Upstream river flooding becoming more common

WVXU spoke to a University of Cincinnati professor about her study in the journal Nature examining changing water flow in rivers around the world.

UC College of Engineering and Applied Science Assistant Professor Dongmei Feng and study co-author Colin Gleason, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, examined changing water flow in rivers over the past 35 years.

In her Terrestrial Hydrology Lab, Feng and her students use the latest technology to study how climate change is affecting waterways around the world.

They found increasing flooding in upstream sections of rivers. These are particularly dangerous because typically there are fewer flood-mitigation measures in place in upstream sections of rivers, she said.

“Those human settlements are typically less protected compared to the downstream segments,” Feng told WVXU.

Meanwhile, Feng and Gleason found decreasing water flow in downstream sections where more people and human development depends on water from rivers. Low water levels can lead to a myriad of problems from more Cyanobacteria to clogged intakes in hydroelectric dams.

“I would say it's kind of concerning,” Feng said. “If you look at the global map of population distribution, you will see downstream are the most surrounded by human settlements — a lot more than upstream. So that means a lot more population relies on the downstream rivers for water resources and maybe energy supply, hydropower supply and other purposes.”

Read the WVXU story.

Featured image at top: UC College of Engineering and Applied Science Assistant Professor Dongmei Feng, standing on the banks of the Ohio River, examined water flow in the world's rivers over the last 35 years. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand