Reservoirs and Tidal Barriers

Reservoirs and tidal barriers are two of the most complex types of hydraulic structures used to manage river flows and control water levels. This chapter begins with a general overview of approaches to flow control before discussing reservoirs and tidal barriers in more detail. For reservoirs, optimisation and forecasting techniques are discussed for a range of lead times, from day-to-day operations to long-term planning studies. Decision support systems are also considered including the use of probabilistic forecasts and the developing area of adaptive reservoir management and Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations (FIRO), in which operating rules are modified dynamically, typically based on inflows estimated from ensemble meteorological forecasts. The chapter concludes with a discussion of tidal barriers, including the Thames Barrier in London, the Cardiff Bay Barrage in Wales and the Maeslant Barrier in the Netherlands.