Year
2017
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering
Abstract
Water resources are irreplaceable resources for human survival and development, which is the foundation for sustainable environmental, economic and social development. Currently, global water resources are facing a huge crisis. Increasingly industrial and agricultural production and human activities consume a large amount of water. Climatic factors and geographic reasons lead to uneven space-time distribution of water resources. These issues are of great concern for policymakers and researchers. This study discusses the current existing water supply sources and proposes a coastal reservoir strategy to provide water for people by storing water from runoff, which is otherwise going to the sea, to solve water shortage crisis. Adelaide was taken as a case study. It is one of the driest state capital cities in Australia, which receives 60%-70% of its water supply in normal years and 80%-90% of its water supply in drought years from the Murray River. From 09/2001 until 2008, the Murray-Darling Basin experienced a severe rainfall deficiency, the second driest seven-year period in its recorded history. This drought aggravated the water crisis in South Australia, especially in the Adelaide area. The strategy of building a coastal reservoir in the Lower Lakes is to alleviate Adelaide water shortage.
The Lower Lakes (Lake Alexandrina and Lake Albert), located about 100 km south-east of Adelaide, are a set of large, shallow, fluvial lakes at the downstream end of the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia. This research firstly investigates hydrodynamic and numerical salinity simulations in the Lower Lakes through setting up 1D and 2D models by using MIKE software. A 1D model is applied for five barrage structures while a 2D model was used to reproduce the hydrodynamic processes and salinity changes in the Lower Lakes. The time period from 08/12/2010 to 01/03/2011 (increasing inflow period) was chosen for model calibration. The time period from 01/03/2011 to 21/05/2011 (decreasing inflow period) was used for model performance assessment . The measured and simulated values (calibration process and validation process) are compared and analysed. The collinearity for water level and salinity between the measured and simulated values are separately above 94% and 83%, which indicates the model is able to predict future changes in water level and salinity for future conditions...
Recommended Citation
Liu, Jianli, Hydrodynamic and Salinity Simulation in the Lower Lakes, South Australia and Proposed Coastal Reservoir, Doctor of Philosophy thesis, School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, 2017. https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses1/143
FoR codes (2008)
0907 ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong.