET and outflow, whether as surface discharge

to streams or as groundwater discharge, are a function of water-table depth. When
the water table is located above, at, or close to the surface, both ET and outflow are
large. As the water-table elevation falls, the water table becomes deeper and ET and
discharge from the wetland diminish.

Depressional wetlands, peatlands, and the like provide storage benefits and
hydrologic functions that are similar to a shallow reservoir. Largely because of their
flat topography and lack of well-defined channels, most wetlands attenuate flood
peaks by temporarily storing or detaining water (Fig. 10.5). There must be an
established relationship between storage and water-table elevation and water-table
elevation and discharge for this analogy to hold. The difference between the two
systems is that (1) the wetland relationships are based on water-table elevations in
contrast to reservoir pool elevations, and (2) storage in wetlands is a function of
wetland–soil characteristics whereas storage in reservoirs is free, unbound water.
Storage–water-table elevation relationships can be determined for any wetland.

: Streamflow from a peatland is governed by water-table elevation

similar to the way that discharge from a reservoir is governed by pool elevation.
Point 1 = high storage and elevation (peatland) correspond to high discharges
(reservoir); point 2 = as water table (peatland) or pool (reservoir) drops, discharge
decreases; point 3 = when respective elevations drop below the outlet (peatland) or
spillway (reservoir), discharge ceases; z = datum