Flood Management in a Complex River Basin with a Real-Time Decision Support System Based on Hydrological Forecasts

Javier García Hernández
2011
N° 21 2005 Conférence sur la recherche appliquée en relation avec la troisième correction du Rhône -Nouveaux développements dans la gestion des crues N° 22 2005 INTERREG IIIB -Projet ALPRESERV. Conférence sur la problématique de la sédimentation dans les réservoirs -Gestion durable des sédiments dans les réservoirs alpins N° 23 2005 Master of Advanced Studies (MAS) in hydraulic schemes Collection des articles des travaux de diplôme N° 24 2006 S. Sayah Efficiency of brushwood fences in shore
more » ... ection against windwave induced erosion N° 32 2007 J. García Hernández, F. Jordan, J. Dubois, J.-L. Boillat Routing System II -Modélisation d'écoulements dans des systèmes hydrauliques N° 33 2007 Symposium -Flussbauliche Massnahmen im Dienste des Hochwasserschutzes, der Umwelt, Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft / Mesures d'aménagement des cours d'eau pour la protection contre les crues, l'environnement, la société et l'économie N° 34 2007 B. Rosier Interaction of side weir overflow with bed-load transport and bed morphology in a channel community of the MINERVE project, Abstract Flood management in a complex river basin with a real-time decision support system based on hydrological forecasts Keywords: hydrological modelling, flood forecasting, decision support system, hydropower plants management, flood control. During the last decades, the Upper Rhone River basin has been hit by several flood events causing significant damages in excess of 500 million Swiss Francs. From this situation, the 3rd Rhône river training project was planned in order to improve the flood protection in the Upper Rhone River basin in Vaud and Valais Cantons. In this framework, the MINERVE forecast system aims to contribute to a better flow control during flood events in this catchment area, taking advantage of the existing hydropower multi-reservoir network. This system also fits into the OWARNA national project of the Swiss Federal Office of Environment by establishing a national platform on natural hazards alarms. The Upper Rhone River basin has a catchment area with high mountains and large glaciers. The surface of the basin is 5521 km 2 and its elevation varies between 400 and 4634 m a.s.l. Numerous hydropower schemes with large dams and reservoirs are located in the catchment area, influencing the hydrological regime. Their impact during floods can be significant as appropriate preventive operations can decrease the peak discharges in the Rhone River and its main tributaries, thus reducing the damages. The MINERVE forecast system exploits flow measurements, data from reservoirs and hydropower plants as well as probabilistic (COSMO-LEPS) and deterministic (COSMO-2 and COSMO-7) numerical weather predictions from MeteoSwiss. The MINERVE hydrological model of the catchment area follows a semi-distributed approach. The basin is split into 239 sub-catchments which are further sub-divided into 500 m elevation bands, for a total of 1050 bands. For each elevation band, precipitation, temperature and potential Table of contents Abstract i Résumé iii Resumen v List of Figures 281 List of Tables 291 Notation 299 Acronyms 305 Appendices 309 1 "Floods are 'acts of God' but flood losses are largely acts of man" (White, 1942)
doi:10.5075/epfl-thesis-5093 fatcat:3ljqaladkjatphfhezinjafrjm