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 spatio-temporal 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.
Highlights
With the increase of the world’s population, the rapid development of agriculture and industry and the increasing urbanization, the uneven spatio-temporal distribution of water resources and its quality deteriorate
This study aims to contribute to show how, and to what extent, the western route project of South-North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP) will impact ecology and environment in water resource area and regions related to water transfer
The specific objectives of this paper are to evaluate the influence of the water transfer (1) on the local climate of the water resource area after reservoir construction; (2) on the hydrological situation of typical dewatered river reaches; (3) on typical wetlands and natural reserves; and (4) on water environment below the dam sites
Summary
With the increase of the world’s population, the rapid development of agriculture and industry and the increasing urbanization, the uneven spatio-temporal distribution of water resources and its quality deteriorate. Studies on evaluation of ecological and environmental influence of water transfer projects have gradually developed into an important field (Doledec et al, 1996; Bombino et al, 2006; Shah and Kumar, 2008). Accompanied by the aggravation of the global climate change, the evaluation concerning the environmental influence of the water transfer project in a changing environment has become increasingly valued, and a few studies in this field were carried out (Zeilhofer and Moura, 2009; Olden and Naiman, 2010; Doll and Zhang, 2010; Moiwo et al, 2010; Pittock and Finlayson, 2011)
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