Study on Sustainable Development of Small Hydropower in China

China bears a high relief in thewest and low in the east, with complex topography, totaling 2/3 ofthe whole country‘s area for mountains, hilly regions and zigzag plateaus. Therefore the hydraulic resources are abundant, with potential hydraulic amount of about 680000MW, of which, small hydropower resource is very rich too and has great exploitable potential. According to general investigation in early 1980s,the exploitable amount reached 87000MW, ranking the top in the world.     

Hydrology influences generalist–specialist bird-based indices of biotic integrity in Great Lakes coastal wetlands

Marsh bird habitats are influenced by water levels which may pose challenges for interpreting bird-based indices of wetland health. We determined how much fluctuating water levels and associated changes in emergent vegetation influence the Index of Marsh Bird Community Integrity (IMBCI) using data collected in Great Lakes coastal wetlands by participants in Bird Studies Canada's Great Lakes Marsh Monitoring Program. IMBCI scores for 90 wetlands in Lake Erie and 131 wetlands in Lake Ontario decreased with decreasing water levels due to decreasing number of marsh-dependent species in Lake Erie and perhaps also in Lake Ontario. The average magnitude of the decrease in scores between extremely high and low water periods for wetlands with sufficient data was 15% in Lake Erie where water dropped 0.9 m on average (n = 11 wetlands) and 18% in Lake Ontario where water dropped 0.5 m (n = 7). Scores in Lake Erie increased with increasing Typha due to increasing numbers of marsh-dependent species and decreased with increasing Phragmites due to increasing numbers of generalist species. The opposite was observed in Lake Ontario, perhaps due to denser Typha and sparser Phragmites. Scores were explained by the naturally fluctuating water levels of Lake Erie, which favored Phragmites expansion and the regulated water levels of Lake Ontario which promoted Typha expansion. Scores were influenced by fluctuating water levels and associated changes in emergent vegetation. Inter-annual water level fluctuations should be considered when interpreting any indicator of wetland health that is based on marsh-dependent bird species.     

Small Hydropower Development in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe has significant small hydropower potential, particularly in the eastern highlands, along the border with Mozambique. A UNDP sponsored study conducted in 1996 identified 12 potential hydro sites on irrigation dams, and a further 32 run-of-river sites.     

Hydropower Development Programming in China

In the light of the speech delivered by Mr.Zhou Dabing,Deputy Manager General of China National Electric Power Corporation,on its hosted “Hydropower Developing Seminar”, during the national “10th Fivc-ynar Plan” and the “Farsight Program to 2015”, the installed capacity of hydropower shall be up to 75GW by 2000,     

Small Hydropower Development in Ghana

Introduction The Power Sector in Ghana is vested in the Ministry of Energy which sets out the policy and guidelines for power generation, transmission and distribution for the sector.     

Hydraulic Energy Development of Changjiang Valley in First 5 Decades of 21st Century

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Development of Hydropower In Myanmar

Water is the source of life and electricity is the symbol of modem civilization. The topography combined with heavy rainfall from the South-West monsoon endows the country with abundant hydropower resources. In the last two-decades, country＇s power supply system mainly depends on a number of gas turbine and combined cycle power plants, which requires relatively shorter implementation time and lower investment cost.     

When are Partnerships a Viable Tool for Development? Institutions and Partnerships for Water and Sanitation Service in Latin America

Partnerships are increasingly becoming unpopular in Latin America, they have narrowly been analysed in the context of the international political agenda and criticized for bringing benefits only to the private sector and not to the public sector and society at large. Nevertheless, there are successful experiences for providing water and sanitation at local level. The questions are: Are local level successful experiences the product of a partnership? Was it necessary to build partnerships to add value to the community presence and informal actors? What are the advantages of partnerships at local and national scale? The case studies presented demonstrate that actors need to have an incentive to work together and to build trust. The context in which they operate is also relevant, and in Latin America it is needed a strong national legal institutional framework if partnerships or any agreement should be an alternative to public delivery of water and sanitation. This paper analyses the context in which water and sanitation is delivered in peri-urban areas based on case studies, identified actions for effective provision and on discussion of the institutional framework options and partnership implementation at local and national level. This paper does not advocate partnerships per se; nor are these seen as the problem.     

