Quantitative analysis on the environmental impact of large-scale water transfer project on water resource area in a changing environment

Abstract

Abstract. The interbasin long-distance water transfer project is key support for the reasonable allocation of water resources in a large-scale area, which can optimize the spatiotemporal change of water resources to secure the amount of water available. Large-scale water transfer projects have a deep influence on ecosystems; besides, global climate change causes uncertainty and additive effect of the environmental impact of water transfer projects. Therefore, how to assess the ecological and environmental impact of megaprojects in both construction and operation phases has triggered a lot of attention. The water-output area of the western route of 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, we identified the influencing factors and established the diagnostic index system. The climate-hydrology-ecology coupled simulation model was used to simulate and predict ecological and environmental responses of the water resource area in a changing environment. The emphasis of impact evaluation was placed on the reservoir construction and operation scheduling, representative river corridors and wetlands, natural reserves and the water environment below the dam sites. In the end, an overall evaluation of the comprehensive influence of the project was conducted. The research results were as follows: the environmental impacts of the western route project in the water resource area were concentrated on two aspects: the permanent destruction of vegetation during the phase of dam construction and river impoundment, and the significant influence on the hydrological situation of natural river corridor after the implementation of water extraction. The impact on local climate, vegetation ecology, typical wetlands, natural reserves and the water environment of river basins below the dam sites was small.

Framing ecosystem services in the telecoupled Anthropocene

“…For sending systems, there are two potential environmental impacts: the permanent destruction of vegetation during dam construction and river impoundment, and the substantial hydrological changes to the natural river corridor that will result from water extraction (Yan et al . ). However, there will also be positive impacts for water‐sending systems; for instance, the storage capacity of the Danjiangkou Reservoir will increase by 3.3 billion cubic meters, reducing potential flooding that may affect more than 700 000 people.…”

A network meta‐analysis of threats to South American fish biodiversity

“…The artificial control of the water level can lead to a reduction in native fish diversity and increase the success of chronically introduced non-natives (Gubiani, Gomes, Agostinho, & Baumgartner, 2010;Hoeinghaus et al, 2009;Vitule et al, 2012). Many reservoirs and water channels connect formerly isolated hydrographic basins, resulting in a catastrophic decrease in biodiversity (Galil et al, 2015;Grant et al, 2012;Huete-Perez, Meyer, & Alvarez, 2015;Lindsey, 1957;Pittock, Meng, Geiger, & Chapagain, 2009;Yan et al, 2012). Reservoirs can also cause human mass migration either due to the inundation, the increase in diseases, or the collapse of fisheries (Petrere, 1996).…”

An integrated assessment of China's South—North Water Transfer Project

“…Early research on China's SNWTP focused primarily on its economic viability and projected social and environmental effects (Wilson et al, 2017, have a full review), while in recent years, there have been two primary lines of enquiry in English language publications. The second line of enquiry concerns the SNWTP's physical impacts, primarily the modelling or direct measurement of hydrological impacts (see Ma et al, 2016;Webber et al, 2015;Yan et al, 2012;Ye et al, 2015) and pollution flows (Zhang et al, 2018). While these studies do point to the far-reaching and unequal social, economic, political, and environmental effects of the SNWTP, particularly in source regions, their focus is the power struggles embedded in the SNWTP.…”