Geological conditions and key rock mechanics issues in the Western Route of South-to-North Water Transfer Project

In terms of special geological conditions of the Western Route of South-to-North Water Transfer Project, the classification method for surrounding rocks is discussed by combining with the construction method of tunnel boring machine （TBM）. The classification standard of surrounding rocks is put forward on the basis of physical simulations and engineering practices. Damage, deformation and evolution of surrounding rocks induced by TBM excavation are discussed. Meanwhile, the long-term deformation mechanisms and stability of surrounding rocks are also studied. On this basis, a three-dimensional constitutive model for interbedded sandstone slate and a fiat shell-joint element-foundation system for calculating internal forces of segment lining are established. The deformation features of surrounding rocks of deep and steep interbedded sandstone slate and their influences on internal forces of segment lining are presented. Finally, the design methods of segment lining constructed in deep and steep flysch are proposed.

Optimal Operation for Baoying Pumping Station in East Route Project of South-to-North Water Transfer

Baoying pumping station is a part of source pumping stations in East Route Project of South-to-North Water Transfer in China. Aiming at the characteristics of head varying, and making use of the function of pump adjustable blade, mathematical models of pumping station optimal operation are established and solved with genetic algorithm. For different total pumping discharge and total pumping volume of water per day, in order to minimize pumping station operation cost, the number and operation duties of running pump units are respectively determined at different periods of time in a day. The results indicate that the saving of electrical cost is significantly effected by the schemes of adjusting blade angles and time-varying electrical price when pumping certain water volume of water per day, and compared with conventional operation schemes （namely, the schemes of pumping station operation at design blade angles based on certain pumping discharge）, the electrical cost is saved by 4.73%-31.27%. Also, compared with the electrical cost of conventional operation schemes, the electrical cost is saved by 2.03%-5.79% by the schemes of adjusting blade angles when pumping certain discharge.

Research on Expansive Soils Encountered in Middle Route Project of South-to-north Water Transfer Canal

The main canal of the Middle Route Project of South-to-North Water Transfer totals more than 1 240 km in length. In Henan Province and Hebei Province, there will be a section of more than 120 km passing through an expansive soils area. Expansive soils is a special kind of tenacious clay, which swells when meeting with water and shrinks when losing water. With complicated mechanical properties, it changes with the variation of water content. As a result, expansive soils become the key object of study on unsaturated soils mechanics for the project. From the status of study on unsaturated soils at home and abroad, this paper covers an analysis on stability analysis method of expansive soils slope, determination of expansive soils strength, rational design of canal slope ratio and support, and forecast of landslide for the Middle Route Project of South-to-North Water Transfer.

Land Cover Changes and Drivers in the Water Source Area of the Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project in China from 2000 to 2015

The Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project(MR-SNWDP)in China,with construction beginning in 2003,diverts water from Danjiangkou Reservoir to North China for residential,agriculture and industrial use.The water source area of the MR-SNWDP is the region that is most sensitive to and most affected by the construction of this water diversion project.In this study,we used Landsat Thematic Mapper(TM)and HJ-1 A/B images from 2000 to 2015 by an object-based approach with a hierarchical classification method for mapping land cover in the water source area.The changes in land cover were illuminated by transfer matrixes,single dynamic degree,slope zones and fractional vegetation cover(FVC).The results indicated that the area of cropland decreased by 31%and was replaced mainly by shrub over the past 15 years,whereas forest and settlements showed continuous increases of 29.2% and 77.7%,respectively.The changes in cropland were obvious in all slope zones and decreased most remarkably(–43.8%)in the slope zone above 25°.Compared to the FVC of forest and shrub,significant improvement was exhibited in the FVC of grassland,with a growth rate of 16.6%.We concluded that local policies,including economic development,water conservation and immigration resulting from the construction of the MR-SNWDP,were the main drivers of land cover changes;notably,they stimulated the substantial and rapid expansion of settlements,doubled the wetlands and drove the transformation from cropland to settlements in immigration areas.

