Which baseflow metrics should be used in assessing flow regimes of urban streams?

Abstract

Determining the impact of urbanisation on baseflow is complex because of the multiplicity of factors that govern subsurface flows. Although many metrics are available to quantify the baseflow regime, the lack of consensus on which metrics need to be used for baseflow characterisation limit their practical application for stormwater management. We performed principal component and correlation analyses on a set of 32 baseflow metrics to identify a subset of non-redundant metrics for baseflow characterisation. We compared the results for streamflow time series from natural and urban catchments. We found that a subset of five metrics, including at least one metric from each of the four ecologica..