A global proliferation of large dam construction since the 1950s has been accompanied by scientific research challenging the benefit of these projects while drawing attention to their numerous negative environmental and social impacts. The institutions that assess the costs and benefits associated with large dam proposals, creating policies either approving, altering, or disapproving them, collectively form what is known as a policymaking framework. Examining these frameworks allows observers to trace policies through outlined decision-making processes and can help to reveal inherent biases within those systems that may impact policy outcomes. Often, divergent policy outcomes, like the those observed in the cases of the Belo Monte dam in Brazil and HidroAysén dam in Chile, are a result of variations in the environmental policymaking frameworks of the deviating cases. The subjects of this study present similar arrangements of costs and benefits but resulted incongruous policy outcomes, specifically that the HidroAysén dam was not built while the Belo Monte dam is currently under construction. Existing bodies of literature outlining the environmental policymaking frameworks of Chile and Brazil fail to fully address the influence of external variables, including presidential influence, corruption, and electoral politics, on these cases. This project synthesizes an outline of the environmental policymaking frameworks of Chile and Brazil from existing literature and uses the divergent cases of the Belo Monte and HidroAysén dams to provide evidence for the incorporation of these external variables to better understand the incongruous policy outcomes these frameworks produce.

Uplift water pressure is one of the dominating forces with signicant impact acting on a dam. It is usually measured with piezometers installed along the dam. However, the value of the pressure along the dam is often hard to measure due to the limited number of piezometers available (Bernstone et al., 2009). Furthermore, uplift pressure can oscillate substantially in a single hole both with time and also spatially under the dam due to the combination of rock mass characteristics in the foundation, loads and temperature variations.There is still a lack of information regarding the magnitude and variation of the uplift pressure. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the spatial variation of the uplift pressure based on uplift pressure measurements taken from Storfinnforsen and Ramsele dams. The aim is also to investigate how the uplift pressure depends on the rock mass conditions. The two dams Storfinnforsen and Ramsele provides a unique opportunity due to the signicant amount of piezometers, 270 in total, installed along the rock foundation for the new monitoring programme at the monoliths of both dams.Based on the measured uplift pressure, a probabilistic distribution has been assigned to the uplift pressure. In addition, a possible correlation between the rock mass quality and the uplift pressure as well as the joint aperture and the uplift pressure was analysed.

As many dams were built around 1950, the expected life span of these dams are about tobe reached. With this, the need for monitoring and increased understanding of the damsstructural integrity increases. In order to prevent failures, two warning signals are defined;alert and alarm. The main difference being that the first indicates an unexpected changein behavior that needs to be addressed and evaluated in the near future, while the otherrequires that immediate action must be taken to ensure the safety of the dam.This report aims to evaluate the applicability of different models for designing alert values.In order to achieve this goal, two case studies have been performed. The first being onSchlegeis, an arch dam in Austria, and the second Storfinnforsen, a concrete buttress damin Sweden. The methods used are finite element modelling as well as data-based models.Data-based models work on the presumption that the dam behaviour is governed by variationsin environmental conditions such as temperature and water level. The report hasevaluated two commonly used data-based models, hydrostatic thermal time (HTT) and hydrostaticseasonal time (HST), as well as two machine learning based models artificial neuralnetworks (ANN) and boosted regression trees (BRT).The programs used in this report are BRIGADE plus for finite element method and MATLABfor the multi-linear regression analyses HTT and HST, as well as boosted regressiontrees. The neural networks were constructed in Python using TensorFlow and Keras API.The result from the case studies is that the commonly used data-based models HST andHTT perform well enough for creating predictions and alert levels when given a sufficientamount of historical data, approximately 3-5 years. Machine learning such as artificial neuralnetworks while comparable in prediction quality does not further increase the understandingof the dam behaviour and can due to the complexity of designing an appropriate networkstructure be less suited for this type of analysis. Finite element models can also capturethe behavior of the dam rather well. It is however not as accurate as data-based modelswhen sufficient data is available. An FE-model should be used for definition of alert valueswhen insufficient data exists after the dam conditions have been significantly altered, orwhen newly constructed. The main advantage that machine learning provides is that theyperform better for non-linear behavior than multi-linear regression.

