Minimizing environmental impacts of hydropower development: transferring lessons from past projects to a proposed strategy for Chile

Large dams have provided extensive benefits during the past 60 years but have also resulted in ecological and social consequences that were unexpected or were deemed to have a lower societal importance than the design benefits. The management of large dams is still a relatively new scientific issue, compared to the timeframe necessary to detect and understand all the consequences occurring at the watershed scale. This paper summarizes the unforeseen or unanticipated environmental consequences of these projects and potential ramifications to the overall project performance. The value of a central knowledge base and the importance of a system-wide monitoring program to assess pre- and post-implementation conditions and adapt operational rules are presented. Knowledge developed in several basins is reviewed in the context of future strategies for Chile. Chile has a strong economy, looming energy crisis and is faced with balancing the long-term value of a renowned natural landscape with unique ecology and the largest salmon aquaculture industry in the world against the prospect of low cost hydropower to drive other sectors of the economy. This paper outlines the hydroinformatics technologies and scientifically based management approaches that can be applied to this complex issue.

[1]  J. Stedinger,et al.  Water resource systems planning and analysis , 1981 .

[2]  S. Haslam,et al.  The ecological basis for river management , 1995 .

[3]  John Hines,et al.  Northwest Power Planning Council , 2002 .

[4]  Daryl B. Simons,et al.  Sediment transport technology , 1977 .

[5]  O. Parra,et al.  Persistent organochlorine residues in fish and water birds from the Biobio river, Chile , 1996, Environmental monitoring and assessment.

[6]  Robert H. Webb,et al.  Science and Values in River Restoration in the Grand Canyon There is no restoration or rehabilitation strategy that will improve the status of every riverine resource , 1998 .

[7]  Jan Cornelius Schmidt,et al.  Dams and rivers: a primer on the downstream effects of dams , 1996 .

[8]  R. Baxter.  Environmental Effects of Dams and Impoundments , 1977 .

[9]  M. B. Beck,et al.  GRAND CHALLENGES OF THE FUTURE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MODELING , 2008 .

[10]  Robert E. Bilby,et al.  Incorporation of nitrogen and carbon from spawning coho salmon into the trophic system of small streams: evidence from stable isotopes , 1996 .

[11]  B. Ward,et al.  The Keogh and Waukwaas Rivers Paired Watershed Study for B . C . ’ s Watershed Restoration Program : Juvenile Salmonid Enumeration and Growth 1997 , 1999 .

[12]  B. Karrasch,et al.  The dynamics of phytoplankton, bacteria and heterotrophic flagellates at two banks near Magdeburg in the River Elbe (Germany) , 2001 .

[13]  P. Aass,et al.  The exploitation of a migrating brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) population; change of fishing methods due to river regulation , 1999 .

[14]  Tony Dorcey,et al.  Large dams : learning from the past, looking at the future. Workshop proceedings , 1997 .

[15]  F. Hauer,et al.  The shifting habitat mosaic of river ecosystems , 2005 .

[16]  P. Calow,et al.  River restoration: selected extracts from the Rivers handbook , 1996 .

[17]  K. Ikemura.  Development and application , 1971 .

[18]  C. Pringle.  Exploring How Disturbance Is Transmitted Upstream: Going against the Flow , 1997, Journal of the North American Benthological Society.

[19]  M. Reisner.  Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water , 1987 .

[20]  R. Peterman,et al.  Experimental Management of Oregon Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch): Designing for Yield of Information , 1983 .

[21]  J. David Allan,et al.  Stream Ecology , 1995, Springer Netherlands.

[22]  W. Junk.  The flood pulse concept in river-floodplain systems , 1989 .

[23]  Colin R. Townsend,et al.  Assessment of river health: accounting for perturbation pathways in physical and ecological space , 1999 .

[24]  V. Babovic,et al.  On inducing equations for vegetation resistance , 2007 .

[25]  E. Tramer,et al.  Diversity and Longitudinal Zonation in Fish Populations of Two Streams Entering a Metropolitan Area , 1973 .

[26]  M. Pace,et al.  Bacterial production in fresh and saltwater ecosystems: a cross-system overview , 1988 .

[27]  R. Naiman,et al.  River Ecology and Management , 1998 .

[28]  D. Eisma,et al.  Suspended Matter in the Aquatic Environment , 1993 .

[29]  M. Warren.  River Conservation and Management , 2011 .

