Environmental and socio-economic consequences of water resources development and mangement

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INTERNATIONAL HXDROLOGICAL PROGRAMME

Environmental and socio-economic consequences of water resources development and mangement

Proceedings of the Moscow Symposium (E-20 May 1995)

Edited by G.V. Voropaev and N.A. Zaitseva

IHP-IV Projects M-4-l/M-4-2

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The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout the publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status

of any country, territory, city or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

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International Organizing Committee

G.V. Voropaev, Corresponding member of the RAS, Russian Federation (Chairperson) M. Abu-Zeid, Dr., Egypt

V.E. Kostin, Dr., Minipriroda, Russian Federation

A.A. Maximov, National Committee for the IHP, Russian Federation I.A. Shiklomanov, Prof., SHI, Russian Federation

G.T. Stout, Prof., IWRA, USA H. Zebidi, Dr., UNESCO

Proceedings

G.V. Voropaev, N.A. Zaitseva (Editors) ES. Evdokimova, N.B. Smyslova (Technical Editors)

Scientific Programme : Topics

l Influence of large-scale economic systems on global environment (changes of water balance, climate and living conditions)

l Socio-economic aspects of water resources development and management

l Aral-Caspian region as the object of largescale territorial modification

l Present problems of an urban agglomeration (example of Moscow and St Petersburg regions)

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Water is essential to the existence of mankind. A vast assortment of activities of everyday life depends on adequate supplies of water: agriculture and industry, power production, inland transportation, sanitation and public health services are the most important but many other needs exist. The Division of Water Sciences of UNESCO focusses its attention on current problems in these fields as well as water environment monitoring and in the framework of projects M-4.1/M-4.2 of the fourth phase of the MP (1990- 1995), an International Symposium on the environmental and socio-economic consequences of water resources development and management was held in Moscow from 15 to 20 May 1996.

More than ninety scientists and engineers from twelve countries participated in the symposium at which ninety-eight lectures and reports were presented. Several reports presented contained results of new investigations which had not been published previously.

During the course of the symposium participants noted and emphasized the great topicality of the problems discussed and confrmed the importance of tasks formulated during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED/Rio 1992) to have a strategy for an economically stable and ecologically safe development in different natural and socio-econormc conditions. There is a strong necessity to work out recommendations for implementing the adopted decisions in the field of the use and protection of water resources under conditions of indeterminacy and instability of hydrometeorological and ecological processes.

The results of the Symposium are published in the present proceedings in the form of individual papers. During discussions of the Symposium topics the following recommendations were made for the development of further studies for the execution of water projects:

- During the second half of the XXth Century some large scale water projects were carried out in many regions of the world. These projects resulted in significant changes of the environment and socio- economic conditions in the regions where they were implemented and sometimes in adjacent regions.

The study and analysis of these changes provide a workable methodological basis for predicting the consequences of new water projects and also for the implementation of measures for removing some of the negative consequences which appeared in previous water-economic projects.

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- Evaluations of the effect of water projects on the environment and socioeconomic conditions, should not include changes caused by other phenomena such as a possible climate change during the period analyzed.

- There should be a proper training programme for managers and engineers in the field of water resources development and management so that they may appreciate the importance of environmentally friendly development and management of water resources.

- There should be a post project evaluation of environmmental conditions on the project so that environmentalists and the public be made aware of the advantages of water resources development and management.

- Investigations of socioeconomic aspects of development of water projects and water resources management have become very actual nowadays and should therefore be considered important in the plans of scientific organizations. Investigations which have already been carried out are not sufficient for objective estimations of planned and completed water-economic projects. It is necessary to focus attention on methodical questions and evaluation criteria as well as developing regional studies of large water-economic systems which have been operating for a long time such as the Volga river in Russia, the Dnieper river in Ukraine, the Amudariya and the Syrdariya in Central Asia and the Colorado river in the USA, etc.

- It should be noted that for large areas such as the former USSR and the East European countries, taking account of the new conditions of market relationships as well as privatization of natural resources and means of production, the establishment of an economic water supply mechanism is of special importance

- It is necessary to intensify examination of legal and economic aspects of water resources usage as well as shared water bodies. Such aspects are of special interest today for states in arid zones where the water economic balance is tense.

- The socio-economic and ecological problems of the Aral-Caspian region require urgent and co- operative effort for their solution. In particular stronger and more concrete coordination of international programmes and projects aimed at forming scientific and information bases for adopting justified managment decisions is necessary. Under the conditions of limited finance it is necessary to avoid

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duplication of studies on the same question by identifying priority topics on which the scientists should concentrate their efforts. In this connection the participants of the symposium appreciated initiatives of international organizations (UNESCO, MAGATE and WMO), directed towards the development of multi-disciplinary programmes of the researches on ecological and anthropogenic processes in the Caspian Sea region. Their implementation will create necessary premises for serving the socio- economic and ecological problems of the region.

