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This study compared three hydrological methods - low flow frequency analysis, flow duration curve (FDC), and concentration-discharge (C-D) modeling - to determine the water requirement of the Gavkhuni wetland located in an arid region of Iran. Due to the effects of water impounding upstream on the hydrological regime of the Gavkhuni’s inflow after construction of the Zayandehrud dam, none of the methods produced satisfactory results.

Consequent modification of the hydrological regime of the wetland’s inflow using a scaling process allowed all the methods except low flow frequency analysis to dependably estimate the base flow for the wetland. The results of the C-D method revealed that this method can provide a minimum health condition from the water quality point of view, while the results of the FDC demonstrated that not only the inflow estimated using this method can supply minimum conditions in terms of water quality parameters, but it also covers most areas of the wetland, based on the results of hydraulic modeling.

The results reveal that the hydrological methods implemented in this study can dependably estimate environmental water allocation for wetlands in arid and semi-arid regions when there is no detailed knowledge about the biological requirements of the wetlands’ biota. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.