A Review of the Eco-Environmental Impacts of the South-to-North Water Diversion:Implications for Interbasin Water Transfers

Interbasin water-transfer schemes provide an engineering solution for reconciling the conflict between water demand and availability.In the context of climate change,which brings great uncertainties to water resource distribution,interbasin water transfer plays an increasingly important role in the global water–food–energy nexus.However,the transfer of water resources simultaneously changes the hydrological regime and the characteristics of local water bodies,affecting biotic communities accordingly.Compared with high economic and technical inputs water-transfer projects require,the environmental and ecological implications of water-transfer schemes have been inadequately addressed.This work selects the largest water-transfer project in China,the South-to-North Water Diversion(SNWD)Project,to critically review its eco-environmental impacts on donor and recipient basins,as well as on regions along the diversion route.The two operated routes of the SNWD Project represent two typical water diversion approaches:The Middle Route uses an excavated canal,while the East Route connects existent river channels.An overview of the eco-environmental implications of these two routes is valuable for the design and optimization of future water-transfer megaprojects.

A comparison of zooplankton assemblages in Nansi Lake and Hongze Lake,potential influences of the East Route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project,China

Nansi Lake and Hongze Lake are both water storage lakes along the East Route of the South-to-North Water Transfer project(ESNT).Frequent changes in hydrologic properties are responsible factors for controlling the zooplankton community assemblages in both lakes,so we studied the possible influence of water transfer and environmental factors on zooplankton community structure and abundance.Zooplankton assemblages were investigated seasonally for one year in both lakes;a total of 133 and 122 zooplankton taxa were identified in Nansi Lake and Hongze Lake,respectively.The most dominant rotifer species were littoral,e.g.,Keratella tecta,Keratella valga and Lecane lunaris in Nansi Lake and Brachionus angularis,Brachionus forficula and Polyarthra vulgaris in Hongze Lake.Comparatively,Nansi Lake had a higher Shannon-Wiener diversity index value(5.13),while Hongze Lake had a higher species richness index(4.21).The average number of zooplankton across seasons in Nansi Lake(protozoa:774±63 ind./L,rotifers:4817±212 ind./L,cladocerans:896±14 ind./L,copepod:435±42 ind./L)was comparatively lower than Hongze Lake(protozoa:1238±63 ind./L,rotifers:6576±112 ind./L,cladocerans:1013±20 ind./L,copepod:534±25 ind./L).Canonical correspondence analysis identified differing environmental gradients that were most responsible for influencing zooplankton communities in the two lakes(Hongze Lake:NH4-N,total nitrogen,transparency and pH;Nansi:pH,temperature and total phosphorus).Frequent changes related to water transfer in lakes favoured the diversity of rotifers and protozoa communities.Zooplankton habitat preference,changes in community structure and opportunistic peaks and extinction of certain taxa were also observed in the study lakes.

Measuring benefits of rural-to-urban water transfer:a case study from Puyang River basin,China

Agriculture-to-urban water transfer is currently an important measure to meet the increasing water demand resulting from rapid industrialization and urbanization in China.Measuring benefits of agriculture-to-urban water transfer is critical to assess water transfer proposals,and it can also provide reliable basis for redistributing the benefits of agriculture-to-urban water transfer.This paper has developed a comprehensive framework in which production function approach is applied to quantify the value of water use in agricultural and industrial sectors,and contingent valuation method is employed to investigate the value of water use in municipal consumption and ecological environment.A case study from Zhuji City in China verified the feasibility and validity of the method proposed in the paper.Results indicate that the agriculture-to-urban water transfer increases the water value created by improving allocation efficiency of water use in different sectors.The benefits of agriculture-to-urban water transfer mainly originate from the fact that the economic value in industrial water use is higher than in the other sectors’water use.Meanwhile,the urban residents have a stronger desire to improve the water eco-environment which leads to higher water value in urban area.

Alleviating Water Scarcity in the Central Rift Valley Lakes through an Inter-Basin Water Transfer, Ethiopia