This work intervenes in the complex relationship between the large-scale management and exploitation of water in the United States and its impact on the bioregional literary imagination in the Tennessee Valley between 1933-1963. It shows through site-based environmental criticism and literary analysis that the “dam” becomes a material and symbolic place of convergence where one can examine the relationship between humans and their biospheres. As interdisciplinary rhetorical, literary, historical, archival and cultural analysis, this work engages writers such as David E. Lilienthal, William Bradford Huie, Robert Penn Warren, and Madison Jones in order to reveal the inherently conflicted realities of environmental conservation, individual identity, and displaced regional imaginations in American literature. / English

Active geomorphic features of rivers like sandbars provide habitat for endangered and threatened riparian plant and animal species. However, human development has altered flow and sediment regimes, thus impairing formation of sandbars and islands. Large scale mapping of the fluvial geomorphology in river ecosystems like the Connecticut River is are necessary to understand the dynamics of these features and preserve habitat. Orthophotographs from 2012 from United States Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency (FSA), National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) were used to develop a model in ArcGIS Pro to identify fluvial geomorphic features in the Connecticut River and 12 of its major tributaries. This multi-stage image classification model identifies and ranks pixels of proximity and similar color to identify and map sandbars and islands. Locations of sandbars distribution were mapped and analyzed for each river. In the majority of rivers, sandbar area per reach decreases downstream. For the mainstem, sandbar area decreased towards the mouth but with three increases of sandbars due to meandering and major tributary confluences of the White and Deerfield rivers. Dams tend to decrease sandbars downstream but the effect of dams is context specific. Sandbars are stored upstream of the impoundment on the Black River as expected, sandbars appear downstream of a dam on the mainstem if a tributary confluence is present. Conservation of high sandbar area reaches and naturally eroding stream banks are necessary for preservation of endangered species. This spatial model for sandbar mapping can be applied in other river ecosystems across the region.

The Appalachian Power Company is an operating company of the American Electric Power Company, the largest electricity producing private electric system in the United States since 1953. The Appalachian Power Company held almost exclusive development rights along the New River since its 1911 charter. From then until the 1940s, it built a few small dams, a very large hydroelectric dam with the highest generating capacity of its time, and the largest steam plant in Virginia on the New River. Besides a few navigation issues, conflicting developments, and brief clashes with the federal government, seen in Chapter Two of this thesis, the Appalachian Power Company's developments along the New River went largely unchallenged until the late-1960s. The Blue Ridge Project was the utility's next large hydroelectric project on the New River. It was slated to impound the waters of the upper New River in Grayson County, Virginia, with two reservoirs extending into the river's headwaters in the counties of Ashe and Alleghany in northwestern North Carolina. Though the initial project met no serious opposition, environmental lawyers and the State of North Carolina defeated a considerably enlarged version of the proposal after a legal battle lasting over a decade. Why was this double impoundment not successfully constructed? What had changed in the last decades to influence Appalachian Power's previously unchallenged right to generate electricity along the New River? The purpose of this thesis is to answer these questions. / Master of Arts

