Highlights from the IAHR-Spain Water Workshop on Flood Risk Management. Digital approaches for hydrological monitoring and forecasting in basin organisations
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Key messages
In the roadmap for the continual improvement of the basin management entities, digitization is essential. The performance of joint systems must be improved and the models must be capable of integrating all types of data to convey to the population that floods can also be addressed through control and anticipation. To strengthen flood risk management capabilities at basin level, the expert opinions provided during the Conference described here offers some key messages:
Accelerating the improvement and implementation of digital early warning systems is considered vital for Basin Authorities to improve flood risk management.
Common protocols for data exchange are essential to connect the different actors.
The modeling and interaction of the data that the models feed and provide are crucial for digitization to be useful in decision-making and the proposal of alerts and management of reservoirs.
Models must integrate all types of data: meteorological, hydrological and even other types, and quickly interact with well-calibrated models that provide information that is easily transferable to the population.
Digitization is unstoppable, due to the great public dimension of flood phenomena and the importance of transparency and anticipation for today's society.
Artificial Intelligence such as neural networks can help to process potentially large amounts of available data.
Models must be resilient and optimized so that they are viable and also scalable to other basins.
Challenges in digitalising flood risk management include the handling of the sensitivity of peaks and precipitation data; with focus required on model calibration and threshold validation, involving all stakeholders
Opening
Teodoro Estrela Monreal. General Director for Water, Spain
Amparo Lopez Jimenez. IAHR Vice-President
Eric Tardieu. INBO General Secretary
International presentations
Transnational cooperation for effective and operational flood risk management: Exchange of data, forecasting and warning in the Sava River Basin
Mirza Sarač. International Sava River Basin Commission, Croatia
The presentation about action on the Sava River introduces us to interesting activities carried out within the framework of a transnational basin such as this one. This is one of the largest in its area, interacting with a large region and population across multiple countries.
Those countries have been active in terms of sustainability, common actions within the framework of international cooperation. This means that alert systems must also be internationally standardized. The importance of common protocols is presented, so that the different systems integrate the flood plan protocols of the countries involved.
Likewise, the exchange of data is fundamental. For this, there must be a communication policy between the countries and common formats that allow this exchange. There must be common standards so that data communication is fluid. With this in mind, a GIS system has been made for the exchange of information about the basin plans in relation to the river. Examples of the portals of this exchange are presented, including data from the “Copernicus” platform. The presentation and interaction formats of the systems are presented, and the hydrological and meteorological stations that integrate these data are analysed.
Modeling is essential for digitization. Models developed and calibrated for the specific case of the basin under study are presented so that there are numerical and computational simulations for daily decisions. With the actions described here, it is also possible to participate in large projects, such as protection systems for elements of high cultural value, or development of future products based on the hydrological modeling of the basin.
Using Digital Products during Flood situations
Siebolt Folkertsma. Rijkswaterstaat, Netherlands
The characteristics of the Meuse River Basin are presented, with the distributions of area, population and flow. It is a small river within the framework of the Netherlands, in the European sphere, also involving other countries such as Belgium and France. Countries in which the behavior of the river is very different. It is also a transportation route, from Rotterdam to Liège and other cities in France, so regulation by dams and their channeling is essential.
Decisions about flooding depend on the predictions of the surrounding countries. In this sense, it is very important to inform the population of the population risk. During a “cold phase” of the crisis, information must be transmitted to the population considering possible scenarios. During the “Hot” phase when the crises are close, the population must be informed for the evaluation. The web pages are very important and are updated four times a day, so that it can be mobilized. Measurements must be extensive with boats, drones or other systems.
Color codes from 1 to 4 are described in relation to alerts based on river flows and other hydrological predictions, showing flood conditions. Flood monitoring documents are presented.
Digitization is unstoppable, because the public wants information despite the fact that there are many challenges to connect the population with the data, the predictions on the other hand have to be reliable.