Demand for fresh water, as one of the major natural resources, is increasing rapidly with increasing development and environmental degradation. The continued abstraction of water from Lake Ziway and its main feeder rivers Meki and Katar for irrigation indicates that the water demand may soon exceed the supply. To illustrate disparities in spatial distribution of water resources, the Upper Awash sub-basin, which shares a water-divide with the CRVL sub-basin, has large flow volumes particularly in the rainy season and suffers with seasonal flooding. The rationale behind regaining the water in CRVL relies on this non-uniform spatial distribution of fresh water, calling for a balance between water surplus and deficit regions. For this reason, Inter Basin Water Transfer (IBWT) is suggested as a viable option to augment utilizable water resources of the Upper Awash sub-basin to reduce the significant pressure on the water supply of the rapidly developing urban and irrigation areas in the CRVL sub-basin. A water evaluation and planning (WEAP) model was used to quantify the amount of surplus water in the donor basin, when examining the hydrological dynamics of the basins. Furthermore, optimal flow diversion scenarios were generated by maintaining two baseline scenario constraints. The estimated surplus water in the rainy season is expected to contribute 18 million cubic meters (mcm), 88 mcm and 192 mcm in months June, July and August respectively under average conditions. The optimal amount of diverted water could potentially stabilize the environmental degradation of Lake Ziway and Lake Abijata by compensating for development-driven abstraction and surface water evaporation respectively.

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.

Critical discharge at Datong for controlling operation of South-to-North Water Transfer Project in dry seasons

Previous research shows that there is a strong correlation between saltwater intrusion in the Yangtze Estuary and discharge at Datong. In the near future, the discharge of the Yangtze River during dry seasons will decrease due to the construction and operation of large water diversion projects, including the South-to-North Water Transfer Project, which will further exacerbate saltwater intrusion in the estuary. In this paper, a nested 1D river network model and a 2D saltwater numerical model are used to associate saltwater intrusion in the Yangtze Estuary with different values of discharge at Datong. It is concluded that 13 000 m3/s is the critical discharge at Datong for preventing saltwater intrusion and controlling the volume of water transferred by the South-to-North Water Transfer Project. Furthermore, based on the analysis of river discharge from Datong to Xuliujing and in consideration of the influence of all of the water diversion projects, operation schemes are proposed for the Eastern Route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project for different hydrological years.

Water transfer characteristics in the vertical direction during methane hydrate formation and dissociation processes inside non-saturated media

In order to study water transfer characteristics inside non-saturated media during methane hydrate formation and dissociation processes,water changes on the top,middle and bottom locations of experimental media during the reaction processes were continuously followed with a novel apparatus with three pF-meter sensors.Coarse sand,fine sand and loess were chosen as experimental media.It was experimentally observed that methane hydrate was easier formed inside coarse sand and fine sand than inside loess.Methane hydrate formation configuration and water transfer characteristics during methane hydrate formation processes were very different among the different non-saturated media,which were important for understanding methane hydrate formation and dissociation mechanism inside sediments in nature.

Water transfer characteristics during methane hydrate formation and dissociation processes inside saturated sand

Gas hydrates formation and dissociation processes inside porous media are always accompanied by water transfer behavior, which is similar to the water behavior of ice freezing and thawing processes. These processes have been studied by many researchers, but all the studies are so far on the water transfer characteristics outside porous media and the water transfer characteristics inside porous media have been little known. In this study, in order to study the water transfer characteristics inside porous media during methane hydrate formation and dissociation processes, a novel apparatus with three pF-meter sensors which can detect water content changes inside porous media was applied. It was experimentally observed that methane hydrate formation processes were accompanied by water transfer from bottom to top inside porous media, however, the water behavior during hydrate dissociation processes was abnormal, for which more studies are needed to find out the real reason in our future work.

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.

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.

Sediment transport following water transfer from Yangtze River to Taihu Basin

To meet the increasing need of fresh water and to improve the water quality of Taihu Lake, water transfer from the Yangtze River was initiated in 2002. This study was performed to investigate the sediment distribution along the river course following water transfer. A rainfall-runoff model was first built to calculate the runoff of the Taihu Basin in 2003. Then, the flow patterns of river networks were simulated using a one-dimensional river network hydrodynamic model. Based on the boundary conditions of the flow in tributaries of the Wangyu River and the water level in Taihu Lake, a one-dimensional hydrodynamic and sediment transport numerical model of the Wangyu River was built to analyze the influences of the inflow rate of the water transfer and the suspended sediment concentration (SSC) of inflow on the sediment transport. The results show that the water transfer inflow rate and SSC of inflow have significant effects on the sediment distribution. The higher the inflow rate or SSC of inflow is, the higher the SSC value is at certain cross-sections along the river course of water transfer. Higher inflow rate and SSC of inflow contribute to higher sediment deposition per kilometer and sediment thickness. It is also concluded that a sharp decrease of the inflow velocity at the entrance of the Wangyu River on the river course of water transfer induces intense sedimentation at the cross-section near the Changshu hydro-junction. With an increasing distance from the Changshu hydro-junction, the sediment deposition and sedimentation thickness decrease gradually along the river course.