- The experience of the water supply of Moscow and its region is of great practical and scientific interest for other regions of the world. In Moscow, during many decades a continuous and high quality water supply and removal was provided and intensive work for permanent modernization of the system was carried out as well in order to increase the technical and ecological reliability. However, there are a number of complicated questions to be solved, such as the creation of isolated systems of water supplies (drinkable/technical), water discounts and economical aspects of water usage, water supply in the suburban zone, increasing the reliability of the sanitary zone protection, joint usage of both surface and groundwater, etc.

The participants of the symposium believe that the investigation of ecological and socio-economic consequences of water resources development and management at both international and national levels should be continued. In this connection the participants welcomed and support the decision of the eleventh session of the Intergovernment Council of the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme which ‘approved the programme of the fifth phase for the period 1996-2001 including the implementation of eight priority themes related to the problems of hydrology and water resources development in the vulnerable environment. The majority of the projects formulated in the framework of the themes are directly aiming at the solution of problems of socioeconomic and ecological consequences of water resources use.

The participants of the symposium appeal to hydrologists, water economists, ecologists and specialists in other branches connected with water to activate, to coordinate and to combine efforts in these fields with the purpose of creating an ecologically stable and safe water economy and appropriate water resources

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Acknowledgements

The Symposium was organized in the framework of the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (IHP) by the Russian Academy of Sciences and its body the Scientific-Coordinative Center (SCC) CASPK

It was sponsored by UNESCO, the Russian Federation Ministry of Sciences and Technical Politics, the Russian Fund of the Fundamental Researches and the Russian Federation Committee on Water Economy.

The Symposium participants expressed their gratitude to all the above-mentioned sponsors for the opportunity offered to them to meet together with the purpose of discussing the very acute global problems of environment and socioeconomic consequences of water resources development and management.

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Water right relations and the market

K.P. Arent

Water Economy Sciences Academy, A~OSCOW, Russia

Introduction.

The well-known Adam Smith’s words about the low cost of water without which life would be impossible and the high cost of diamonds that bring people no practical use still hold true.

They are another proof of the fact that the problems of rational nature use under the market relations were urgent even at the time when cases of water shortage were few in the world.

During Russia’s transition to market economy the role of the state in legal regulation of water right relations is getting especially important.

The legal basis for providing of rational use and protection of water objects and their resources that is water right relations and ecological safety on the country’s territory is the Water Code. It regulates water right relations in order to provide the rights and to protect interests of the Russian Federation and its subjects as well as the rights of juridical and physical persons.

The subjects of water right relations are enterprises and government bodies, as well as juridical and physical persons using or consuming water objects and their resources.

State control.

Economic control of water objects use and protection includes: establishing the right of their ownership (their privatisation), establishing the system of payments for their use, and the system of economic stimulation of rational use and protection of water objects, creating the system of financing of water objects restoration and protection.

At present, the State Programme of Privatisation of state and municipal enterprises in the Russian Federation is coming over from creating private owners to reconstructuring privatised enterprises. to widening the methods of privatisation in order to take a more full account of regional characteristics and features of a particular branch or field and to involve new objects and enterprises formerly banned for privatisation into the process of privatisation.

Among the objects and enterprises that are owned by state and privatisation of which is banned we find. for example, water resources and objects owned by state, as well as water economy and land reclamation systems and structures, supervisory organisations in charge of land reclamation, and others.

But alongst the state and municipal ownership private ownership of water objects is accepted Thus, not large in area, enclosed, man-made water bodies on land lots that are owned by juridical and

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physical persons, by municipal bodies will be in private ownership of physical and juridical persons and in municipal ownership.

The principle of paying for water objects use is lo become the basic principle of economic regulation of water use. Water objects use to satisfy needs in drinking water, to satisfy industrial and domestic water needs. needs in water for research, recreation and Iire-prevention without using constructions or technical systems will be free of charge. In other cases the suggested system of payments includes payments for the right to use water objects and payments for their restoration and protection.

The extensive character of water use led to water resources being almost exhausted in some regions and to their having become a decisive factor in productive forces development and in social problems solution ( the river basins of the Don. the Kuban, the Terek, the Ural ), Their efficient use is impossible because the norms of their pollution are considerably exceeded in their many parts.

The basic assets of water economy don’t form one economic whole. they are subordinate to many ministries and departments, water resources don’t belong to one owner responsible for their effecjive use, the narrow, bureaucratic approach to exploitation of objects that belong to different departments isn’t overcome yet.