Forecasting Loss of Ecosystem Service Value Using a BP Network: A Case Study of the Impact of the South-to-north Water Transfer Project on the Ecological Environmental in Xiangfan, Hubei Province, China

Objective To recognize and assess the impact of the South-to-north Water Transfer Project (SNWTP) on the ecological environment of Xiangfan, Hubei Province, situated in the water-out area, and develop sound scientific countermeasures. Methods A three-layer BP network was built to simulate topology and process of the eco-economy system of Xiangfan. Historical data of ecological environmental factors and socio-economic factors as inputs, and corresponding historical data of ecosystem service value (ESV) and GDP as target outputs, were presented to train and test the network. When predicted input data after 2001 were presented to trained network as generalization sets, ESVs and GDPs of 2002, 2003, 2004... till 2050 were simulated as output in succession. Results Up to 2050, the area would have suffered an accumulative total ESV loss of RMB 104.9 billion, which accounted for 37.36% of the present ESV. The coinstantaneous GDP would change asynchronously with ESV, it would go through an up-to-down process and finally lose RMB89.3 billion, which accounted for 18.71% of 2001. Conclusions The simulation indicates that ESV loss means damage to the capability of socio-economic sustainable development, and suggests that artificial neural networks (ANNs) provide a feasible and effective method and have an important potential in ESV modeling.

Eco-environmental benefit assessment of China's South-North Water Transfer Scheme——the middle route project

This paper assess the eco-environmental benefits that may come from the middle route project of China's South-North Water Transfer Scheme(SNWT) with principles and methods of eco-economics and planning reports of SNWT's middle route project. Some benefits were calculated in monetary units. To make sure that the results can be comparable with normal monetary indices, concrete assessment objects and the parameters are prudently selected according to the major characteristics of the project and its water import region. Primary assessment revealed that in different project construction stages, the benefit could be more than 13 07 billion RMB Yuan in 2010 and 19 79 billion RMB Yuan in 2030, respectively. The monetary value tends to increase with social-economic development. To realize these potential benefits, however, calls for more endeavors.

Price Analysis of Water Supply for South-to-North Water Transfer Project

The factors influencing the water supply price of a hydraulic project include natural conditions and economic policies. This paper thoroughly demonstrates the water price of South-to-North Water Transfer Project from the viewpoint of economic policies. It is considered that if the project is assigned as a profitable one and built depending on commercial loan from bank completely or mostly, the water price will be too high to be undertaken by users,and if the project places the public good at first while considering the economic benefit, its investment mainly relies on the state (national or local governments) appropriation and self-raised funds and a little from the bank loan on favorable terms, the price determined according to the principle of satisfying the cost and reasonable profit will be relatively lower and can be undertaken by the users in the North China where water shortage is serious. The problem of higher water price of agricultural irrigation to the north of the Yellow River can be tackled by taking measures such as "compensating agriculture by industry" according to foreign practical experiences and relevant suggestions.

LONG AND DEEP DIVERSION TUNNELS OF 1^(ST) STAGE PROJECT IN WEST ROUTE OF SOUTH-NORTH WATER TRANSFER PROJECT

West Route of South-North Water Transfer Project,situated in southeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,is a giant project,which will deliver 17 billion m3 of water from the main stream and tributaries upstream of the Yangtze River to the upper reaches of the Yellow River. It is to be constructed in 3 stages, of which the 1st stage project includes delivering 4 billion m3 of water by gravity from two tributaries of Yalong River and three tributaries of Dadu River. The project consists of 5 dams,7 tunnels and a channel in series,with the dam height of 63～123 m and water transfer length of 260.3 km,of which the tunnels measure 244.1 km. The special climatic,environmental and geologic conditions make the project much more complicated in construction,especially 3 tunnels with the length longer than 50 km each create challenges to the technical requirements of engineering survey,design and construction.