Soil erosion by water can cause agricultural soil losses, desertification, water pollution, reservoir sedimentation, local excess of erosion (such as bridge scour) or deposition, etc. For this reason, the assessment of soil erosion and sediment transport is a key component of integrated catchment management. One of the most useful and up-to-date tools available to catchment managers for soil erosion and sediment transport assessment is distributed modelling. During the last few decades, many sedimentological distributed models were developed and applied for a wide range of climates and basins. Their main advantage is that they allow spatial interpolation or extrapolation of their results. Nevertheless, their use is still limited by some constraints. One of the most relevant limitations to the use of such models is the lack of recorded sediment transport data to be used for model calibration and validation. It is widely recognised that both sediment discharge series and soil erosion measurements are only available in a few and small- to medium-size experimental catchments. The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the possibility of using reservoir sedimentation data as a source of proxy information for sedimentological model calibration and validation. In order to carry out this task, a distributed sedimentological model called TETIS was tested in set of catchments with different sediment data availability. First of all, the TETIS model, developed over the last years by the research group of hydrological and environmental modelling of the Technical University of Valencia, is described, especially focusing on the new features developed within this dissertation (sedimentological sub-model automatic calibration algorithm, small pond sediment retention module, etc.). Then, the model is applied to three catchments with different sediment data availability. The first case-study is the Goodwin Creek catchment (Mississippi, US), an experimental catchment with high sediment transport data availability. The model performance is evaluated, and some considerations are made on the estimation of the sediment volume deposited into the drainage network at the beginning of a rainstorm. The second case-study is the Rambla del Poyo catchment (Valencia, Spain), a medium size semi-arid catchment draining to a coastal lagoon with severe sedimentation problems. The TETIS sedimentological sub-model is calibrated and validated using check-dam sedimentation volumes as an estimator of the total sediment transport. A detailed description of the alluvial stratigraphy infilling a check dam that drains a 12.9 km2 sub-catchment was used as indirect information of sediment yield data. A further application was also developed in this catchment in order to investigate the possibility of calibrating and validating both the hydrological and the sediment sub-models by using reservoir sedimentation volumes and employing neither water nor sediment discharge direct records. The third case-study is the Ésera River catchment (Huesca, Spain), a 1,500 km2 Pyrenean catchment drained by a large reservoir. The depositional history of the reservoir was reconstructed and used for sediment sub-model implementation. The model results were compared with gauged suspended sediment data in order to verify model robustness. The results of this dissertation indicate that TETIS model is a robust tool which provides a reliable reconstruction of the catchment sediment cycle. Its implementation is subject to data availability, both for parameter estimation and for model calibration and validation. Nevertheless, this dissertation proved that sediment records can be replaced by reservoir sedimentation volumes with satisfactory results, taking into account reservoir trap efficiency and sediment dry bulk density. Two modelling approaches were proposed for sediment model implementation, depending on the data availability. These methodologies proved to be consistent and provided a correct estimation of the sediment transport. Nevertheless, further research is needed to address model limitations and to reduce model results uncertainty / Bussi, G. (2014). Implementation of a distributed sediment model in different data availability scenarios [Tesis doctoral]. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/36534

