DSS for operation of the lateral reservoirs during flood periods

Radu Drobot, Aurelian Florentin Draghia Abstract

On the lower Danube (downstream Iron Gates) the river banks on the Romanian side are protected by
dykes on a length of 1100 km. Different towns along the Danube River, like Giurgiu, Oltenita,
Calarasi, Braila and Galati are still threatened by floods close to or higher than 1% probability of
exceedance. The floodplain is divided by transverse dykes into agricultural zones which could be used
as polders for storing water during high floods.
A Decision Support Tool (DST) was developed by UTCB in order to evaluate the hydraulic
consequences (water level, maximum discharge) for different scenarios of polders accidental or
deliberate flooding. A special sub-model for breach development (breach elevation and length
evolution) was set up. Since the hydraulic simulations are time and other resources consuming, a
hydrological model for flood propagation was used. After parameters calibration and validation, based
on registered exceptional floods in 2006 and 2010 different scenarios of polders inundation were
tested.

1. Introduction
At the end of XIXth and beginning of XXth century land reclamation works started in the
Danube meadow and especially in the river Delta. The first embankments were realized at
Mahmudia (467 ha) in 1895 (Dithmer and Langerweld) and Chirnogi (1058 ha) in 1904
(Scharm, Dithmer and Langerweld). The latest reclamations date from 1985, the total
protected area reaching almost 395.000 ha. A number of 34 enclosures were realized all along
the Danube (Fig. 1).
In natural regime, the meadow had a retention capacity evaluated at 20.3 billion m 3. After the
embankments realization an increase of more than 1m of the water level compared to the
natural regime occurs in Braila and Galati town during floods close to 1% probability of
exceedance. Beside Braila and Galati there are other towns along the Danube River, like
Giurgiu, Oltenita and Calarasi which are threatened by floods close to or higher than 1%
probability of exceedance.

Fig. 1. Enclosures along the Danube River on the Romanian territory

Galati area has a special situation, being located between the confluences of two important
tributaries: Siret River (upstream Galati town) and Prut River (downstream). The maximum
discharges on Prut River are controlled by Stanca-Costesti reservoir, being lower than 600700 m3/s in the section Oancea. On the contrary, the maximum discharges on Siret River can
reach 4000-4200 m3/s in Lungoci section, 65 km upstream the confluence with the Danube.
The floodings in Galati town occur due to the upstream floods as happened in 2006 (15800
m3/s on the Danube River upstream Galati town at Braila gauging station, 1375 m3/s on Siret
River and 627 m3/s on Prut River) or can be aggravated because of the high floods on both
tributaries as happened in 2010 (15480 m3/s at Braila, 2460 m3/s on Siret River and 700
m3/s on Prut River). In 2006 the maximum discharge at Grindu on Danube River, just
downstream Galati was 16200 m3/s, which is quite close to the discharge corresponding to
100 years return period, while in 2010 the maximum discharge at Grindu was 16780 m3/s.
The flood occurred in April-May 2006 had at Bazias, at the entrance of the Danube in
Romania, a maximum discharge of about 15.800 m3/s, being the highest registered discharge
in the interval 1840-2006. The maximum water levels of this flood were up to 60 cm higher
than the highest maximum levels of the floods occurred after the Danube embankment. At the
same time, the design levels were exceeded of up to 127 cm (Figure 2), while the design
levels were exceeded for more than 20-35 days.

v
Figure 2. Water levels during April 2006 flood and the maximum registered levels in the past
(Mihailovici et al, 2006)

The historic flood on April-May 2006 on the Danube River was at the origin of the accidental
or voluntary breaches in the dykes. A surface of 73144 ha mainly used for agricultural
purposes, belonging to a number of 10 enclosures protected by dykes, was flooded. Some
settlements were also flooded, 16.530 inhabitants being evacuated. Important towns on the
river bank were also threatened by floods. Despite the damages registered in the upstream part
of the river, the enclosures flooding had also beneficial effects on the downstream water
levels.
Depending on the breaches location and the failure moment, the maximum level drawdown
was about 28 cm. Thus, a possibility to lower the water levels during floods and to save from
inundation important assets is to flood deliberately less important areas, with lower damages.
In order to cut the peak and to mitigate the flood effects during April 2006 event 3 controlled
breaches were set up at Rast, Calarasi-Raul and Facaieni-Vladeni.

