Preliminary streamflow data analyses prior to water resources planning study

The analysis and use of hydrological data for decision making in water resources planning and management can only be meaningful if the data possess the appropriate characteristics. In general, it is customary that data being analysed are consistent, free of trend and constituting a stochastic process whose random component is described by an appropriate probability distribution hypothesis. This paper describes, using hypothetical numerical examples where possible, some of the commonly used tests for establishing the presence or otherwise of these attributes in hydrological data series. The tests were then applied to actual streamflow data records from seven sites, in Iran and England, which formed the basis of an extensive water resources planning study carried out recently. In general, the data from all seven sites possessed the right attributes, which made their use in the wider water resources planning study straightforward.