Tesis por compendio / Flood risk reduction is a global challenge. Society demands higher safety and security levels, including those actions related to flood defence infrastructure protection against natural hazards and manmade threats. Dams and levees, among other flood defence infrastructures, are critical hydraulic infrastructures, aiming at reducing the likelihood that people and property will get flooded, but whose failure would result in consequences for the community downstream, including not only economic damages but also loss of life. There is always a probability associated with infrastructure failure, although in general it might be very low. The purpose of the PhD research, with title "Integrated flood risk management: towards a risk-informed decision making incorporating natural and human-induced hazards", here presented is to propose a framework to enhance integrative flood risk management from a multi-hazard perspective (pluvial flooding, river flooding, dam and levee failure, including man-made threats), addressing current needs for decision making on flood risk reduction and analyzing the complexity of multiple hazards and systems which include multiple components. The thesis is structured in three main parts, including: (i) Part I, a methodology aiming at providing a common framework for identifying and characterizing flood risk due to pluvial flooding, river flooding and dam failure, and incorporate information on loads, system response and consequences into risk models to analyse societal and economic flood risk, (ii) Part II, an approach for quantifying and analyzing risk for complex dam-levee systems, to incorporate information from levee failure into risk models based on the aforementioned methodology, and to analyse societal and economic flood risk, including the potential failure of these infrastructures, and (iii) Part III, a screening tool to characterize the impact of human induced threats on risk due to dam failure or mission disruption. Results from this research have proven that the use of risk models provides a logic and mathematically rigorous framework for compiling information for flood risk characterization and analysis from different natural hazards and flood defence performance. The proposed framework in this thesis and applications aimed at encouraging key actors on flood risk management (infrastructure managers, authorities, emergency action planners, etc.) on the use of QRA, and at demonstrating to what extent QRA can usefully contribute to better understanding risk drivers and inform decisions on how to act to efficiently reduce flood risk. / La reducción del riesgo de inundación es un reto global. La sociedad actual demanda cada vez mayores niveles de seguridad, incluyendo la consecución de acciones vinculadas a la protección de las infraestructuras de defensa frente a inundaciones ante amenazas naturales y antrópicas. Presas y diques, entre otras obras de defensa, son infraestructuras críticas cuyo objetivo es reducir la probabilidad de inundación. Sin embargo, su fallo puede resultar en consecuencias para la comunidad situada aguas abajo, incluyendo no sólo daños económicos sino también pérdida potencial de vidas. Siempre existe una cierta probabilidad asociada al fallo de estas infraestructuras, aunque en general muy baja. El objetivo de la investigación llevada a cabo en la presente tesis doctoral, con título "Integrated flood risk management: towards a risk-informed decision making incorporating natural and human-induced hazards", es proporcionar un marco que fomente la gestión integral del riesgo de inundación desde una perspectiva multi-amenaza, considerando las necesidades actuales en la toma de decisiones para la gestión del riesgo de inundación y analizando la complejidad de sistemas con múltiples componentes, afectados por diferentes amenazas. La tesis se estructura en tres partes principales, incluyendo: (a) Parte I, una metodología para proporcionar un marco común para la identificación y caracterización del riesgo de inundación por inundación pluvial, fluvial y fallo de presas, incorporando información sobre solicitaciones, respuesta del sistema y consecuencias en modelos de riesgo que permiten analizar y evaluar el riesgo social y económico por inundación, (b) Parte II, un método para la cuantificación y análisis del riesgo en sistemas complejos presa-dique, con el objetivo de incorporar información referente al fallo de diques en la metodología propuesta en la Parte I, y analizar el riesgo social y económico por inundación incluyendo el fallo de varias infraestructuras de defensa, y (c) Parte III, una herramienta de cribado que permite caracterizar el impacto de amenazas de origen antrópico en el riesgo asociado al fallo de presas. Los resultados de esta investigación demuestran que el uso de modelos de riesgo proporciona un marco lógico y matemáticamente riguroso para la consideración de toda la información necesaria para la adecuada caracterización y análisis del riesgo de inundación por amenazas naturales y por fallo o mal funcionamiento de obras de defensa. El marco metodológico propuesto y las aplicaciones descritas en esta tesis tienen como objetivo impulsar la aplicación del análisis de riesgo por parte de los actores clave en la gestión del riesgo de inundación (gestores de infraestructuras, autoridades locales, gestores de emergencias, etc.) y demostrar en qué medida estos análisis pueden contribuir a alcanzar un mejor conocimiento de los factores clave que componen el riesgo e informar en la toma de decisiones hacia una reducción del riesgo más eficiente. / La reducció del risc d'inundació és un repte global. La societat actual demana majors nivells de seguretat, incloent-hi la realització d'accions vinculades a la protecció de les infraestructures de defensa enfront del risc d'inundacions afectades per amenaces naturals i antròpiques. Preses i dics fluvials, entre altres obres de defensa, són infraestructures crítiques i tenen l'objectiu de reduir la probabilitat d'inundació però el seu trencament pot resultar en conseqüències en, danys econòmics i també pèrdua potencial de vides. Sempre hi ha una certa probabilitat vinculada al trencament d'aquestes infraestructures, encara que en general molt baixa. L'objectiu de la investigació duta a terme en aquesta tesi doctoral, amb títol "Integrated flood risk management: towards a risk-informed decision making incorporating natural and human-induced hazards", és proporcionar un marc per a fomentar la gestió integral del risc d'inundació des d'una perspectiva multi-amenaça, tenint en compte les necessitats actuals per prendre decisions per a la gestió del risc d'inundació i analitzant sistemes complexes amb múltiples components i afectats per diferents amenaces. La tesi s'estructura en tres parts principals: (a) Part I, una metodologia proposada per a proporcionar un marc comú per a la identificació i caracterització del risc d'inundació per inundació pluvial, fluvial i trencament de preses, incorporant informació de sol¿licitacions, resposta del sistema i conseqüències en models de risc que permeten analitzar el risc social i econòmic per inundació, (b) Part II, un mètode per a la quantificació i anàlisi del risc en sistemes complexes, amb l'objectiu d'incorporar informació referent al trencament de dics fluvials en la metodologia descrita en la Part I, i analitzar el risc social i econòmic pel trencament de diverses infraestructures de defensa, i (c) Part III, una ferramenta de pre-anàlisi per a caracteritzar l'impacte d'amenaces de origen antròpic en el risc associat al trencament de preses. Els resultats de la investigació demostren l'utilitat de l'aplicació de models de risc, proporcionant un marc lògic i matemàticament rigorós per a la consideració de tota la informació necessària per a l'adequada caracterització i anàlisi del risc d'inundació per amenaces naturals i per trencament d'obres de defensa. El marc metodològic i les aplicacions derivades d'aquesta tesi tenen com a objectiu impulsar l'aplicació d'anàlisi de risc quantitatius per part dels actors vinculats a la gestió del risc d'inundació (gestors d'infraestructures, autoritats locals, gestors d'emergències, etc.) i demostrar que poden contribuir a disposar d'un millor coneixement dels factors clau que componen el risc, i per a informar les decisions necessàries per a una reducció del risc més eficient. / Castillo Rodríguez, JT. (2017). Integrated Flood Risk Management: Towards a Risk-Informed Decision Making Incorporating Natural and Human-Induced Hazards [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/82305 / Compendio

