Hydrologic Alteration at the Upper and Middle Part of the Yangtze River, China: Towards Sustainable Water Resource Management Under Increasing Water Exploitation

Sustainability

Alban Kuriqi¹  Rawshan Ali²  Shadan Abubaker³  Ozgur Kisi⁴ 

[1] CERIS, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal;College of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering, China Three Gorges University, Yichang 443002, China;Department of Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, Knowledge University, Erbil 44001, Kurdistan, Iraq;School of Technology, IIia State University, Tbilisi 0162, Georgia;

关键词: flow regime;    hydrologic alteration;    indicators of hydrologic alteration;    range of variability approach;    river conservation;   

DOI  :  10.3390/su11195176

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The human influence on the river ecosystem has increased in recent years to feed the growing demand for water to communities by constructing different water structures. It is essential to understand the potential impacts of water structures on river hydrologic regimes. Thus, this study investigates the influence of the cascade dams located upstream of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River on the river ecosystem. The study was carried out for the period 2003−2015 for both Cuntan and Miaohe stations. The analysis was conducted considering two periods, pre-impact; before the dam construction and post-impact; after the dam construction. The assessment was carried out using “Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration.” The results of this study revealed that the cascade dams built upstream of Three Gorges Dam has both positive and negative impacts at both stations. Flows were found to have positive impacts in July while low in October for both stations. The 1-day minimum flows were found to decrease by 7% over Miaohe Station while the 1-day maximum was decreased up to 2% in Cuntan. Overall, the results of the study indicate that there are undesirable impacts which should be adjusted to maintain the river ecosystem at an acceptable level compared to its natural state. It is expected that the findings of the study can guide water managers to adjust the hydropower operation sustainably.

【 授权许可】

Unknown