Rapid accumulation of silt in reservoirs poses a major challenge for water resource management.However, estimating sediment transportation is difficult because of the complex interaction between sediment properties and hydraulic conditions. In this study, a reliable and efficient method was developed to assess sediment transportation and identify sediment hotspots. Shihmen Reservoir was used as an example. The results indicated that the ratio of suspended load to bed load was approximately 70:30. The high-water season accounted for 86% of the annual sediment load. Through water level-discharge regression and outlier removal, the sediment load estimation error was reduced from 20.9% to 11.2% and was controlled within 7% in stable years. Overall, this method can enable the real-time estimation of channel sediment load in the presence of real-time sediment concentrations and flow rates.When this study’s estimates were combined with observations and previous modeling results, the average annual sediment inflow to the Shihmen Reservoir in 2013–2022 was found to be approximately 3.016–3.587 million cubic meters, a range that is within historical trends. These findings can be applied to reservoir sedimentation early warning systems, desilting plans, and reservoir storage capacity management strategies, providing substantial benefits for the sustainable operation of reservoirs.
Key Words: reservoir watershed, sediment transportation, sediment yield, real-time warning