Asynchronism-synchronism of regional precipitation in South-to-North Water Transfer planned areas

This paper proposes a method on analyzing the asynchronism-synchronism of precipitation of different hydrological regions regarding the S-to-N water transfer areas of eastern China. The general process of the analysis includes three steps. Firstly, we created the rainfall series of the region concerned by calculating the regional average rainfall of the stations in the area with the help of the classical Thiessen Polygon method. Secondly, the standards of assessment indices for wetness or dryness are set according to Gamma distribution function with a certain probability P 37.5% or 62.5% given respectively. Finally, the frequency of nine combinations are counted as the quantitative feature of asynchronism and synchronism in three time scales, that is the yearly, seasonal and monthly scales. The asynchronism-synchronism of two region pairs has been estimated. The results show that the frequency of precipitation asynchronism in 1957–1998 is larger than the synchronism frequency for both the North China-middle and lower Yangtze River pair and for the North China-upper Hanjiang River pair. As for the synchronism phenomena, the frequency of Nd?Sd is rather low. As the combinations that are suitable for water transfers are Nd?Sw, Nn?Sw, Nd?Sn and Nn?Sn, the total frequency of these combinations for North China-middle and lower Yangtze River is 40% on an annual basis, but only 28% in spring when water shortages are most likely to occur. The total frequency of these combinations for North China-upper Hanjiang River is about 24% on an annual basis, but 35% in spring and winter. It should be noted that if future precipitation patterns are similar to that of the period 1957–1998, it is very important to change the natural character of asynchronism-synchronism by enhancing the capability of hydro-projects regulation and improving management of the water transfer project.

Evolution trend of the water quality in Dongping Lake after South-North Water Transfer Project in China

To investigate the evolution trend of water quality in Dongping Lake after South-North Water Transfer Project operation as well as to ensure the safe usage of the water receiving areas, water samples were collected and determined before and after water delivery in different hydrological seasons. Then, comprehensive pollution index method, comprehensive nutrition state index method and health risk assessment model were utilized to evaluate the quality, nutrition, and health risk of Dongping Lake water. Results showed that the quality of Dongping Lake water still met level Ⅲ (light pollution) no matter before or after water delivery. The nutrition state was improved from light eutropher before water delivery to mesotropher after water delivery. The health risk level was reduced from high-medium before water delivery to medium level after water delivery. In summary, the operation of the eastern route of South-North Water Transfer Project is beneficial for water environment improvement of Dongping Lake.

Water Security Situation in Haihe River Basin after South-to-North Water Transfer Project

The over-exploitation of water resources in the Haihe River Basin (HRB) has now become a serious problem. This is clearly evidenced by the fact that many local rivers and lakes are drying up and the total amount of over-exploited groundwater has reached over 1000×108m3. It is important to note that the exploitation of water resources in HRB was reasonable before 1979. After 1980, however, over-exploitation happened with an annual average amount of 40×108m3. Both the dry season and rapid economic growth in HRB took place at the same time. Therefore, the over-exploitation of water in HRB was actually the negative result of the conjunction of a continuous dry season and rapid economic growth. So the over-exploitation would not be as serious as it is today if either of the above two stopped. After the first stage of south-to-north water transfer project, the water shortage problem in HRB could be eased for the following reasons: fi rstly, water transfer project will bring to the Basin 60×108m3 water resources; secondly, a wet season will come back eventually according to natural law of climate variability; finally, its agricultural and industrial use and total water consumption all have decreased from the peak value, so that the groundwater table will raise certainly and ecological water in rivers and lakes that were dried-up will be partly restored. In the future, the main problem of water resources security in HRB will include water pollution, operation risk of the south-to-north water transfer project, groundwater pollution and engineering geological hazards that may be brought by groundwater rise. The proposed countermeasures are as follows: keeping strengthening water demand management, raising water price as well as subsidies for the low-income family and improving other water related policies, preventing and dealing with water pollution seriously and getting fully prepared for the operation of south-to-north water transfer project.