Special Issue on Water Resources Construction in the Development of the West

General Thoughts on Water Resources Devel-opment In Western Regions In order to realize the objective of having abreakthrough in construction of infrastructure facilitiesand ecological environment, Ministry of Water Re-sources has proposed the Guiding Principles of WaterResources Development in West Regions as follows:     

Development of China’s Coal-Fired Power Plants in the Coming Years

Power Technology and Engineering - Among the measures aimed at reducing emissions of technogenic “greenhouse gases” (primarily CO2), China plans to halve the total installed capacity of...     

Development of Flood Hazards Policy in the Indus River Basin of Pakistan, 1947–1996

ABSTRACT

Since independence in 1947, floods in the Indus River Basin in Pakistan have claimed more than 7,000 lives and caused massive infrastructure and crop losses. To date, flood damage reduction has received limited attention relative to the irrigation and hydropower subsectors in the basin. Nonstructural approaches to flood hazard mitigation have lagged behind engineering approaches. This article retraces the development offlood policies in Pakistan, from an early situation of risk acceptance to more recent strategies of risk management. It shows that an underlying problem, and future aim, for flood policy will lie in giving greater attention to mitigating social vulnerability to flood hazards in the basin.     

Environmental Integration of Small Hydropower Development

On the basis of cooperative research with European professionals, problems relating to environmental and ecological protection were discussed while small hydropower development in China currently was introduced in this paper. Guidelines of small hydropower development dealing with environmental protection were sug- gested hereby. Various specific technical environmental solutions focusing on small hydropower development applied in European and other developed countries were also introduced in this paper. Main environmental solutions are discussed as follows： integrated design should be advocated during plan/design stage,＂ ecohydraulic engineering and its utilization in SHP design and construction; effective technical approaches to relieve and eliminate the impact of river interception and fix the reasonable minimum biological flow; environment-friendly mitigation and compensation measures for high/low-head hydropower schemes applied in diversion works, intake, nature-like fish-passes, penstock and powerhouse design; study and application of the new technology, material and equipments; launching renovation of environmental protection in existing stations; emphasiz- ing public participation and their acceptability for the SHP environment; coordinated inter-disciplinary study at national level, etc. Two case studies in Sweden and Australia are given here.     

Screening Investments to Reduce the Risk of Hydrologic Failures in the Headwork System Supplying Apulia (Italy) – Role of Economic Evaluation and Operation Hydrology

The paper introduces and applies a methodology to screen investments aimed at reducing water supply risks due to hydrologic failures in headwork systems for municipal use, based on the principles of cost-benefit analysis. As risk includes both the probability of a failure and its effect, the methodology combines a simulation module of the system, fed by a stochastic hydrologic input to reproduce the probability distribution of the failures, with a metric for supply failure damage provided by the price – demand relationship for municipal water. Benefits are assessed as the averted damage compared to a base case without investments. This approach is then combined with the classic discounted cashflow approach of cost – benefit analysis to allow for the dynamics of both water supply and demand due to trends in population growth, individual consumption and, above all, planned reduction of losses in water distribution networks. The methodology is applied to screen a number of different supply-side projects for the headwork system supplying Apulia, in southern Italy featuring both regulated surface and groundwater resources and providing drinking water to over 4,000,000 persons. The procedure allows both ranking of single projects by their economical performances and the economic evaluation of combinations of different projects. The study also aims to assess the impact of the selected time scale, of cross-correlation among production sites, and of the specification of the demand function on projects' economic indicators. Results show that each modelling assumption has a considerable impact on the value of the economic indicators in absolute terms, but ranking of the different projects seems to be less sensitive to such modelling aspects.     

Development of microdamage in steam-pipe bends at operating temperatures from 510 to 530°C

This is a comparative analysis of microdamage by creep pores in the metal of steam pipes following prolonged high- (540 – 560°C) and low-temperature (512 – 530°C) operation. Microdamage at low temperatures is found to take place at considerably lower levels of equivalent stress than at high temperatures. Reducing the operating temperature after the onset of pore formation is not an effective way of enhancing the reliability and durability of bends.     

Hydrology,management and rising water vulnerability in the Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna River basin

A water vulnerability analysis is made of how sensitivity characteristics of the Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna (GBM) River basin may affect adaptive capacity. A co-riparian ‘country perspective’ highlights the importance of local level management actions. Results reveal that vulnerabilities in India and Bangladesh stem from hydrological and ecological factors, but are more linked to poverty and underdevelopment in Nepal. Poor political governance and underinvestment in the water sector add to vulnerability in Bangladesh and Nepal. Overall, Bangladesh is the most sensitive country while Nepal has the least capacity to adapt.     

Some Foci of Integrated Water Resources Management in the“South” which are oft- forgotten by the “North”: A perspective from southern Africa

Following some definitions of IWRM within a context of integrated catchment management, and a summary of the major goals and strategies as well as scale considerations in IWRM, this paper highlights some differences between IWRM in Lesser Developed Countries (LDCs), i.e. the so-called “South”, and Developed Countries (DCs), i.e. the so-called “North”, by outlining characteristics of DCs and LDCs which shape their respective needs in IWRM. Thereafter inherent problems in regard to IWRM in LDCs are identified. This is followed by examples from four case studies in southern African catchments which focus on some of the uniquenesses of IWRM issues in LDCs which, in the author's experiences, are often forgotten by theorists and practitioners from the “North”,viz.that

Small Hydro Power Development in India —— Private Sector Participation

1 Introduction India has a history of 100 years in small hydro power. However the country upon independence in 1947 has switched over to exploiting larger hydropower projects, and thermal power projects （mainly coal） to meet massive requirements of power. Of late since 1991, environment driven awareness over large hydro projects, and entry of private sector entrepreneurs into SHP Sector have given tremendous impetuous to SHP Sector growth in the last decade of 20th century.     

Private Participation in Small Hydropower Development in China——Comparison with International Communities

In recent years, Chinese private investment in SHP (small hydropower) has been booming like mushrooms after rain. Globally,many developing countries have formulated a series of incentive policies to encourage the mobilization of private capital for SHP, but the recent enforcement is far from meeting expectation. This article overviews private enterprises investing in SHP domestically, analyzes similarities and differences between China and international communities, as well as the comparability and mutual referential values, and also explores some approaches for improvement Furthermore, this article presents several particular issues in this respect, with a hope to further promote the sound development of SHP privately financed. Attached here are 2 tables and 2 figures.     

North Atlantic Oscillation as a Cause of the Hydrological Changes in the Mediterranean (Júcar River,Spain)

Significant changes in the Júcar River Basin District’s hydrology in the Mediterranean side of Spain, have been observed during last decades. A statistical change-point in the year 1980 was detected in the basins’ hydrological series in the main upper river, Júcar and Túria basins. In the study scope are, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is linked with the winter precipitations in the Upper Basins, which are here responsible for the major part of streamflow. So changes in the rainfall has an important effect in the natural river flows. The statistical analysis detected a change at NAO’s seasonal pattern, what means a considerable reduction of winter rainfalls in the Upper River basins located in the inland zone which is simultaneously the water collection and reservoirs area (a???40% of water resources availability since 1980). Hydro-meteorological data and a Water Balance Model, Patrical, have been used to assess these water resources’ reduction. Results points out to the change in the Basin’s precipitation pattern in the inland areas (upper basins), associated to Atlantic weather patterns, as the main cause, while it has not been detected in the coastal areas. All these changes implies water stress for water resources planning, management and allocation, where more than 5.2 million people and irrigation of 390,000 ha are served, joint to the time variability, an important territorial imbalance exists between resources and demands. Thus, in the main upper basins, with the biggest streamflow’s reductions, locate the largest reservoirs in terms of water resources collection and reserves.