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.

水电梯级开发真的破坏下游河段营养盐情势吗?

River damming is believed to largely intercept nutrients,particularly retain more phosphorus(P)than nitrogen(N),and thus harm primary productivity,fishery catches,and food security downstream,which seriously constrain global hydropower development and poverty relief in undeveloped regions and can drive geo-political disputes between nations along trans-boundary rivers.In this study,we investigated whether reservoirs can instead improve nutrient regimes downstream.We measured different species of N and P as well as microbial functions in water and sediment of cascade reservoirs in the upper Mekong River over 5 years and modelled the influx and outflux of N and P species in each reservoir.Despite partially retaining total N and total P,reservoirs increased the downstream flux of ammonium and soluble reactive phosphorus(SRP).The increase in ammonium and SRP between outflux and influx showed positive linear relationships with the hydraulic residence time of the cascade reservoirs;and the ratio of SRP to dissolved inorganic nitrogen increased along the reservoir cascade.The lentic environment of reservoirs stimulated algae-mediated conversion of nitrate into ammonium in surface water;the hypoxic condition and the priming effect of algae-induced organic matter enhanced release of ammonium from sediment;the synergy of microbial phosphorylation,reductive condition and sediment geochemical properties increased release of SRP.This study is the first to provide solid evidence that hydropower reservoirs improve downstream nutrient bioavailability and N-P balance through a process of retention-transformation-transport,which may benefit primary productivity.These findings could advance our understanding of the eco-environmental impacts of river damming.