Water masses in the far western equatorial Pacific during the winters of 2010 and 2012

Conductivity-temperature-depth(CTD)data obtained during the 2010 La Ni?a winter and the 2012 normal winter,combined with concurrent Argo profiling float data,provide a quasi-synoptic description of the water mass distributions and their variations in the far western equatorial Pacific Ocean.The water mass connection between the western Pacific and the east Indonesian seas is emphasized.Analysis indicates that the North Pacific Tropical Water(NPTW,S>34.9)carried by the Mindanao Current southward and the South Pacific Tropical Water(SPTW,S>35.1)from the southern hemisphere meet in the area.Observations suggest that the southward transport of the NPTW is stronger in 2010 than in 2012 due to enhanced advection of the Mindanao Current.The distribution of SPTW,which crosses the equator in the northwest direction and retroflects back to the interior Pacific Ocean,is found to retreat from 4°–5°N in2012 to 2°–3°N in 2010 La Ni?a peak in the 130°E section.A relatively fresh tropical subsurface water is identified in between the NPTW and the SPTW,moving eastward with the North Equatorial Countercurrent into the equatorial Pacific Ocean.However,the salinity maximum of this subsurface fresh water is found to decrease eastward,suggesting that the salinity maximum is generated either by strong diapycnal mixing or by isopycnal mixing of temporally entrained Indonesian sea water into the area.

The variation of DOM during long distance water transport by the China South to North Water Diversion Scheme and impact on drinking water treatment

In this study,samples were taken from three locations,upstream to downstream,along the central route project of the China South to North Water Diversion(SNWD)scheme in summer and winter.These were used to reveal the variations of dissolved organic matter(DOM)during the water transfer process,and the effects of these variations on drinking water treatment and disinfection by-products formation potential(DBPs-FP).The results showed that polysaccharides accumulate in summer and reduce in winter with flow distance,which has an important effect on the overall properties of DOM,as well as on the performance of coagulation,ultrafiltration,and the formation of DBPs.Humic substances,and their hydrophilic content,also increased in summer and decreased in winter with flow distance.In contrast,the concentration of small organic substances(MW≤1000 Da)increased in both summer and winter with flow distance,which affected both nanofiltration(NF)membrane fouling and DBPs-FP.The results provide a useful case study of spatial and temporal changes in raw water DOM during long distance water transfer and their impact on the treatment and quality of drinking water from the SNWD.

WATER QUALITY MODELING AND POLLUTION CONTROL FOR THE EASTERN ROUTE OF SOUTH TO NORTH WATER TRANSFER PROJECT IN CHINA

South to North Water Transfer Project in China is the largest project over centuries to solve the water shortage problem in vast areas of northern China. It comprises of three routes： the eastern, central and western route and this study mainly focused on the eastern route. As water quality is the key factor for the eastern route, this paper examined the main factors influencing water quality of the main route south of the Yellow River, by investigating the point source, non-point source （diffusive source） and internal source pollutions along the main eastern route and in its drainage basins, and assessing the Current water quality in the waterways. According to the complicated and combined systems of rivers and lakes in this route, one-dimensional water quantity and quality model for rivers and two-dimensional model for lakes were developed to simulate the hydrodynamic and pollutant transport processes. The numerical method and model algorithm were described. The values of model parameters were estimated by using field-monitoring data along the main route and the inverse modeling technique. Established models were employed to predict the degradations of CODMn and NH4^＋-N in the main stream, under the conditions of current pollution loads and different hydrologic conditions. Schemes were present for controlling total quantities of pollutants from point source and non-point source along the main route to secure water quality for the eastern route.

