Ecological Impact of Large-Scale Water Transfer Project
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., 8, 10465–10500, 2011 Hydrology and www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci-discuss.net/8/10465/2011/ Earth System HESSD doi:10.5194/hessd-8-10465-2011 Sciences © Author(s) 2011. CC Attribution 3.0 License. Discussions 8, 10465–10500, 2011 This discussion paper is/has been under review for the journal Hydrology and Earth System Ecological impact of Sciences (HESS). Please refer to the corresponding final paper in HESS if available. large-scale water transfer project Quantitative analysis on the ecological D. H. Yan et al. impact of large-scale water transfer project on water resource area in a Title Page changing environment Abstract Introduction Conclusions References D. H. Yan1,2, H. Wang1,2, H. H. Li1,2, G. Wang1,2, T. L. Qin1,2,3, D. Y. Wang1,2,3, and Tables Figures L. H. Wang1,2,4 1 State Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin, J I China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, 100038, China 2Water Resources Department, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower J I Research, Beijing, 100038, China Back Close 3Environmental Science and Engineering Department, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, China Full Screen / Esc 4School of Hydraulic Engineering, Dalian University of Technolgoy, Dalian, 116023, China Received: 19 October 2011 – Accepted: 9 November 2011 – Published: 30 November 2011 Printer-friendly Version Correspondence to: G. Wang ([email protected]) Interactive Discussion Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. 10465 Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Abstract HESSD The interbasin long-distance water transfer project is a key support for the reasonable allocation of water resources in a large-scale area, which can optimize the spatiotem- 8, 10465–10500, 2011 poral change of water resources to reinforce the guarantee of the access of water re- 5 sources. And large-scale water transfer projects have a deep influence on ecosystems; Ecological impact of besides, global climate change causes the uncertainty and additive effect of the eco- large-scale water logical impact of water transfer projects. Therefore, how to assess the ecological and transfer project environmental impact of large-scale water transfer projects in both construction and operation has triggered a lot of attention. The water-output area of the western route of D. H. Yan et al. 10 China’s South-North Water Transfer Project was taken as the study area of the present article. According to relevant evaluation principles and on the basis of background analysis on the eco-environment of the study area, the influence factors were identi- Title Page fied and evaluation indexes were established. The climate-hydrology-ecology coupled Abstract Introduction simulation model was used to imitate the laws of ecological and environmental change 15 of the water resource area in a changing climate. The emphasis of influence analy- Conclusions References sis and quantitative evaluation was placed on the reservoir construction and operation Tables Figures scheduling, representative river corridors and wetlands, natural reserves and the wa- ter environment of river basins below the dam sites. In the end, an overall influence evaluation of the impact of the project on the water circulation and ecological evolution J I 20 of the water resource area was conducted. The research results were as follows: the J I environmental impacts of the western route project in the water resource area were concentrated on two aspects, i.e. the permanent destruction of vegetation during the Back Close phase of dam construction and river impoundment, and the significant influence on the Full Screen / Esc hydrological situation of natural river corridor after the implementation of water transfer. 25 Its impact on local climate, vegetation ecology, typical wetlands, natural reserves and Printer-friendly Version the water environment of river basins below the dam sites was small. Interactive Discussion 10466 Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | 1 Introduction HESSD With the increase of the world’s population, the rapid development of agriculture and industry and the increasing urbanization, the uneven spatiotemporal distribution of wa- 8, 10465–10500, 2011 ter resource and its quality deteriorate. To cope with the serious limitation of water 5 resource to economic development, many countries have undertaken water transfer Ecological impact of projects. From 1940 to 1980, the world witnessed the peak period of the construc- large-scale water tion of large-scale long-distance interbasin water transfer projects (Yang, 2003; Wang, transfer project 2009). After 1980, with the uprising consciousness of environmental protection, people became cautious of the construction of water transfer projects and a series of reports D. H. Yan et al. 10 concerning the negative ecological impacts of both construction and operation of these projects (Davies et al., 