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The Hydrological Studies for the Avalon Lakes Scheme

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The Hydrological Studies for the Avalon Lakes Scheme Jïwfriofogy of Natural and Manmade Lakes (Proceedings of the Vienna Symposium, August 1991). IAHS Publ. no. 206,1991. The hydrological studies for the Avalon Lakes scheme A. T. NEWMAN National Rivers Authority, Wessex Region, UK P. J. HAWKER Sir William Halcrow & Partners, UK S. M. POSTLE Global Atmosphere Division, Department of the Environment, UK ABSTRACT The Counties of Somerset and Avon in south-west England contain 635 km2 of land below the level of the highest tides in the adjacent Bristol Channel, but protected from them. Some 13 km2 of these wetlands are being excavated of peat for horticultural use. The residual depressions of the land are in coherent blocks of up to 3m deep, and close to a river system with available water resources for a pumped storage scheme. The Avalon Lakes project was perceived as an opportunity to harness these resources for public water supplies, by using a series of peat excavations surrounded by clay bunds. The bunds would be constructed specifically in order to transform the former peat workings into shallow lakes. Hydrological examination of the yield of such a scheme was complicated by a number of factors peculiar to the site. Principal amongst these was the nature of land management in the wetlands, which relies upon numerous river offtakes for distribution of water between the fields of the surrounding valley. Other factors were the water retention characteristics of the underlying clays, and the need for rigorous attention to environmental constraints which governed reservoir area and storage potential. Investigations of the feasibility of the scheme included pilot scale experiments using on-site lagoons to test both leakage rates and water quality. However, the variability of acquired data left a great onus on the hydrologist to devise a robust model to predict the yield of the scheme within acceptable limits of confidence. The source of the water for the reservoirs was the River Brue, where reliable streamflow gauging was confined to the upper reaches unaffected by diversion into the wetlands. The construction of a streamflow time series for the intake site well within the wetland area had 197 A. T. Newman et al. 198 thus to recognise the large, unmeasured consumptive use within much of this area. Determination of the proportion of flow available for abstraction at the intake then had to take into account a variety of environmental and water quality considerations. A flow series representing the volume of water available for abstraction was then applied to the various storage possibilities, in order to estimate the potential yield from the lakes to supply over the critical storage period. The analysis took into account anticipated leakage and evaporation losses, including allowance for variation in the former in proportion to the depth of stored water relative to surrounding groundwater levels. Using practical assumptions, together with measured values for a range of hydrological variables, it was possible to demonstrate the limitations of the proposed scheme or the purpose of confident evaluation of the economics of the project. BACKGROUND This paper describes hydrological studies carried out to assess the reliable yield from a proposed pumped storage scheme in the South West of England. The scheme was known as the Avalon Lakes Project and was to make use of former peat workings, by building low bunds around them to form a series of some five shallow reservoirs. These reservoirs were to be generally rectangular and 30-40 ha in extent. They were to be used for public water supply and replenished by pumping from the River Brue some 2 km to the north of the lakes area (see Figure 1). The hydrological studies formed part of a wider investigation into the overall feasibility of the scheme carried out for the then Wessex Water Authority (WWA) by Sir William Halcrow & Partners Ltd (Halcrow) in 1986-88. The Avalon scheme has since been deleted from Wessex Water's capital programme due to its cost. It is now likely that reclamation of the former peat workings will take a different form. As one would expect with peatland areas, the local ecology is unusual and therefore of great interest. In addition, numerous archaeological finds in the course of peat removal catalogue man's activities in the area when the peat was being formed, in the period from <-. 