13 April 2022 - 00:00

Delft

Important dates • Program • Venue • Keynotes • Proceedings • Registration • Downloads • Contact

Delft University of Technology is proud to host the NCR DAYS 2022 “Anthropogenic Rivers”. Once again, the NCR DAYS will provide a podium for young and established researchers and professionals to present their work on rivers. The LOC is preparing a program to ensure a safe and inclusive conference. The NCR DAYS 2022 is a hybrid conference. You can participate online or in-person. Presentatiations will not be recorded. For more information, see registration.

Add the event to your calendar

To add the event to your calendar, click here to download the calendar invitation file (*.ics). This calendar item has the join link as well, so you won’t have to save this email.

Important dates

Registration open: February 21, 2022
Deadline abstract submission: February 25, 2022
EXTENDED Deadline abstract submission: March 8, 2022
Registration early bird fee deadline: March 14, 2022
Notice of acceptance: March 25, 2022
NCR DAYS 2022: April 13-14, 2022

Venue

All activites take place in Lecture Room E, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Stevinweg 1, Delft.

Please see this document for information on parking, public transport, accessibility and suggestions for accomodation.

Conference program

The full program is available online here, and available as PDF Download.

YNCR Activities
On Thursday after the conference, YNCR will host an informal social gathering at Mooie Boules, in Delft. We will play some jeu de boules, and have some drinks and bites. We encourage you to come and socialize with your colleagues in the Netherlands, which you may not get to see every day. Registration is free, but we will appreciate it if you let us know that you’re coming at yncr@ncr-web.org – this will help us plan. We hope to see you there!

Keynote speakers

Keynote addresses will be given by dr. Nathalie Asselman of Deltares, Bas Roels of WWF Nederland (WNF) and prof. Gary Parker of University of Illinois.

We regret to inform that Dr. Regina Patzwahl, announced earlier as one of the keynote speakers, is unable to attend due to personal circumstances.

Dr. Nathalie Asselman

Nathalie Asselman has a PhD in Physical Geography. Since 1999 she has been working at Deltares to provide advise on Integrated Flood Risk Management. She started as flood inundation modeller and later also became project leader of large, integrated projects on flood risk management. Example projects comprise implementation of the EU Floods Directive, the development and implementation of integrated flood risk management strategies in the Netherlands (e.g. the Dutch Deltaprogramme, and the programme on Integrated River Management) and abroad (e.g. Bangladesh Deltaplan 2100). In July 2021, Nathalie participated in the Task Force Fact Finding and presented the hydraulic and morphological findings related to the Meuse river in the Netherlands. She now also is the project leader of the water system evaluation, for which Deltares functions as a coordinating partner for the water board and province Limburg.

Keynote: Flood Risk Management in Limburg

In July 2021, large areas in the province of Limburg in the Netherlands were affected by extreme rainfall. Record high discharges were measured in the Meuse river, but also in the tributaries that enter the Meuse river in the Netherlands (e.g. the Roer and the Geul). The resulting floods caused severe damage to buildings and infrastructure. Immediately after the floods, the Task Force Fact Finding was commissioned by ENW (the Dutch Expertise Network on Flood Risk and Flood Defenses) to start with data collection and use these data for a first analysis. Shortly after the Task Force presented their finding, the water board and the province Limburg started a project to evaluate the functioning of the water system in the south of Limburg. This evaluation consists of a description of what happened in July 2021, additional analysis to understand the processes behind the extreme flood event, and a first assessment of potential measures.
This presentation will provide a brief summary of some of the findings published by ENW (2021), followed by an overview of the first results of the water system evaluation.

Prof. dr. Gary Parker

Gary Parker is professor at the University of Illinois since 2005, holding the W.W. Grainger chair at Civil and Environmental Engineering and the W.H. Johnson chair at Geology. He received numerous honours, including the ASCE Huntour Rouse Hydraulic Engineering award and being elected to thew US National Academy of Sciences. His research interest include river morphodynamics, landscape evolution and response of rivers to climate change. Some recent research involves the study of dendricity of drainage networks (10.1073/pnas.2015770118) and lateral migration of meanders (10.1029/2020JF005645). Approaching his status emeriti, prof. Parker has agreed to address the annual meeting of the NCR remotely.

Keynote: Morphodynamics of lowland river networks modeled as simple binary trees

River networks are ubiquitous in nature. The example of the Amazon River, South America, is shown here. Typically, channel branches farther upstream tend to be steeper than branches farther downstream.