It is necessary to organise water resources control on the principles of self-financing with money coming as payments for water use and sewage water discharges in water objects; budget money can be used for financing water economy measures only when interregional water objects and water objects that belong to different branches are involved, in other cases local budget money, money of water users and money given on credit by banks can be used.

Problems.

At present, only administrative and legislative measures are not able to solve problems of water use and ecology. An economic principle starts to operate: those who pollute are to pay. and these means go to territorial ecological funds. But this principle isn’t effective yet - not all enterprises are solvent, and the amount of payments doesn’t stimulate introduction of nature protection equipment.

The system of payments for environmental pollution is to make enterprises ecologically interested in taking nature protection measures and in regulating the sources of their financing.

It is also important to take a proper account of these payments: as a part of cost price (payments for geological prospecting) or as a part of profit of enterprises (payments for environmental protection and for insurance against ecological disasters).

At present, privileges of profit taxation gained due to industrial waste utilisation are not enough, and the taxes paid for production of ecologically harmful products are not enough either, these factors would favour ousting ecologically harmful goods from the market and would make up for the losses the budget suffers from taxation allowances of environmental protection activities.

The experience of other countries in the world shows that the system of taxation together with strict penalty sanctions for violation of environ’mental protection norms can stimulate forming the market of quotas ( limits) for environmental pollution.

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In the USA the market of permissions for waste discharges arose as a result of administrative pressure on industry in the form of requirements of technological standards and ecological norms.

Our country going through the economic depression period, authorities in charge of ecology can’t resort to strong measures. Unstable ecological and economic policy can also play its negative part.

There is no single state policy of regulating economic activities in potentially dangerous areas where the destructive effect of water is especially strong, that is why the losses caused by floods are growing. This process is aggravated because enterprises start acting on commercial principles whereas their possibilities of financing preventive measures or of doing away with such disasters are limited.

Some countries have acquired positive experience of solving water economy problems owing to various kinds of insurance. Their experience should be used in our country.

It is also suggested that to provide ecological safety it is necessary to introduce a special

“ecological tax” alongst the taxes paid by those who are faulty of ecological violations. Ecological safety as well as political and criminal one depend not only on trespassers ( those who pollute are to pay ) but on their potential victims.

In prospect, international ecological banks and ensurance institutions can be established, the national systems of ecological taxation should be co-ordinated.

As the market economic relations are being established rind developed the system of direct agreements between water users and water economy organisations is assuming ever greater importance in regulating water right relations. But the world experience shows that control of water resources use is always regulated by government bodies with due regard for political, ethical and social grounds, national and historical traditions as well as economic efficiency indices because establishing water ownership rights has always been and is followed by political and social conflicts. Historically great importance is attached to water and practically nowhere has it been just a subject of buying and selling.

Decentralisation of water control in Russia and transition to regional forms of its use and distribution is explained, in particular, by the necessity to accept the existence of mrmerous interests, possible estimates of and approaches to these problems by the interested groups of population, that vary with time and regions.

Planning and realisation of socially profitable measures are to be taken in hand by people living in this or that region who know better the local conditions and can use them fruitfully.

The process of transition to various forms and kinds of natural resources property (state, municipal, collective and private) and their physical distribution among owners is being slowly realised because it lacks proper legal regulation.

By the way one can’t give priority either to economy or to ecology. If not long ago the extent ofi development of a nation was measured by its military might, now it is rather the tempos of economic development that is important, then in the near future it will mostly be measured by ecological culture.

Summing it up, we conclude that formation of the water resources market has started in the Russian Federation: leasing and privatisation of some water objects on a competitive basis, paying for water use, working out the foundations of water legislation, but the future will require the solution of other numerous problems of market relations.

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Characteristic processes in the transition of water management into market economy

Miklos Nemeth

National Water Directorate, HUNGARY

The methods to solve the technical problems of water management are independent of politics, and of the existing social system. It is evident that the calculation of backwater curves, of the dimensions of culverts, of the usable hydraulic energy, the estimation of sedimentation due to new solutions in river training are based on certain natural parameters and on laws of the physical sciences.

Independence from daily politics, and from social structure, however, cannot be maintained if questions are to be answered, like the following:

- What are the most important social requirements related to water?

- What are the priorities related to water?

- Who are the interested parties?

- How to involve the interested parties in decision-making?

- What is the role of the state?

- Who are the burdened during and after task-realisation?

- Do the services related to water possess welfare aspects, if yes what are their dimensions, and how can they be expressed?

- What state-administrative, operative, maintenance, investing and constructing organisations are responsible to tXfil1 the tasks related to water?

