Low flow characteristics of kucuk menderes river basin, turkey

Abstract

Low flow analysis provides crucial information for water resources development and environmental flow management. Understanding low flows can also give a rise to long-term environmental, economic and social impact and it plays a major role in the hydrological risk management of the river basin. The low flow regime is significantly effective on water resources management especially for the countries like Turkey where demand for water is increasing. The purpose of this study is therefore to perform low flow analysis by determining low flow characteristics of five gauging stations in Kucuk Menderes River basin in the western part of Turkey. The study uses the frequency analysis of low flows, which is applied on D = 1, 7, 14, 30, 90 and 273-day low flows by considering various probability distribution functions to eventually get low flows at 2, 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100-year return periods. Results show that low flow-durationfrequency curves decrease quite fast towards very low flow values and even to zero, which means the river basin is prone to get dry and face with severe hydrological droughts in the future.