Abstract:
Water is the key to the lives of all living creatures. Human beings need to ensure there will be safe and abundant water resources in the future. The important issue of water is not only about the water quality, but also about the water quantity. As the most effective indicator of water quantity, instream flow is critical for us to understand the water quantity. It includes the variations of water flows, representing the high and low periods of the river flow. The low flow of rivers is important to preserve the harmony of the environment physically, biologically, and socially. Jowett (1997) pointed out that the minimum flows in rivers and streams provide protection at a certain extent for the aquatic environment. In addition to the creatures that are living within the water, human beings also need water. However, with external drivers, such as climate change, population growth, and riparian policy relaxation, the low period of the water flows in the Cahaba River can be even lower in the future. Hence, this is what this research addresses and why it is critical. This research examines the effects of increasing human activities, such as irrigation and municipal water uses, and climate changes on instream flows in the Cahaba River, Alabama, and indicates what kind of actions might be implemented to prevent negative consequences. The goal of the result of this research is to estimate the possibility that the Cahaba River will be unable to meet the increasing needs of water uses due to the external changes. Based on the results of the scenarios designed in this study, with the external factors, such as climate change, population growth, and riparian policy relaxation, the instream flow of the Cahaba River can be at risk in the future, and we should start to take actions for preventing the trend.