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 RMB104.9 billion, which accounted for 37.36% of the present ESV. The coinstantaneous GDP would changea synchronously 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.

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 flat 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.

Optioning Water Rights:A Potential Alternative to the Hanjiang-Weihe River Water Transfer Project,China

China has started shifting from relying on supply management to demand management strategy in addressing its water shortage problems.Water option,a financial derivative for water commodity,has been utilized to manage water demands in the United States and Europe since the 1990 s but is still novel to China.In this study we analyzed the pros and cons of China’s existing system for water rights transfers and proposed an alternative,flexible trading instrument-water options for China.Incorporating the uncertainty to water option pricing,this study first conducted an empirical analysis of the water option in the water-receiving area of the Hanjiang-Weihe River Transfer Project of China,and then evaluated the benefits of the water option applications.Results show that water option trading can bring water cost saving and increase the potential industrially added value for industrial enterprises in the receiving area,and trading of short-and-medium term water options is more favorable than the long-term water options trading.The novel water option trading proposed in this study,once verified through pilot studies,will be helpful in addressing water shortage problems in China.

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.

Efficient nonfullerene organic solar cells with active layers fabricated by water transfer printing

Preparation of high-quality films plays an important role to achieve high-performance nonfullerene (NF) organic solar cells. NF active layer films are typically fabricated by spin coating. Novel fabrication methods to process the NF active layer are desirable to be compatible with large-area production. Herein, we report on the fabrication of NF active layer films via a water transfer printing method.This method delivers a uniform film with controllable film thicknesses. NF active layers of PDBD-T:ITIC and PBDB-T-2F:IT-4F were fabricated via the method to validate its effectiveness. Solar cells with the water transfer-printed active layers show comparable performance (up to 11.7%) to the cells with spin-coated active layers. Furthermore, NF solar modules containing 4-sub cells with the active area of 3.2 cm2 are also fabricated via the method. The module shows VOC of up to 3.4 V and a power conversion efficiency of 8.1% with the PBDB-T-2F:IT-4F active layer.

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.

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.

Inter-Basin Water Transfer Projects and Climate Change: The Role of Allocation Protocols in Economic Efficiency of the Project. Case Study: Dez to Qomrood Inter-Basin Water Transmission Project (Iran)

Nowadays, there is a growing emphasis on Inter-basin water transfer projects as costly activities with ambiguous effects on environment, society and economy. Since the concept of climate change was in its embryonic phase before 1990’s, the majority of these projects planned before that period have not considered the effect of long term variation of water resources. In all of these numerous operational and under-construction projects, an intelligent selection of the best water transmission protocol, can help the governments to optimize their expenditures on these projects ,and also can help water resources managers to face climate change effects wisely. In this paper as a case study, Dez to Qomrood inter-basin water transfer project is considered to evaluate the efficiency of three different protocols in long term. The effect of climate change has been forecasted via a wide range of GCMs (Global Circulation Model) in order to calculate the change of flow in the basin's area with different climate scenarios. After these calculation, a water allocation model has been used to evaluate which of these three water transmission protocols (Proportional Allocation (PA), Fix Upstream allocation (FU), and Fix Downstream allocation (FD)) is the most efficient logic switch economically in a framework including both upstream and downstream stakeholders. As the final result, it can be inferred that Fix Downstream allocation (FD) protocol can supply more population especially with urban water for a fix expense and also is the most adapted protocol with future global change, at least in the first round of sustainability assessment.

Analysis of Asynchronism-Synchronism of Regional Precipitation in Inter-Basin Water Transfer Areas

The local characteristics of multi-dimensional random variables are seldom considered in the general modeling method of multivariate copula.A new modeling method,called pair-copula construction,is introduced to remedy this defect.Different types of copula distribution functions are allowed to be introduced in this method.Correspondingly,the related characteristics of complex multivariate can be described by a cascade of pair-copula acting on two variables at a time.In the analysis of asynchronism-synchronism of regional precipitation in WED interbasin water transfer areas,the pair-copula construction method is compared with the general modeling method of multivariate copula.The results show that the local dependence structure would exist among hydrologic variables even in three-dimensional cases.In this situation,the general modeling method of multivariate copula would face difficulties in fitting distribution.However,the pair-copula construction method could capture the local information of hydrologic variables efficiently by introducing different types of copula distribution functions.Moreover,the compensation capacity of water resources is strong in different hydrological areas of WED water transfer project.The asynchronous frequency of wetness and dryness is 69.64% and the favorable frequency for water transfer is 46.15%.