Water volumes accumulated in the flooded enclosures during April-May 2006 flood
(Mihailovici et al, 2006)
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1
2

Breaches

Area (ha)

Uncontrolled breaches
Ghidici - Rast - Bistre
Bistre - Nedeia - Jiu
Jiu - Bechet - Dbuleni
Potelu - Corabia
Oltenia - Surlari - Dorobanu
Oltina
Ostrov - Pecineaga
Rasova
Controlled breaches
Clrai
Fcieni-Vldeni
TOTAL

Volume
(10E6 m3)

11.120
15.000
6.000
11.500
8.000
2.890
1.491
1.500

350
285
120
230
213
94
10
66

10.748
4.895
73.144

195
53
1.616

The hydraulic simulations can be used as an instrument to put into evidence the possibility to
decrease the water levels along the river by inundation of the upstream enclosures from the
Danube floodplain. If the decision is taken to flood the upstream enclosures, other
downstream towns will also benefit from this effect. In fact, the enclosures inundation
operates at least partially like the natural attenuation in the floodplain. The decrease of water
level depends on the volume which is stored in the enclosures. Of course, the inundation
should be controlled in such a way to diminish the total damages on the whole stretch of the
Danube River on the Romanian sector. The flood risk management thus involves a good
knowledge of the economical damages for different scenarios of flooding.
A number of 13 polders with individual volumes in the range 40-780 millions m 3 were
selected for renaturation by Danube Delta National Research Institute (Fig. 3). The total
volume which could be stored in these areas is less than 4.5 billion m3.

Fig. 3. Proposed enclosures (in blue) for flooding (INCDD, 2002)

The effect of flooding the enclosures should still not be over evaluated. If considering the
total volume of about 4.5 billion m3 which could be retained into the above mentioned
enclosures, the total drawdown in the most favorable conditions would be less than 62 cm at
Braila for the flood corresponding to 1% probability of exceedance (Fig. 4).
The problem which should be solved is what enclosures have to be flooded in order to obtain
a water level decrease enough to avoid significant damages at the most important towns along
the Danube River. At the same time, it is obvious that flooding some enclosures has economic
and social consequences on the affected areas.

Fig. 4. Maximum effect at Braila after flooding the selected enclosures

Choosing the enclosures that should be flooded involves decisions which can not be taken
under pressure during the event. A Decision Support Tool (DST) was developed by UTCB in
order to evaluate the hydraulic consequences (drawdown of the water level and of the
maximum discharge) for different scenarios of polders accidental or deliberate flooding. At
the same time, a special sub-model for breach development (evolution in time of breach
elevation and length) was set up.
Since the hydraulic simulations are based on a good knowledge of the river morphology, a
simplified model for flood propagation was used. Based on the exceptional floods registered
in 2006 and 2010 the model parameters were calibrated and validated.
Finally, different scenarios of polders inundation were proposed and the corresponding
hydraulic consequences were evaluated.
The background of the DSS tool is presented in Figure 5. On the left side of the picture one
can notice the following elements:
-

The Danube river and its main tributaries (marked as a blue line);
The gauge stations on Danube River and the last gauge station of the tributaries before

the junction (marked by red triangles);

The location of all precincts which presents favorable conditions for flooding (marked
with a yellow circle with a blue arrow suggesting the water entering the precinct).

In Figure 6, a schematization of a computation stretch, located between Oltenita and

Calarasi gauge station is presented. Two important precincts are located on this river stretch:
Oltenita-Surlari-Manastirea (213 mil. m3) and Boianu-Sticleanu-Calarasi (777 mil. m3).

Fig. 5. Background of the DSS tool

Fig. 6. Schematization of a computation stretch

The breach development involves the quantitative description of the breach crest elevation
and breach length evolution. Thus, the crest elevation decreases from 17 m asl to 12 m asl in
the case of Oltenita-Surlari-Manastirea enclosure, and from 16 to 11 m asl for BoianuSticleanu-Calarasi enclosure (Fig. 7). In both cases, the maximum breach length was
supposed to be 100 m.

