Decision Making Methods to Optimize New Dam Site Selections on the Nitra River

Abstract

Grouping both existing and newly planned reservoirs based on selected measurable characteristics allows to point out issues that are relevant to area management using experience obtained from the environment of other sites. Divisive hierarchical clustering has been deployed to find similarities between dam locations. The Nitra River Basin (located in Nitra District, Nitra Region in Slovakia) with its 54 reservoirs is the model area. Profiles for 11 potential new reservoirs have been developed. Partial river basins were identified for each of the existing and new reservoirs using a digital relief model. The area size, proportion of arable land, forestland and built-up area, degree of exposure to soil erosion and the volume of surface runoff have been used as parameters for comparisons. Six clusters have been identified containing similar existing as well as new locations, one of them being a special case.