[30]  Differences in Fish Populations Upstream and Downstream of a Mainstream Impoundment , 1971 .

[31]  Wcd.  Dams and development: A new framework for decision-making , 2000 .

[32]  Sovan Lek,et al.  Modelling roach (Rutilus rutilus) microhabitat using linear and nonlinear techniques , 2000 .

[33]  B. Kjerfve,et al.  Water Discharge and Sediment Load from the Western Slopes of the Colombian Andes with Focus on Rio San Juan , 2000, The Journal of Geology.

[34]  C. Zaror,et al.  Effects of pulp and paper mill effluents on the microplankton and microbial self-purification capabilities of the Biobío River, Chile. , 2006, The Science of the total environment.

[35]  J. Cloern,et al.  The Modification of an Estuary , 1986, Science.

[36]  Gilbert F. White,et al.  Man-made Lakes: Their Problems and Environmental Effects , 1973 .

[37]  Charles C. Coutant,et al.  A GENERAL PROTOCOL FOR RESTORATION OF REGULATED RIVERS , 1996 .

[38]  N. C. Morgan,et al.  Impounded rivers, perspectives for ecological management , 1985 .

[39]  O. Parra,et al.  Response of the fish community to human‐induced changes in the Biobío River in Chile , 2006 .

[40]  J. Rzóska.  On the Nature of Rivers , 1978, Springer Netherlands.

[41]  C. Ryan,et al.  Stream Restoration and Enhancement Projects: Is Anyone Monitoring? , 2002, Environmental management.

[42]  J. Bernardo,et al.  New perspectives for ecological flow determination in semi‐arid regions: a preliminary approach , 1999 .

[43]  Ken D. Bovee,et al.  A guide to stream habitat analysis using the Instream Flow Incremental Methodology. IFIP No. 12 , 1982 .

[44]  Role of habitat variability in trout population dynamics: Application of a dynamic population model to three French rivers , 2004 .

[45]  R. Aravena,et al.  Water chemistry and isotope study of streams and springs in northern Chile , 1989 .

[46]  Carl J. Walters,et al.  Adaptive Management of Renewable Resources , 1986 .

[47]  André Saint-Hilaire,et al.  State-of-the-Art and Perspectives of Habitat Modelling for Determining Conservation Flows , 2003 .

[48]  Danny C. Lee,et al.  Toward an Integrated Classification of Ecosystems: Defining Opportunities for Managing Fish and Forest Health , 2000, Environmental management.

[49]  D. Soto,et al.  Southern Chile, trout and salmon country: invasion patterns and threats for native species , 2006 .

[50]  Katie A. Barnas,et al.  Synthesizing U.S. River Restoration Efforts , 2005, Science.

[51]  W. Dietrich,et al.  Downstream Ecological Effects of Dams: A geomorphic perspective , 1995 .

[52]  Robert J. Naiman,et al.  Disturbance regimes, resilience, and recovery of animal communities and habitats in lotic ecosystems , 1990 .

[53]  Takeshi Murota,et al.  Pacific Salmon Carcasses: Essential Contributions of Nutrients and Energy for Aquatic and Terrestrial Ecosystems , 1999 .

[54]  Brian Richter,et al.  River flows and water wars: emerging science for environmental decision making , 2003 .

[55]  S. Fisher.  River ecology and management: Lessons from the Pacific coastal ecoregion , 2000 .

[56]  C. Walters,et al.  Policy Making within an Adaptive Management Framework, with an Application to Lake Trout (Salvelinus namaycush) Management , 1987 .

[57]  M. Newson.  New Concepts for Sustainable Management of River Basins, edited by P.H. Neinhuis, R.S.E.W. Leuven and A.M.J. Ragas, Backhuis Publishers, Leiden, Netherlands. 374 pp. US$111.00. ISBN 90-73348-81-1. , 2000 .

[58]  P. Arzberger,et al.  Sensors for Environmental Observatories , 2005 .

[59]  G. Lanza,et al.  Silenced Rivers: The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams , 1996 .

[60]  Matthias Schneider,et al.  Fuzzy based Models for the Evaluation of Fish Habitat Quality and Instream Flow Assessment , 2001 .

[61]  J. Meyer,et al.  Standards for ecologically successful river restoration , 2005 .

[62]  Carl J. Bauer.  Siren Song: Chilean Water Law As a Model for International Reform , 2004 .