Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management

The evolving floodplain management policies in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States are reviewed and compared. In each country, computerized floodplain information processing and retrieval systems have been designed for evaluating flood mitigation schemes. However, the information systems differ in detail and reflect the different aims and objectives of the organizations from which they have originated. Nevertheless, the general trend within each country is for national standardization of methodologies to promote consistent floodplain management.

Solute transport in a multiquality water network is a complicated process, which recently gained increasing attention in view of the interest in environmental problems and the increased use of brackish water. A reduced‐scale physical model of a multiquality water system has been developed. The model is constructed of small‐diameter plastic irrigation pipes, which simulate the prototype pipeline network, and a computerized data‐acquisition system, which continuously records signals from pressure transducers, flow‐rate gages, and salinity sensors. Similitude analysis was conducted and the following scale factors where chosen: for pipe length, 0.05; for time, 0.25; for velocity, 0.4; and for pipe diameter, 0.05. A multiquality irrigation network of a farm in Israel is simulated using the reduced‐scale physical model and a theoretical computer model developed earlier by Shah and Sinai. Steady state flow rates and salinities are measured in several locations of that network and are found to agree with the simulated ones. Dynamics of salt front transportation lag and reservoir response are also tested. The dynamic response of pond to step change in input salinity is found to behave in a similar manner to the simple first‐order delay assumed in the theoretical model. Combined use of these two models is suggested for the analysis of multiquality water systems. The physical model is most effectively used for testing physical phenomena and for examination of real control systems. The computer model is more suitable for sensitivity analysis and quick checks.

A brief description of the Río de La Plata hydrographic basin, the second largest in South America and the fifth largest in the world, is given. Its location, extension, and climate are mentioned. The catchments are identified and the course of the rivers described. Brazil's and Argentina's energy needs, as well as present and planned hydroelectric developments in the basin, are commented upon. It is shown how much nature favored Brazil over Argentina by giving her the upper course of the rivers. Improvements for navigation on the Río Parand and the Río Uruguay are discussed, as are the difficulties of the flood control problem on the Middle and Lower Parana. Some other related projects are described. Finally, the conflicting interests of the various nations who share the Río de La Plata basin are analyzed; the necessity to manage international rivers as a system is stressed.

Stormwater management has been mainly directed to requiring developers to take steps to reduce flood damages due to increased runoff caused by their developments. The principal means employed has been conventional detention basins. More recently it has been recognized that runoff pollution from development is detrimental to environmental quality downstream. A dual‐purpose detention basin can settle out pollutants in particulate form with little increase in cost and an additional flood control benefit downstream. For best results, a basinwide planning approach is needed, which usually results in including master detention basins in the plan. Various institutional considerations are important, including coordination with the non‐point source pollution control program expected to be authorized under the Clean Water Act.

Programs for stormwater management (SWM) have been promulgated by a variety of state, regional, and local government agencies. Existing SWM programs exhibit significant variation in objectives, requirements, and the division of responsibilities among public agencies and private parties. Some of these programs have been more successful than others. In some cases, this lack of success is partly attributable to deficiencies in program content. A list of regulatory elements that should be considered for inclusion in a comprehensive SWM program is presented. This list was compiled by examining and analyzing the regulations of many existing programs. The purpose of each element is discussed, as are the relationships among the various elements. This material should be useful to governments both in developing appropriate regulatory programs for SWM and in revising existing programs.

The Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) has developed conceptual model‐based techniques for making outlooks of basin moisture conditions, basin runoff, water supplies, and lake levels several months into the future for large lake basins. The techniques consider the water stored in the basins about the lakes and the uncertainty of future meteorologic conditions. We estimate a large lake basin's current moisture storage with GLERL's tank‐cascade runoff model, applied to each of the subbasins about the lake, and with near real‐time meteorology. We select historic meteorologic sequences, representing anticipated meteorology, based on the National Weather Service monthly and seasonal forecasts of precipitation and air temperature probabilities, for use with the runoff model to generate our near real‐time outlooks. Error analysis for the Lake Superior Basin identifies the outlook error components and their relative magnitudes, indicates the outlook is superior to climatology, and suggests that improvements await better weather forecasting and lake evaporation modeling.