IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v15y2026i6p1041-d1965723.html

Contribution of Natural Water Retention Measures to Integrated Water Management in Ungauged Basins

Author

Listed:
  • Branislava B. Matić

    (Faculty of Environmental Protection, Educons University, 21208 Sremska Kamenica, Serbia)

  • Barbara Karleuša

    (Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Rijeka, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia)

  • Bojana Horvat

    (Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Rijeka, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia)

Abstract

Interest in Natural Water Retention Measures (NWRMs) for large river basins is growing rapidly as a result of a wide range of benefits, including improved water retention capacity and regulation of ecosystem services. However, suitable site-specific NWRMs in small ungauged basins prone to flash floods and erosion, such as the Vrutci Reservoir Basin in Serbia, have yet to be evaluated and applied, primarily because of a lack of necessary data. The aim of this study was to design an easy-to-implement approach to evaluating the effects of NWRMs on peak discharge, tailored specifically to small basins with significant data gaps. The approach involves developing and analyzing a synthetic unit hydrograph (SUH) based on the available landscape geospatial data and evaluating the effects of NWRMs on the SUH before and after implementation of site-specific NWRMs. This methodological framework allows for quantification of the NWRMs’ effects on the basin and evaluates the proposed measures’ impact to secure better acceptance among stakeholders and informed decision-makers regarding their location in the basin. The results underscore a peak discharge rate reduction from 5% to 33% and hence indicate a positive impact on basin water retention potential. These results highlight the need for support for improved regulating ecosystem services in integrated water management.

Suggested Citation

  • Branislava B. Matić & Barbara Karleuša & Bojana Horvat, 2026. "Contribution of Natural Water Retention Measures to Integrated Water Management in Ungauged Basins," Land, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-22, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:15:y:2026:i:6:p:1041-:d:1965723
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/15/6/1041/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/15/6/1041/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:15:y:2026:i:6:p:1041-:d:1965723. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask MDPI Indexing Manager to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.