Piscicultural requirements and their consideration in developing rules for utilization of water resources in HPP reservoirs

Abstract

Translated from Gidrotekhnicheskoe Stroitel 'stvo, No. 12, December 2009, pp. 28 -32. Food provision and rationing of the supply are basic factors when preserving a variety of fish species and their populations in a water body.In conformity with effective nature-conserving legislation of the Russian Federation where farming activity is conducted in water entities of piscicultural value, including the operation of hydroelectric power plants, measures should be specified for the preservation of the water entities, biological water resources, and the water regime, and measures should be taken to preserve the habitats of the animal world, and conditions for their reproduction, feeding, and migration paths.Based on the Water Code of the Russian Federation [1] and the Status [2], water resources are utilized in accordance with the Rules of reservoir usage [1]. Organizations operating water-power and water-development works are obliged to ensure filling and drawdown regimes of reservoirs, observing piscicultural demands in sections assuming significance for the preservation and reproduction of fish resources.The Rules for utilization for the water resources of a reservoir represent the principal document on which management of the water regime of a reservoir is based. Dispatcher schedules for structure operation as a function of the water reserve in the reservoir at the time that a decision is made are developed as a component part of these Rules. The punctuality of decision making from several days to one month will depend on irregularity of the water influx to the reservoir, and on the requirements of water consumers as to the operating regime of the structures. A characteristic of water-level dynamics in a reservoirthe rate at which the horizon rises or falls in a specified time interval -is not stipulated on despatchers' schedules. This characteristic assumes critical, frequently determining significance, for both the safety of the water-development works, and also for pisciculture in the reservoirs. Such a position results in noncorrespondence with, and occasionally in contradiction to the reservoir's water-or power-supply demands in a zone of the despatcher's schedule on the one hand, and with respect to the rate at which the reservoir must drawndown to provide this supply on the other. This situation is characteristic when the interests of pisciculture are considered in the requirements for the reservoir's operating regime.In this paper, one approach to development of a regime for the filling and drawdown of reservoirs with consideration of piscicultural requirements is analyzed using the Kovda series of reservoirs as an example.The reservoirs in the Kovda series are referred to as lacustrine reservoirs, and are large water bodies with an overall surface area of 2, 800 km2 at the normal backwater level. These reservoirs are component parts of the White Sea Basin (Kandalaksha Gulf), and are located in the territory of Karelia and the Murmansk Oblast (Fig. 1).The water resources of the Kovda River Basin are util...

Landscape Approach towards Integrated Conservation and Use of Primeval Forests: The Transboundary Kovda River Catchment in Russia and Finland

“…Nevertheless, rural settlements are in decline, and locals rely on a wide range of wood and non-wood resources [44,52,98,99]. While hydropower production continues, planning measures are discussed to increase the reliability and safety of hydraulic structures, due to the poor quality of constructions and the limited consideration of local operating conditions [100], as well as to develop compensation measures for lost fish industry opportunities [101]. At the same time, tourism based on natural and cultural values is emerging [102].…”

Effect of constraints on rate of change of water level in reservoir on power-generation performance indicators of hydroelectric power plants

“…Moreover, failure will occur due to intergrowth of large permeable cracks, whereas the concentration of fine cracks remains as before [1]. Also, rapid filling or drawdown of the water level may have an unfavorable effect on the position of the depression curve of an earth-fill (hydraulicked) dam and the banks, resulting in diminution of the safety of the WDW.As a result of manifestation of phenomena exerting a negative influence on the safety of the WDW, the need has arisen for use of certain constraints on the operating regime of the reservoir.It should be remembered that in analyzing the passage of maximum flow rates with a design probability exceeding the limitation placed on the rate of filling of the reservoir, however, these constrains have not been expanded to cover the entire year.Use of constraints on the rate of change of the water level in the reservoir will effect a change in its operating regime, and as a result, a change in the operating regime of the hydroelectric power plant [2]. In turn, a change in the operating regime of a power plant located upstream on the river may influence operation of plants residing downstream.…”

“…Use of constraints on the rate of change of the water level in the reservoir will effect a change in its operating regime, and as a result, a change in the operating regime of the hydroelectric power plant [2]. In turn, a change in the operating regime of a power plant located upstream on the river may influence operation of plants residing downstream.…”