The creation of river dams and the storage of water have been a strategy for survival for many centuries. Reservoirs have diverse functions, providing irrigation, water supply, storage of water, flood control, navigation and power generation. The silting of a reservoir is an unavoidable process. Although it cannot be halted, silting can be slowed down and controlled by a variety of soil conservation practices and by modifying agricultural practices in the catchment area. Other methods of reducing silting include the placing of certain engineering structures in the river system and the introduction of adequate strategies of reservoir operation. Silting and Desilting of Reservoirs includes aspects such as hydraulics, sediment transport, silting, sediment distribution, calculation and prediction of silting and solutions to reservoir silting.

Research on reservoir sedimentation in recent years has been aimed mainly at water resources projects in developing countries. These countries, especially in Africa, often have to cope with long droughts, flash floods and severe erosion problems. Large reservoir capacities are required to capture water provided by flash floods so as to ensure the supply of water in periods of drought. The problem arising however is that these floods, due to their tremendous stream power, carry enormous volumes of sediment which, due to the size of reservoirs, are virtually deposited in toto in the reservoir basin, leading to fast deterioration of a costly investment. Accurate forecasting of reservoir behaviour is therefore of the utmost importance. This book fills a gap in current literature by providing in one volume comprehensive coverage of techniques required to practically investigate the effects sediment deposition in reservoirs has on the viability of water resources projects.

Despite the mechanisms of reservoir sedimentation being well known for a long time, sustainable and preventive measures are rarely taken into consideration in the design of new reservoirs. To avoid operational problems of powerhouses, sedimentation is often treated for existing reservoirs with measures which are efficient only for a limited time.Th

This publication has been prepared in response to numerous requests from those concerned with water-supply, irrigation, and power production for information on methods of controlling or reducing excessive silting in impounding reservoirs.

An examination of how silt has a major impact on the operation of hydropower projects in terms of the silting of reservoirs, with particular reference to India where one-third of the Earth's silt material originates. An effort is made to raise awareness of silt issues in the minds of hydropower engineers, considering silting problems in hydropower projects on the Indian sub-continent. Also under discussion are environmental and economic aspects of silt management; reduction of silt by implementing ISO 1400 for hilly projects; technical treatments of reservoir sedimentation, desilting and its economic optimization, damage mechanisms and their analysis, and design criteria. Although this book considers the problem of silting from several viewpoints, it focuses on the design of hydropower plants in India.

Focusing on reservoir sedimentation management and control, this work defines the nature and severity of sedimentation, reviews relevant physical processes, describes techniques used to combat sedimentation, and presents detailed case studies.