Flood Routing Simulation and Management in Hydrologic Basins with Artificial Reservoirs—The Case of Arda River

Major flood events occurred in the Arda River region in the last decades with great economic, social and environmental effects. A specific software package has been developed for the simulation of the flood runoff and routing process of the transboundary Arda River basin. The software package is taking into account the existence of the three cascade Bulgarian reservoirs aiming to flood protection and power optimization. Inflow estimations for duration of five days ahead and initial water levels at the three reservoirs are imported at the beginning of the simulation. The management tool includes all the alternative operation modes of hydropower plants, water released from spillways, and river and reservoir flow characteristics in order to optimize the total system (power generation and flooding costs) during the flood event. The developed software is also an efficient tool for the establishment of a flood warning system.