Review of River Dynamics and Integrated River Management by Zhao-Yin Wang, Joseph H. W. Lee, and Charles S. Melching

The book River Dynamics and Integrated River Management was recently published by Tsinghua University Press, Beijing; and Springer, New York. The authors are Zhao-Yin Wang, Joseph H. W. Lee, and Charles S. Melching. Prof. Dr. Wang is the main author. He works at the State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, and is chief editor of the International Journal of Sediment Research and associate editor of the International Journal of River Basin Management (IAHR). Dr. Lee is a chair professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, China. He contributed Chapter 8. Dr. Charles S. Melching is a professor at the College of Engineering, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He contributed Chapter 9 and part of Chapter 10.

The merit of the book is the transmission of vast and deep knowledge on integrated river management through the analysis of natural and human-induced processes, related stresses, and restoration of each element of the hydrographic watershed.

The first of the 11 chapters recalls basic concepts about hydrology, sediment, and river ecology, defining major river management issues such as flooding, erosion, pollution, eutrophication, and so on. Chapter 2 deals with vegetation-erosion dynamics, with application of the vegetation-erosion chart and consideration of the riparian vegetation, too. Chapter 3 is devoted to incised rivers, bedrock channels, step-pool and other bed structures, environmental impacts, and incision control strategies.

Chapter 4 is focused on debris flows and landslides, highlighting causes, effects on rivers, mechanisms and prediction, warning, and mitigation. Chapter 5, after an introduction on open-channel flows, treats sediment transportation, hyperconcentrated flows, and river patterns; the last section has the particular merit of presenting new approaches, with the water-sediment chart and the river sediment matrix. Chapter 6 relates to flood disasters, relevant defense strategies, and water resources management; the case study of the Yellow River with its delta is deeply analyzed, and new strategies are proposed.

Chapter 7 describes the impact of dams on the environment and ecology, with special attention paid to water quality in reservoirs and reservoir sedimentation management. The last section is devoted to the case of the Three Gorges Dam project. Chapter 8 addresses the issue of estuary processes and management, including deltaic development, flooding risk and related defense strategies (with the case study of the Venice Lagoon), estuarine hydrography and tidal flushing, eutrophication and algal bloom, waste disposal and impact assessment (another case study is presented: that of the Hong Kong Harbor area treatment scheme), and coastal wetlands. This chapter is particularly rich, explaining characteristic features of male and female rivers and parasitizing rivers, tsunamis and hurricanes, tidal currents and density stratification, and so on.

Chapter 9 is completely dedicated to water quality management. It treats the theme of pollution, the basic dissolved oxygen problem and the total dissolved oxygen balance, eutrophication and nutrient control, waterborne and water-contact diseases (with microbial risk assessment and disinfection methods), and sediment contamination (with sediment toxicity assessment and remediation methods). Chapter 10 is the longest of the book. It illustrates river ecosystems in terms of biological communities; ecological functions of rivers; indicator species; and metrics of biodiversity, bioassessment, habitat evaluation, and modeling, then accounts for natural and human-induced ecological stresses and suggests restoration strategies. Chapter 11 concludes the volume, giving a picture of integrated river management, starting from the basic principles, explaining how to perform sediment and river morphology management, and teaching the methods of integrated river restoration.

All chapters have an abstract, keywords, useful review questions, and many references. A subject index is also provided.

The authors show high competence and experience about not only rivers, but also the surrounding environment. They explain all the related concepts to the readers in a clear way with the help of the nice iconography, basing the development of the book on the exposition of the physical phenomena more than on the mathematical derivation. Integrated river management is treated with a broad view and will fascinate students as well as teachers in many fields of study, from fluvial hydraulics to geology, sedimentology, and ecology.

Throughout the book, the authors successfully link the aspects related to classical river dynamics with the modern issues of integrated river management, characterizing their work in a panoramic view.

With respect to other books on the same topics (e.g., Hooper 2005; Deng et al. 2014), this book emerges for the variety of contents, the conceptual more than mathematical approach, and the wider audience. In fact, it is of great interest not only for practitioners (thanks to the useful examples that make it appealing for them), but also for researchers because it helps to find modern subjects of open investigation.