1992; Meador, 1992; Nardini, 1997) came out. Since then, countries all over the world began to conduct ecological influence evaluation on water Title Page transfer projects, and carry out thorough researches on environmental problems and Abstract Introduction ecological influence caused by those projects (Graf, 2006; Morais, 2008; Braatne et 15 al., 2008; Kittinger et al., 2009; Baran and Myschowoda, 2009; Growns et al., 2009; Conclusions References Wu et al., 2010; Olden and Naiman, 2010). At the same time, laws and regulations Tables Figures specialized in the construction and the operation of water transfer projects were pub- lished so as to mitigate and even prevent the ecological and environmental problems (Yang, 2003; Wang, 2009). Besides, studies on evaluation of ecological and environ- J I 20 mental influence of water transfer projects have gradually developed into an important J I field (Doledec, 1996; Bombino et al., 2006; Shah and Kumar, 2008). Meanwhile, ac- companied by the aggravation of the global climate change, the evaluation concerning Back Close the ecological influence of the water transfer project in a changing environment has Full Screen / Esc become increasingly valued, and a few studies in this field were carried out (Zeilhofer 25 and Moura, 2009; Olden and Naiman, 2010; Doll and Zhang, 2010; Moiwo et al., 2010; Printer-friendly Version Pittock and Finlayson, 2011). Oversize water transfer projects, especially those which cross rivers and are of long Interactive Discussion distance, are all huge systematic projects. They have a large span of space and time 10467 Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | and therefore impose a broad array of impacts on the ecosystems of a river basin (Petts, 1984; Casado et al., 1989; Poff et al., 1997; Rosenberg et al., 1997; Friedl HESSD and Wuest,¨ 2002; Brismar, 2004; Burke et al., 2009). What’s more, the environmental 8, 10465–10500, 2011 and ecological influence of project under the background of global climate change is 5 extremely complex, thus there is considerable uncertainty. Present relevant studies are short of global, comprehensive and systematic research as they are focused on a Ecological impact of certain aspect of the ecological influence, such as the hydrological situation, pollutant large-scale water transport patterns and biodiversity (Morais, 2008; Hu et al., 2008; Koutsos et al., 2010; transfer project Ouyang et al., 2011), or they are targeted at a certain area, such as the water-output D. H. Yan et al. 10 area, water-intake area and the river delta (Xu et al., 2011; Ligon et al., 2011; Restrepo and Cantera, 2011). And the climate change aspect has been inadequately treated in the environmental impact assessment of large water transfer projects. Judging from the Title Page experiences of existing water transfer projects, the estimation of their impact on ecology and environment is insufficient, and the negative influence of projects in the phase of Abstract Introduction 15 operation is becoming increasingly significant. The western route of China’s South- North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP) locates its water-output area in the Qinghai- Conclusions References Tibet Plateau, which is the sensitive area of global climate change. Therefore, studies Tables Figures of the ecological influence evaluation of this area are of great importance and have triggered a lot of concerns (Yang et al., 2002; Berkoff, 2003; Ghassemi and White, J I 20 2006). In the present article, some explorations of the evaluation of the ecological influence J I of the western route project on its water-output area in a changing climate are con- Back Close ducted. This study aims to contributing to show how, and to what extent, the western route project of SNWTP will impact on ecology and environment in water resource area Full Screen / Esc 25 and regions related to water transfer. The specific objectives of this paper are to (1) evaluate the influence of the reservoir construction on the local climate of the water Printer-friendly Version resource area; (2) evaluate the influence of water transfer on the hydrological situation of typical water-reduction river reaches; (3) evaluate the influence of water transfer on Interactive Discussion typical wetlands and natural reserves; and (4) evaluate the influence of water transfer 10468 Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | on water environment below the dam sites. The quantitative assessment of the four aspects above are based upon a simulation and forecast platform which will be intro- HESSD duced in Sect. 2.5. However, for saving space, the assessment results other than the 8, 10465–10500, 2011 model itself are focused on in this article. Ecological impact of 5 2 Materials and methods large-scale water transfer project 2.1 Study area D. H. Yan et al. The first-stage of western route project of SNWTP is located at the southeast edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with the geographic coordinates of Latitude 99◦200– ◦ 0 ◦ 0 ◦ 0 102 10 E and Longitude 31 30 –33 20 N.