Regionalization of floods and water shortages

Regional methods can be used to improve the estimation of flood quantiles when there is a lack of hydrometric data at the site of interest, or to provide a way of obtaining flood estimates when there is no local hydrometric record at all. The present work follows a NSERC strategic grant that aimed at comparing the most prominent regional flood frequency estimation models. The main goal of the present study is to apply the methodologies that were identified during the strategic project, to the regionalisation of floods in the system operated by Hydro-Quebec. The methodologies will also be extended to the regionalisation of other hydrological variables (such as low flows, precipitations, or snow equivalents). This work attempts also to identify new research avenues for the delineation of homogeneous regions. The results of the application of selected methodologies to the Saint-Maurice river basin will be presented during the conference.