Brazil's Balbina Dam: Environment versus the legacy of the Pharaohs in Amazonia

The Balbina Dam in Brazil's state of Amazonas floods 2360 km² of tropical forest to generate an average of only 112.2 MW of electricity. The flat topography and small size of the drainage basin make output small. Vegetation has been left to decompose in the reservoir, resulting in acidic, anoxic water that will corrode the turbines. The shallow reservoir contains 1500 islands and innumerable stagnant bays where the water's residence time will be even longer than the average time of over one year. Balbina was built to supply electricity to Manaus, a city that has grown so much while the dam was under construction that other alternatives are already needed. Government subsidies explain the explosive growth, including Brazil's unified tariff for electricity. Alternative power sources for Manaus include transmission from more distant dams or from recently discovered oil and natural gas deposits. Among Balbina's impacts are loss of potential use of the forest and displacement of about one third of the surviving members of a much-persecuted Amerindian tribe: the Waimiri-Atroari. The dam was closed on 1 October 1987 and the first of five generators began operation in February 1989. The example of Balbina points to important ways that the decision-making process could be improved in Brazil and in the international funding agencies that have directly and indirectly contributed to the project. Environmental impact analyses must be completed prior to decisions on overall project implementation and must be free of influence from project proponents. The current environmental impact assessment system in Brazil, as in many other countries, has an undesirable influence on science policy, in addition to failing to address the underlying causes of environmentally destructive development processes and inability to halt irreversible projects like Balbina.     

Improving public information about large hydroelectric dams: Case studies in France and West Africa

It is becoming more common for public authorities in charge of dam construction and management to inform the population living in the area soon to be submerged by a proposed dam. However, populations living further downstream along a river to be dammed, have often been left to find out by chance, despite the fact that the changes to the river flow regime will have an important impact on their lives, sometimes serious negative impacts. This article makes a comparison between two dams, one at Bort-les-Orgues across the upper Dordogne River in southern France, the other the Bagré Dam over the Nakambé (or White Volta) River in south-eastern Burkina Faso. The article discusses dam construction and operation from the point of view of the concerned populations living in the reservoir and downstream areas.
In 2000, a study was carried out in the Dordogne Valley to ascertain downstream impacts of dam operations and information needs of the population. Suggestions from local river users related mostly to improving public information about predicted and actual flow rates and actual flow in real time along the 300 km course of the Dordogne between the dams and the estuary. Such information should be disseminated as widely as possible through available media, including the Internet, and also displayed visibly in key locations along the length of the river.     

三峡库区干流总磷浓度变化趋势分析研究

通过分析2000年-2015年的三峡库区长江、嘉陵江、乌江干流总磷浓度数据,掌握三峡库区总磷总体水平,长江干流总磷浓度为0.135±0.043 mg/1,为Ⅲ类水质;嘉陵江总磷浓度较低,为0.075±0.033 mg/1,为Ⅱ类水质;乌江干流总磷浓度较高,约为0.403±0.288 mg/1,为V类水质.长江重庆段入境朱沱断面的总磷浓度在枯、丰水期呈显著上升趋势,出境培石断面的总磷浓度在枯、平水期呈显著上升趋势.乌江干流入境万木断面和入库锣鹰断面总磷浓度变化趋势一致,都表现为先升高后降低.从2009年开始升高,在2011年或2012年达到峰值,最大浓度超过1.0 mg/1,然后开始逐年下降,到2015年浓度下降到0.2 mg/l.     

Radiological and multi-element analysis of sediments from the Proserpina reservoir (Spain) dating from Roman times

The Proserpina dam was built in Roman times to provide drinking water to Emerita Augusta (today's Mérida in SW Spain). During maintenance work, a sediment core was extracted, offering an excellent opportunity to analyze the historical environmental impacts of the dam and its reservoir over the 2000 years since Roman times. In order to establish an accurate chronology, ¹⁴C ages were determined by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). Core samples were assayed for their content in uranium and thorium series isotopes, ⁴⁰K, and the anthropogenic radionuclides ¹³⁷Cs, ⁹⁰Sr, and ^239+240Pu. Potassium-40 presented the highest activity level and was not constant with depth. The uranium and thorium series were generally in equilibrium, suggesting there had been no additional input of natural radionuclides. The presence of ¹³⁷Cs was only found in relation with the global fallout in the early 1960s. Multi-element assays were performed using the PIXE and PIGE techniques. Some variations in the multi-element concentrations were observed with depth, but the sediment core could be considered as clean, and no presumptive anthropogenic pollutants were found. Nevertheless, an unusually high Zn content was detected at depths corresponding to pre-Roman times, due to geological anomalies in the area.     

