Floodplain

The environmental demand node can be modelled to fulfill floodplain requirements (as shown in Figure 1). The interaction between the river channel and the floodplain has been included by linking a controlled splitter node to the river channel to represent an effluent that leads to inundation of the floodplain. In this example, you can define the floodplain flow requirement explicitly of the required flow in the main river channel to force water down the effluent. The ordering system will determine the flow requirement in the main channel of the river to ensure that the floodplain requirement is met. It is a method of explicitly placing a flow requirement to a discrete environmental asset such as a wetland or forest, particularly if flow to the asset is controlled through some form of regulation eg. gated regulator or pumps.

Figure 1. Environmental demand, floodplain

The controlled splitter must be configured as shown in Figure 2 to ensure that the environmental demand node receives all flow that was ordered.

Figure 2. Environmental demand, Controlled splitter characteristics