Sustainable rivers navigation: an integrated framework for discharge management and bottlenecks mitigation

Sustaining navigability in the rivers face challenges from sediment transport, fluctuating discharges, and hydraulic interventions. Regular monitoring and strategic planning are essential for water security, and inland transportation. Despite extensive previous studies. There is a lack of a scenario-based decision support system (DSS) integrated framework that combines hydrodynamic modeling, spatial analysis, and decision support tools for navigation bottleneck assessment. Consequently, an integrated framework using the sedimentation and river hydraulics two-dimension module (SRH-2D), geographic information system (GIS) tools, and python applications was developed to assess navigation performance. Historical datasets were analyzed to evaluate sedimentation and erosion patterns in the first reach of the Nile River. Different discharge scenarios were simulated, and the recommended minimum operational discharge threshold under current (2023) morphological conditions at which navigation bottlenecks are eliminated was identified. The developed approach could significantly reduce dredging and maintenance costs. Although demonstrated on the Nile River, this methodology is fully applicable to other sediment-rich or morphodynamically active rivers offering an effective tool for improving navigation reliability, informing sediment planning, and supporting long-term resilience of global inland waterway networks.