Here we explain this tendency via a simple model of lowland sand-bed stream networks. Any given downstream branch bifurcates into two branches upstream, here each assumed to have discharges equal to half of the downstream branch. Each branch satisfies (at bankfull flow) a relation each for flow resistance, sand transport and sediment mobility Shields number. We show that if the transport rate of sand increases downstream in proportion to the water discharge, the river slope must be the same everywhere, so that the long profile following any path shows no upward concavity. When the sand load increases downstream at a lower rate than the water discharge, on the other hand, upward concavity is manifested. The bifurcations are allowed to continue upstream until a specified drainage density is reached. The inverse of drainage density scales the distance from any channel to the nearest ridge; at an appropriately low value, it is assumed that sediment can be delivered to the nearest stream solely through overland processes. We use the above conditions to determine the extent of the spatial network, and also the spatial variation of network denudation rate.

Bas Roels

Bas Roels (44) is an ecologist who worked for 12 years for the Dutch government as policy advisor nature with a focus on water management, infrastructure and climate adaptation. The policy paper ‘Natuurambitie Grote Wateren 2050’ was coordinated by him. The last 7 years he worked for WWF The Netherlands coordinating a Dutch rivers- and delta program in which a climate resilient future vision on these areas is composed in which nature based solutions are put central.

Keynote: Room for living rivers; the need to accelerate the implementation of nature based solutions in Dutch river management practice

Dutch rivers are as anthropogenic as can be. No wonder that in The Netherlands important first steps with developing (ecological) river restoration concepts have been made. Within the ‘Room for the River program’, these have been put into practice on large scale over the last 15 years.

Still, ecological output is sub-optimal, mainly because key ecological concepts were not fully developed or not implemented to minimalize negative impacts on other river functions, such as shipping or to reduce costs.

In the meantime, predictions show that the impact of climate change on peak rivers flows increases and The Netherlands is facing an increased water safety task. This challenges the realized nature restoration: already river forests have been removed. From this context, how can we move to a meaningful follow up of ‘Room for the River’? What is ecological urgent and relevant and which water management and river design concepts are feasible? WWF proposed some new concepts & ideas, both addressing ecological needs for river restoration as the other river functions.

Suzanne Linnane

Dr Suzanne Linnane heads up the ‘Water, Communities and Development’ at Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland. She serves as the Education Sector representative on the Irish National Water Forum and is a member of its Education and Research working groups. Much of her current research work is based around integrated catchment management and source protection of drinking water sources for rural water supplies in Ireland and sustainable water provision in the developing world. All her projects have a strong stakeholder component and involve consultation with relevant parties throughout all stages of the process with a view to sustainability and policy implementation. As well as high-level research activities, Suzanne is passionate about Environmental Education and is the co-founder and coordinator of the All about Water and H₂O Heroes School’s outreach programmes.

Keynote: Water governance for future proofing – an Irish perspective

Ireland’s water bodies have been recognised as a resource since human settlement began with archaeological evidence suggesting that human habitations were deliberately sited close to rivers or lakes. Historically, Ireland’s rivers, lakes and groundwaters were free from serious man-made pollution.

This situation changed decisively in the second half of the 20^th century and since the 1970s, in particular, Ireland began to experience a deterioration in water quality that has had significant implications for biodiversity and for drinking water supplies. As part of its obligations under the Water Framework Directive, Ireland prepares a River Basin Management Plan every six years which sets targets to address water quality issues including the protection, improvement and sustainable management of the water environment.

Launched in 2009, Ireland’s first plan covered the period from 2009-2014 and quantified the extent of deterioration of water quality at that point. Despite some progress over the years, overall water quality is again in decline and Ireland’s waters are now subject to mounting environmental pressures with the situation described as urgent. Meeting the challenge of protecting and improving Ireland’s water quality for the 3^rd RBMP (2022-2027) will be a complex undertaking and will require the participation and cooperation of many stakeholders.

Registration

The NCR Days is a hybrid conference. You can attend either in-person or follow the presentations online. Please be aware that the presentation will not be recorded, and can only be joined in real-time. Students (both PhD and MSc/BSc) are eligible for a reduced conference fee. A discount applies for early bird registration (no later than March 14). For a full overview of the conference fees, see the registration website (link below).

Proceedings

The conference proceedings (book of abstracts) are now available from the NCR Knowledge base as a PDF download (direct link).

Tip: navigate the proceedings on iOS

If you open the proceedings on an iOS device (iPhone, iPad), you may not be able to see the pdf bookmarks unless you open the proceedings in ‘Books’. Here’s how to conveniently navigate the proceedings:

Downloads

Contact information

Laura Stancanelli (L.M.Stancanelli@tudelft.nl)
NCR DAYS 2022 organising committee

The 2022 LOC:

Shelby Ahrendt, Astrid Blom, Kifayath Chowdhury, Jelle Dercksen, Otti Kievits, Nina Piccoli, Ralph Schielen, Jill Slinger, Kees Sloff, Laura Stancanelli, Claudia Ylla Arbos