"Using Wetlands to Flatten the Hydrograph" - Webinar
We were so pleased to see a presentation featuring HydroGeoSphere at this year's Latornell Conservation Symposium (one of Ontario's premier annual environmental conferences). The presentation - titled “Using Wetlands to “Flatten the Hydrograph” - was delivered by representatives from Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC), and focused on a recent collaboration between DUC, Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and Aquanty.
At the center of the project is an advanced integrated hydrologic model (built with HydroGeoSphere) of the Dog Lake watershed in Northern Ontario. Dog Lake is but one small part of the hydrologic network which serves as the basis for OPG’s network of hydroelectric infrastructure, a vital part of Ontario’s economy.
OPG currently supports a complex network of 66 hydroelectric generating stations and 240 hydraulic dams over the course of 24 river systems. As climate change causes hydrologic conditions to drift further and further from the historic norms upon which this complex hydroelectric infrastructure was designed, the efficiency and continued viability of the network is put at greater and greater risk. In short, climate change is leading to lower flows in the river networks serving Ontario’s hydroelectric infrastructure. This leads us to the main research question for this study: can “wetlands hold the key to helping generate more electricity for Ontario residents by decreasing peak flows in the spring and increasing ground-water flows into the reservoirs during the summer”?
Abstract:
Climate change is resulting in earlier snowmelt, heavier spring precipitation and drier summers which is causing lower than average summer water levels in Ontario Power Generation reservoirs. This has limited OPG’s capacity to generate sufficient electricity in mid summer when demand is high. Ducks Unlimited Canada is working in partnership with Ontario Power Generation to utilize sophisticated 3D hydrological modelling to explore the feasibility of utilizing wetlands as a nature based solution to enhance baseflows into large hydroelectric reservoirs.