300 BC to 400 AD. The Avalon Lakes project area was thus of very high intrinsic environmental value. Yield assessments deduced during the hydrological studies for Avalon Lakes were based upon a synthesised 1 in 50 years drought flow sequence for the River Brue at the intake site. Development of the sequence was complicated by the fact that the nearest gauging stations for which reliable flow records were available are a considerable distance upstream. Furthermore, in summer considerable quantities of water are diverted out of the river into an extensive series of open channels to sustain the water table beneath farmland 199 The hydrvlogical studies for the Avalon Lakes scheme in the intervening catchment. Environmental and other factors governing operation of the river abstraction, and of the lakes themselves were taken into account. Storage characteristics such as available volume, abstraction rate to supply and leakage and evaporation losses were also taken into account. A micro-computer based simulation model developed by Halcrow for water resource scheme evaluations was used for yield assessment. THE RIVER BRUE Understanding the river system was fundamental to developing flow sequences for the proposed intake site. The River Brue rises at the western edge of Salisbury Plain and flows westwards between the Mendip Hills to the North and the Polden Hills to the South, crossing the Somerset Moors before flowing out to sea in Bridgwater Bay. The catchment area upstream of the proposed intake site amounts to some 300 km2; this area includes the principal tributary, the River Sheppey, which rises at the southern edge of the Mendips and joins the Brue immediately upstream of the intake (see Figure 1). The catchment is predominantly pastoral in character and consists mostly of grassland supporting dairy and beef cattle. The lower Brue basin around the project area is low lying, flat and very prone to winter flooding. Efforts by man over the centuries to manage the area to his greater advantage have resulted in an intricate system of interconnecting channels, known locally as FIG. 1 Location map. A. T. Newman et al. 200 rhynes. These are managed for effective drainage in winter, and for retention of high water tables to stimulate grass growth on the pastures in summer. They also act as 'wet fences' in summer to deter cattle from straying between fields. The latter two objectives are achieved by closing sluice gates to pen up the main river between April and November, so that it has sufficient hydraulic command to feed water into the rhynes system at need. Significant quantities of water are diverted out of the river in this way, so that actual river flows at the chosen intake site are difficult to determine. On site measurement is complicated because the relationship there between river stage and discharge is not constant. Neither are predictions based on records from gauging stations further up the catchment straightforward, because of the numerous diversions into the rhynes system which occur over the intervening length of river and which cannot be accurately measured. APPROACH TO HYDROLOGICAL STUDIES The scheme analysed comprised : ® a river intake on the Brue at Westhay; © phased development of up to five lake areas; o water abstraction from the lakes for public supply. The pattern of flows in the Brue is such that, depending upon the chosen river flow value below which abstraction is assumed to be not permissible in the interests of protecting the river system downstream (prescribed minimum flow), there will be extended periods every summer during which pumping from the intake cannot take place. Thus lake replenishment will not occur and, because of continuing leakage, evaporation and abstraction for public supply, the water levels in the lakes will decline. The drought reliable scheme yield (DRY) is a function of the period during which river abstraction cannot take place, and of the available storage in the lakes. There is no scope to increase summer yield above the DRY by reducing demand over the winter. Accordingly, it was assumed for the purposes of the study that the scheme would operate continuously, producing a steady daily yield to public supply via a new water treatment works. The fundamental approach to the hydrological studies was to : (a) deduce realistic flow sequences for the River Brue at Westhay, particularly for the critical 2% (1 in 50 year return period) drought ; (b) identify and apply suitable abstraction control rules to safeguard the river system downstream and to limit the risk of pumping poor quality water into the lakes; (c) determine the safe sustainable yield from the lakes at each phase of development, using a drought inflow sequence based on (a) and (b) above, and taking into account leakage and evaporation losses. The analysis was based upon the critical period approach, which involves : • selecting the critical drawdown period for the scheme; obtaining a drought volume and appropriate flow pattern for the critical period; 201 The hydrological studies for the Avaion Lakes scheme simulation of the scheme using a specifically developed mathematical model of the flow sequence for water abstracted at the intake, reservoir storage and the gross lake outflow sequence including public supply, leakage and evaporation. Earlier studies demonstrated that the critical period for the Avaion scheme based on the River Brue is of six months duration. RIVER FLOWS AT THE INTAKE SITE No long term flow record exists for the River Brue at the intake site, because gradient and flood risk precluded the construction there of a conventional gauging structure, and because backwater effects from penning structures downstream complicate the stage discharge relationship at the site.
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