Simulation of Transport Channel in China's Middle Route South-to-North Water Transfer Project

The unsteady flow in the Middle Route South-to-North Water Transfer Channel was simulated numerically using an implicit solution procedure for the Saint Venant equations. An equivalent roughness was used to simulate the effect of many transfer structures on the water levels in the main channel. Various gate operating and control methods were analyzed to study the response to disturbances produced by varying the flow rates through the Tianjin outlet. The results show that when the inflow at the head changes in the same way as the sum of the flow rates through all the outlets, the transition time and the fluctuation of the water levels using the timed gate operation method are less than when using the simultaneous gate operation method, but the variations of the gate openings and flow rates through each control gate are much larger. The flow disturbances produced by the Tianjin outlet can be rectified within several channel sections and the transition time can be greatly shortened by allowing the water levels immediately upstream of the control gates to vary within proscribed ranges, rather than being held constant.

MODELING OF WATER DYNAMICS AND POLLUTANT SPREADING IN THE LUOMAHU RESERVOIR FOR WATER TRANSFER FORM SOUTH TO NORTH OF CHINA

Water quality is the key problem of the East-Line Project of Water Transfer from South to North China. In this paper, the principles of a 1D and 2D-integrated mathematical model for describing the dynamics of water in a flow-through river, canals and lakes was worked out. The numerical method and model algorithm were developed. The efficiency of the model was estimated by applying it to studying water dynamics in the Luomahu reservoir and simulating the spreading process of a polluted water mass and the evolution of the concentration. The results of calculations are used to assess water environmental quality and to manage water resource in the Luomahu reservoir and the Jinghang-Canal for the Project of Water Transfer from South to North China.

Computing payment for ecosystem services in watersheds: An analysis of the Middle Route Project of South-to-North Water Diversion in China

Payment for ecosystem services （PES） has attracted considerable attention as an economic incentive for promoting natural resource management recently. As emphasis has been placed on using the incentive-based mechanism by the central government, rapid progress on PES research and practice has been achieved. However PES still faces many difficulties. A key issue is the lack of a fully-fledged theory and method to clearly define the design scope, accounting and feasibility of PES criteria. An improved watershed criteria model was developed in light of research on PES practices in China, investigations on the water source area for the Middle Route Project of South-to-North Water Diversion and ecosystem services outflows theory. The basic principle of assessment is the direct and opportunity cost for ecological conservation and environmental protection in the water source area deduct nationally-financed PES and internal effect. Then the scope and the criteria methods were determined, and internal effect was put forward to define benefits brought from water source area. Finally, Shiyan City, which is the main water source area for the Project of Water Diversion, was analyzed by this model and its payment was calculated. The results showed that： （1） during 2003–2050, the total direct cost and opportunity cost would reach up to 262.70 billion and 256.33 billion Chinese Yuan （CNY, 2000 constant prices）, i.e., 50.61% and 49.38% of total cost, respectively; （2） Shiyan City would gain 0.23, 0.06 and 0.03 CNY/m3 in 2014–2020, 2021–2030, and 2031–2050, respectively.

Coupling interaction between biodiversity and aquatic habitat area in Western Route Project vicinity

The Western Route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project will divert water from the upper Yangtze River and its tributaries, the Dadu River and Yalong River, to the upper Yellow River. The project may ease the water shortage in the Yellow River Basin. However, it may also have some effects on the ecosystem in the upper Yangtze River Basin. Benthic invertebrates play an important role in the river ecosystem, particularly in the circulation of materials and nutrition. Benthic invertebrates are widely used to quickly assess river ecosystems because of their rapid response to changes in the water environment. The diversity of benthic invertebrates is closely associated with the aquatic habitat area. This study examined this interaction by sampling the benthic invertebrates in an expanding area. The conclusions are that the diversity of benthic invertebrates begins to decrease when the aquatic habitat area is reduced to 45% of the original area, and decreases dramatically when the aquatic habitat area is reduced to 10% of the original area. The aquatic habitat area should be kept at more than 45% of the original area in order to maintain the significant diversity of benthic invertebrates.