三峡大坝附近地区反季节蔬菜生产及其产业化战略

三峡大坝附近地区有发展反季节蔬菜生产的小气候环境,有比较丰富的可开垦利用的土地资源,具有广阔的市场。秭归县因地制宜地建设“河谷平坝保护地蔬菜基地”：和“高山反季节蔬菜基地”两大类型反季节蔬菜生产基地,极大地丰富了三峡工程建设区的副食品供应,增加了库区移民的经济收入,取得了很好的经济效益,很大的社会影响和良好的生态效应。     

三峡工程对两湖的生态影响

长江干流的渔业捕捞量从1954年的43万t下降到2011年的8万t,降幅达81%,而两湖(洞庭湖和鄱阳湖)的渔业捕捞量分别在2~4万t之间波动。三峡大坝对洞庭湖三口径流量的影响有限,但使江水倒灌鄱阳湖的天数和水量进一步降低。长江来水占洞庭湖径流量的30%,而在鄱阳湖中仅有0.1%,因此,对维持长江干流的渔业资源(特别是产漂流性卵鱼类)来说,洞庭湖的重要性远超鄱阳湖。干流渔业资源的衰退主要是江湖阻隔的结果,虽然过度捕捞起到了推波助澜的作用,因此,即使在干流休渔十年,也未必能使长江的渔业资源大幅回升。如果在两湖建闸,长江渔业资源的衰退将会进一步加剧,江豚的灭绝可能难以避免,因此,维持两湖与长江的生态联系,对长江干流生物多样性的维持至关重要。     

长江中游大型通江湖泊湿地景观格局演变特征

鄱阳湖和洞庭湖湿地是长江中游仅有的两个天然通江湖泊湿地,具有不可替代自然和人文价值。近年来,尤其是三峡工程运行以后两湖湿地景观格局发生改变,对区域生态系统平衡和社会经济发展产生重要影响。以Landsat 7为数据源,通过决策树分类及高斯回归的方法定量评估了三峡工程运行前后两湖湿地景观格局的演变特征及其差异性,旨在正确认识大型水利工程的生态效应,为湿地保护与重建提供科学依据。结果表明:2000~2014年,洞庭湖枯水期水位变化不明显。从历史演变特征来看,虽然有少部分植被挤占泥滩和水体,但总体上3种湿地景观类型面积变化不大。相比之下,三峡工程运行后鄱阳湖枯水期水位显著下降,水体面积萎缩近14%,植被面积增加约8%。与2000年相比,2014年鄱阳湖植被分布高程下降了1 m多。不同程度的干旱胁迫是形成两湖湿地景观格局差异性演变特征的主要原因。     

What Do the Occurrences of Migratory Fishes in the Upper Mekong Mean?

This paper examines the recent appearance of four migratory species in the Upper Mekong: Dasyatis laosensis, Anguilla bicolor, Anguilla marmorata, and Chitala ornata. Since 2006 these species have been continually sampled in an area below Jinghong Dam in Xishuangbanna, China. This region is far beyond their historical upstream distribution, and the reasons for these appearances and their subsequent impact on river ecosystem are considered.     

坝对环境影响的经济分析方法

修建大坝是社会性的大投资,其主要用途是供给生活及工业用水、能源生产、灌溉及防洪,除了这些直接效益外。坝及其水库储水还将产生一些相关的环境影响.本文简述了坝工程对水库流域的各种环境影响,着重阐述了用货币估价环境影响的经济分析方法。      

泉州白濑水利枢纽工程升鱼机进鱼口位置选择研究

水库大坝建设会对鱼类洄游造成阻隔影响,为减少大坝阻隔对鱼类遗传交流的影响,大坝应建设过鱼设施。福建省泉州白濑水利枢纽工程采用升鱼机过鱼设施,而进鱼口位置选择是影响过鱼设施设计成败的关键因素。根据白濑水利枢纽布置特点,从坝下流场、工程条件、过鱼效果等方面进行进鱼口位置比选研究,为类似水库工程过鱼设施进鱼口位置选择提供参考和借鉴。