risks of flooding<\/a>.<\/p>\nThey discovered that human-managed streams, which are those that are impacted by man-made developments such as dams, canals, or heavy urbanisation, have had significantly different flow patterns compared to streams in natural watersheds.<\/p>\n
Severe flooding risk increase<\/h3>\n
A greater flow increase in managed watersheds indicates more severe flooding could occur\u2014 possibly as a result of the increased paved surfaces in urban regions. Flow dampening, on the other hand, can lead to water shortages and a loss in biodiversity in managed streams.<\/p>\n
The study utilised natural watersheds untouched by human activity to measure the impact of climate change on streamflow. Using them as a baseline, the researchers then compared flow in managed streams within a radius of 115 kilometres to measure the impact of human developments.<\/p>\n
\u201cCompared to their natural neighbours, about 48% of the human-altered streams had significant increases in seasonal flow trends, while 44% showed a significant decrease in the seasonal flow tends,\u201d explained Nitin Singh, a postdoctoral fellow in Waterloo\u2019s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and lead author of this study.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe used machine learning to show conclusively that these changes are caused by human activity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seasonal effects on stream flows<\/h3>\n
While previous studies have analysed stream flows at the annual scale, this study considers seasonal effects such as spring flooding and summer droughts, which are critical for water management.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is important to recognise that human modifications of the landscape often amplify the effects of climate change on streamflow,\u201d concluded Nandita Basu, Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Civil and Environmental Engineering.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to take responsibility to manage our landscape sustainably, because it\u2019s not just climate that is changing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The study \u2018The human factor in seasonal streamflow\u2019s across natural and managed watersheds of North America,\u2019 was recently published in the journal Nature Sustainability<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A study of more than 2,000 streams and rivers around North America has uncovered that those altered by human activity are at greater risk of flooding. A study conducted from the University of Waterloo analysed the seasonal flow patterns of 2,272 streams in Canada and the US to determine the risks of flooding. They discovered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":19226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24433,785],"tags":[745,689,789],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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