The IMAGe early warning system for flood forecasting in major rivers of the Veneto Region (North of Italy)
Daniele Pietro Viero. University of Padova, Italy.
Forecast systems that integrate measurements and forecasts in meteorological and hydrological topics are essential. The systems that integrate the information of the Veneto rivers are presented, where the basins have an enormous anthropization: dams, urban development, irrigation... with which the prediction and modeling is fundamental.
The system that is used integrates the data acquisition processes of the available systems with the predictions for the next three days in terms of hydrological models that, analyzing the runoff, can make flood predictions taking into account various aspects. Hydraulic models are developed with techniques numerical techniques that can propose virtual flood analyzes with different contour hypotheses. The information must be presented and arranged for the recipients, for the population and for the professionals.
Some thoughts:
Digitization is not automatic: generalization is complicated, it must be particularized to each case.
Data must be available for the specific basin.
It is important to recognize the hydraulic, hydrological and meteorological processes so that the data can be used to calibrate the models so that the models are reliable.
The conditions for modeling must be particular.
Models must have many data series and be capable of self-calibration strategies.
Hydrodynamic models must be adequate, and their calibration is essential for decision making.
The acquisition or disposition of data is essential.
Hydrological and hydraulic models must be related and consistent, continuously calibrated with hydrological data to make accurate predictions.
Uncertainty must be part of our modeling.
The information must always be well transmitted to reach the population.
Piura Digital Flood Risk Prevention, Peru - River Flood Protection & Storm Urban Drainage, Yaku & El Niño Extreme Flood Events
César Alvarado Ancieta. International Freelancer Expert. Team Leader. Chairman Panel of IAHR Experts, Peru
The actions of El Niño and La Niña in Peru and the changes due to anthropogenic action are important. The information is fundamental about the meteorological actions to know the behavior of the systems in the basins. A model that implements all these factors is presented, so that models and predictions of the behavior of the river can be made.
Digital tools support measurements and predictions, allowing flow analysis, sediment movement, and other topics in which the behavior of the systems can also be followed over time. Digitization allows the treatment of river behavior data: drag materials, dragged sand, etc. The comparison over time is essential to know the long-term behavior of the system.
The Wonder of Nature: Application of Nature based Solutions for Flood Risk Reduction
Vidya Samadi. Director of Clemson Hydrosystems & Hydroinformatics Research (HHR) Group, Clemson University, USA
In the United States of America, the motivation to care about actions in relation to floods is presented, nature-based solutions can share the prediction of floods integrating sustainable systems in the environmental field.
The challenges are to identify flood situations and understand the processes that intervene step by step to propose solutions based on nature.
The areas in which flood analyzes have been carried out are presented, starting with the analysis of meteorological data in past series, taking into account the measurements and interpolations that are proposed. In this case, hurricane episodes have been especially recurrent and very important for flood analysis.
A model is proposed that is calibrated with fifteen-minute series of forecasts over several months. HEC models were used and calibrated.
Some nature-based actions to be developed were selected, considering several scenarios with riparian recovery, reforestation and others, and the scenarios considered through hydrological simulations were compared. The flood peaks with the different hypotheses based on the scenarios were considered, presenting the different flood analysis. Some of these scenarios have been validated, presenting the errors that these validation scenarios have had.
Some conclusions were:
The accumulation of several situations can give rise to flood peaks.
Hurricane situations strongly affected these models.
Flood maps are essential and must be detailed.
Some nature-based solution scenarios have worked very well.
Decision-making on the effectiveness of these nature-based solutions must be scaled up.
Roundtable | Implementation needs in Spain
Presentations and reflections on the state of the SAIH-SAT-SAD in the hydrographic basins of Galicia Coast, Cantabrian, Ebro and Júcar
Moderated by Fernando Pastor. General Directorate for Water, Spain
Esther Ruiz. Ebro River Basin Hydrographic Confederation
The Ebro SAIH is presented: evolution of the characteristics of these systems. The Information System of the Confederation is presented, presenting the model with which it is available.
The hydrological and hydraulic models are fed with fifteen-minute data and the system proposes the circulating flows in the rivers with 3 to 5 days. Predictions that are published and accessible.
The portal that brings together the information “VigilaEbro” is presented. Automatic models with short-time prediction will be implemented to generate warnings with the best possible forecast. Probabilistic prediction will be included to include aspects of uncertainty in the modeling as well as a reservoir management module that draws on the rest of the systems, to make decisions about the consequences of maneuvers in reservoirs. A warning platform will be integrated, related to predetermined thresholds. All this will be implemented in a notice platform accessible to the population.
Likewise, models that implement AI are implemented; through the large amount of data available. It is concluded that the neural networks are adequate and a prediction with this technology for the Arga River in Pamplona is described. These models must be resilient and optimized in computational terms to be viable and extrapolated to other basins and scales.Implantación de un sistema de alerta temprana en el SAIH-Júcar
Francisco Xavier Ferrer. Júcar River Basin Hydrographic Confederation
Great emphasis is placed on what is starting from now on. This is the oldest SAIH in Spain with five-minute readings, with more than 800,000 daily data.
However, looking to the future, work is being done on early warning systems. In this case, the pilot experiences should be integrated in this DELFT-FEWS case. Rainfall inclusion experiences are presented, along with a hydrology pilot. Intensive work is being done to support digitalization of hydraulic modeling. Work is underway to integrate observed and predicted values, including values: meteorological, hydrological, for reservoir management, and hydraulic.
As a general analysis:
- It is very necessary to keep the SAIH system updated.
- It is essential to attend to future developments with a system that ensures sustainable continuity, with the necessary coordination and with incorporation into Early Warning Systems.
- A clear implementation is necessary, improving the response and warning system, with a coordinated start-up and giving importance to future work integrating computer systems with models.SAIH-SAT-SAD in the Hydrographic Confederation of Cantabria
Jesus Angel Luengo García. Cantabrian River Basin Hydrographic Confederation
The Cantabrian River Basin Hydrographic Confederation is immersed in an intense improvement action:
- In the network of stations with a large increase in number and instrumentation.
- In the information system.
- In the decision support system.
The future situation to integrate information systems in the cloud is presented. The information already accessible is described. The decision support system and automatic warnings is presented, which wishes to include meteorological and hydrological action. There is also a library of scenarios. Reservoir models are also integrated. Future jobs seek:
- New SAI website.
- Expansion of the network with new stations.
- Hydraulic modeling of certain demarcations.
- Hydraulic flow modeling of new stations.
- Expansion of the SAD forecast window.
- Incorporation of probabilistic models.
- Automation of hydrological reports.Isabel Vila Vilarino. Galician waters
In this case, the basins are small and the predictions are essential. Hydraulic and hydrologic models based on open source models are available. The starting database models and systems on meteorological aspects are presented. Modeling is also presented through the Iber code and tidal models provided by meteorological systems, combining them with hydraulic models.
Difficulties center on forecasting and sensitivity of peaks and precipitation. The future will be focused on model calibration and threshold validation with flood analysis, involving all observers.
Presentation on the contents of the Observatory of the Water Cycle in Spain
Alberto Irigoyen. General Directorate for Water, Spain
The Observatory of the Water Cycle in Spain, presented as a governance tool that allows maintaining the digital infrastructure with a platform that increases transparency in the sector.
All hydrological information will be considered in this observatory. It is expected to create a generic notices portal. Likewise, information will be integrated with urban cycles, irrigation and industrial use, to manage it jointly. Indicators and their operation over time must be followed.
Homogenization is essential for the processing of data and the presentation of notices. Information on water uses will be important. On one side the urban cycle, on the other irrigation and finally the industrial cycle. This information will need to connect with other records. The project is presented with its phases and the main results expected from it.