Oltenita-Surlari-Manastirea enclosure

Boianu-Sticleanu-Calarasi enclosure

Fig. 7. The breach development

The necessary data for the DSS tool are the following:
-

The river configuration: gauging stations and storage areas with their attributes (Fig.8)
The rating curves for each gauge station (Fig. 9)
Protected areas (enclosures) and their characteristics (Fig. 10)
Discharge series along the Danube River (Fig. 11)
DSS parameters (Fig. 12):

Fig. 8. The river network

Fig. 9. The rating curves

Fig. 10. Protected areas

Fig. 11. Discharge series

Fig. 12. DSS parameters

Different scenarios of flooding the enclosures were tested. For the beginning (Simulation 1)
the enclosure Oltenita-Surlari-Manastirea was flooded. The flooding effect is not significant
(Fig. 13): although a maximum discharge of about 1000 m3/s is entering the enclosure, due to
its small retention capacity (213 mil. m 3) a temporary decrease of the Danube discharges can
be noticed, but very soon the flood keeps the initial discharges. Anyway, the maximum
discharges were not at all affected by the enclosure flooding.

Fig. 13. Hydraulic consequences of Oltenita-Surlari-Manastirea enclosure flooding

In order to increase the flooding effect, not only Oltenita-Surlari-Manastirea enclosure, but
also Boianu-Sticleanu-Calarasi enclosure (777 mil. m3) were flooded. It can be noticed that
together these two enclosures have a total volume of about 1 billion m 3. This storage capacity
is remarkable. Still, the effect on both downstream discharges and water level is again not
significant. For the beginning (Simulation3) Oltenita-Surlari-Manastirea enclosure was
flooded first followed by the flooding of Boianu-Sticleanu-Calarasi enclosure (Fig. 14), while
in the Simulation 5, the order of flooding was reversed (fig. 15). The purpose was to find out
if the order of enclosures flooding is important concerning both downstream discharges and
water levels..
In Fig. 14 a and 15 a, the discharges before and after the flooding are represented, while in
fig. 14 b and 15 b the discharges flowing into the two enclosures and the water levels on the
Danube are put into evidence.

a)

Discharges

b)

Discharges through the breaches and

water levels downstream

Fig. 14. Results of the Simulation no. 3

a)

Discharges

b)

Discharges through the breaches and

water levels downstream

Fig. 15. Results of the Simulation no. 5

Apparently, the results are similar. Still, comparing the water levels computed at Calarasi in
both cases (Fig. 16), one notice that while the water level decrease in Simulation 3 is of 20
cm (from 13.70 m asl to 13.50 m asl), in the Simulation 5 the effect is 50 % higher, meaning
30 cm decrease (from 13.70 m asl to 13.40 m asl). Still, this drawdown is not necessarily kept
along the Danube River till Galati. The decrease of the water level will allow a
supplementary volume from the tributaries to enter into the Danube River, by reducing the
backwater effect of the high levels of the Danube upon the tributaries. Thus, the water levels
in the Danube will increase, especially due to the input of Siret river.

Fig. 16. Comparison of water levels: Sim. No. 5 versus Sim.no.3

By considering these facts, it can be stated that local measures (like using mobile dykes) to
protect the vulnerable areas of the towns along the Danube River are preferable than flooding
upstream enclosures.

CONCLUSION
The main conclusions of the model simulations are:
-

The inundation of small or medium volume enclosures (less than 200 millions m 3) has
small effects on water level decrease

The large enclosures should be inundated during floods peak, not before, in order to
obtain the maximum effect downstream. Thus, a forecast of at least 7 days (including the
main tributaries: Olt and Siret) is necessary. Anyway, the water level decrease is quite
reduced even when flooding some of the selected large enclosures. If flooding all selected
enclosures, with a total storage volume of 4.5 billion of m 3, the water level decrease at
Galati in the most favorable conditions will be maximum 62 cm.

The polders inundation is efficient only for large floods (more than 15,000 m 3/s) in order
to use at the maximum extent the enclosures storage volumes.

Local protection measures in Galati area should be initiated instead of expecting the
decrease of water level by flooding some of the upstream enclosures.

References
Mihailovici, J.M., Gabor, O., Petru, S., Randasu, S., 2006 Solutii propuse pentru
reamenajarea fluviului Dunarea pe sectorul romanesc. Hidrotehnica, vol. 51, nr. 5, p. 9-20.
*** INCDD Report on the renaturation of the Danube floodplain, 2002.