The reproductive biology of four unionid mussels, Actinonaias carinata, Elliptio dilatata, Cyclonaias tuberculata, and Tritogonia verrucosa, from the New River in Virginia and West Virginia was investigated. The gametogenic cycle, length and timing of spawning and glochidial release periods, and age at sexual maturity were described for each species. Comparisons of growth rates of C. tuberculata subpopulations from the Greenbrier River and three locations downstream of Bluestone Dam on the New River in West Virginia were also made to determine the effect of the dam on growth of mussels downstream. A. carinata is bradytictic, spawning in mid-summer, brooding glochidia throughout the fall and winter, and releasing them in the spring. E. dilatata, C. tuberculata, and T. verrucosa are tachytictic. Spawning began in mid-March for these three species and continued into May for T. verrucosa, into June for C. tuberculata, and into July for E. dilatata. Glochidia were released upon maturation, beginning in mid-April and continuing through June for T. verrucosa, and into August for E. dilatata. C. tuberculata released glochidia from March through June. All four species appeared to reach sexual maturity between the ages of 4 and 6, depending upon the species. Growth in shell length in the four subpopulations of C. tuberculata was asymptotic. Growth rate, described by the parameter w from a reparameterization of the von Bertalanffy growth equation, was significantly higher immediately below Bluestone Dam compared to the site furthest downstream. Growth of this species did not differ significantly among the other sites; however, a trend of decreasing growth rate with increasing distance from the dam was apparent. Observed differences in growth were attributed to differences in food availability and quality resulting from the operation of Bluestone Dam. / Master of Science

An investigation into the transient impacts of flood loadings on earthen embankments was conducted. Two embankments were instrumented and monitored over a period of four years. One of these embankments was a levee located along the Mississippi River just north of Cairo, Illinois. The other embankment was part of a catchment basin at the Engineer Research and Development Center located in Vicksburg, MS. Tensiometer and porous block sensors were used to monitor the pore water pressures in the embankments. It was found that when measuring the field soil water retention, tensiometers were more responsive than porous block sensors at low suctions; although, at shallower depths, the tensiometer performance was limited during periods of extended drying. It was shown that during the start of flooding, pore water pressures in the embankment soils were near −10 kPa at depths less than 2 m, which was greater than the normally assumed hydrostatic conditions. An investigation into flood hydrographs collected from across the United States showed that flood durations could be hundreds of days long. These hydrographs were collected over a period of 10 years. It was found that the recorded peak flood stage exceeded the major flood stage 11% of the time. An uncouple transient seepage model of a 2015 Mississippi River flood event that occurred at the Cairo levee showed that an uncoupled model could simulate the field measurements; however, the material properties that resulted in the most accurate simulation differed from those measured in the laboratory. Soil water retention characteristics of the embankment soils were assessed, and it was found that laboratory measured soil water retention curves could be used to bracket field measurements. Slope stability analyses were performed as a proxy to assessing the progression of the wetting front in the levees. Accounting for the increase in shear strength due to the presence of matric suction resulted in minimal impacts to stability factors of safety for levee embankments during flood loadings. The results of this investigation will help to improve the reliability of transient seepage analyses and provides guidance for future embankment monitoring investigations. / Doctor of Philosophy / An investigation into the movement of flood water through flood control embankments was conducted. Typically, analysis of this phenomenon is performed independent of the effects of time. For this investigation, the impacts of time were considered. When considering the effects of time dependent loadings, an initial distribution of water pressures must be considered. Typical assumptions regarding these distributions were investigated using four years of sensor measurements from two embankments. These measurements were also used to investigate appropriate material properties when considering saturated and unsaturated soil properties necessary for these analyses. Results show that typical assumptions may not be appropriate regarding initial water pressure distributions. Additionally, recommendations for assigning material properties were provided and it was found that these types of analyses can simulate flood loadings, but a range of material properties must be explored to understand the full range of performance. The impact of these results will lead to better predictions of embankment performance during flood loadings.