Hydrologic regime characterization for a semi-arid watershed

Information describing the hydrological regime is likely to play a major role in the implementation of the WFD across the EU. In fact, the flow regime is one of the drivers of the ecological status of a stream. The analysis of the hydrological regime is particularly important to understand the ecological status in intermittent rivers since the flow varies on spatial and temporal scale depending on precipitation patterns. A method for analysing the flow regime for intermittent rivers is proposed in order to help in the design of the schedule for biological samplings. Climatic data were used as a guide to hydrological regime and an analysis of daily flow data was done to define low flow and dry periods, extreme flow conditions and response to rainfall events.