Important and more important questions can be formulated which are not answered by physical laws but only by the social-economic structure of the society. No doubt, the answers of similar questions may be influenced, country after country, by nature-geographical, economic developmental, historical aspects as well.

It is also true that a multitude of determinative phenomena, and processes are offspring of the social-economic system itself. Overview of such processes - stemming from the changes in the political system - is extremely important, because:

- Only after identification of the features, concrete actions can be decided upon.

- In Central-and Eastern Europe restructuring of the “socialist” system - experienced for four decades- is underway since five years. Support of desirable tendencies is possible - even by the developed nations or international financial institutions - if overall experiences are evaluated and theoretically analysed.

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- The author is not in the position to make statements on the ongoing events in the countries of the region but as a person who is wellinformed in this field in Hungary, he will try to describe the phenomena in an independent way, independently from the national specifities.

The most important ,aspects to be discussed are:

- Water services must not be treated as a welfare issue any more, the state support of such services - independent from costs and market value - should be re-evaluated.

- With due regard to the altered economic system of conditions and to the environmental expectations, a one-sided, extensive, quantityoriented development cannot be justified any more.

- The volume of state owned property and the ‘level of state responsibility must be reduced. This statement may be supported by the increase of private property, by economic efficiency and by the stresses of the state budget.

- The changes in ownership, increases in efficiency would point to the necessity of accelerated privatisation in water management, or to the introduction of novel operational structures, e.g.

concession.

- Economic difficulties, changing preferences of the society, reduced state support, changes in ownership had produced radical changes in water demand, usually in negative direction.

- The organisational setup was reevaluated based on the pattern of the developed democracies. It is evident that the creation of a modern, “clean” administration without legal contradiction is unavoidable.

- The old method of decision-making was incompatible with the democratic aspects of the republics.

Arbitraric, dictatoric decisions should be replaced by compromises among interested parties or among the representatives thereof.

- Decentralisation which is desirable from a political view, may foster changes in ownership, and foster the disintegration of organisations and systems established formerly to cope with large, complex tasks. This trend may sometimes contradict the aspects of integrated water management with due regard to the inlluence of forceful local interests.

- An increased social sensitivity related to water can be detected parallel to a growing role of the society in water affairs and to the changes in ownership. The owners of smaller firms are more sensitive to the quality of water, the farmers of smaller plots to the price of irrigation water, or to a lack thereof, or to the damages due to inundation.

- Social transition, democratisation, European integration “opened” the borders. This is reflected in the necessity of using European standards, and in the spreading of economic inherencies.

A more detailed explanation of the above described processes is as it follows:

A significant part of the phenomena attached to water is bound to social and sustenance security.

Healthy drinking water, protection against floods, against hazards of waterbases are minimum

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requirements in the everyday struggle for life. To approach these tasks from the direction of economy. or economics is only partly justified.

Consequently, these tasks were earlier fully supported by the state, or subsidised by the state budget side by side with minimum return services by the citizens, The society took as granted water for irrigation, industrial water supply, local river training, or land-drainagepractically without any payment but with substantial subsidies from the government.

It is obvious that transition into market economy does not justify the extension of a former system of the subsidies in the field of water supply and wastewater collection.

If total productive costs would be taken into account, this would end up in water fees which are unbearable for a significant part of the population. Whereas in the developed countries, the fees for water supply stretch over about 1-2 percent of the household income, the same rate is 7-10 percent in Hungary without subsidies. The tendency to sink below poverty level in Hungary had fostered continuous state support, at least temporarily.

II.

The decades before the end of the 80s were characterised by an extensive growth of the national economy. The statement is expecially true in the water sector, where

- the pace of development in water supply was so fast, the finished capacities were so voluminous that the development in sewerage and wastewater treatment could not follow up,

- not a small part of the investments was finished without the needed auxiliary facilities, often incomplete due to reduced finances,

- technically justified upgradings were completely neglected, the cyclic time-period of maintenance work was limitless prolongated.

State operated water resources and hydraulic establishments use to consume today about 80 percent of the budgetary money for operation and salaries. The rest - usually limited in amount - is not suflicient for the solution of the most urgent problems.

The present state of the existing systems helps to increase in number and severity the environmental requirements, the limits in investment tools, All these will justify a re-evaluation of the extensive attitude in development.

The heritage of the extensive decades may foster

- a fast development in volume and quality in sewrage and wastewater treatment,

- the construction of supplemental and auxiliary establishments to operate the existing works in an environment-friendly way,

- the need for reconstruction of the existing structures.

III.

Austerity in the state budget, differences in management and in the enforcement of interests would foster the justification of ownership and operational rights of the interested citizens in case of smaller, local

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facilities. Based on public interest and adjoint state responsibility, the state ownership of the designated water resources and hydraulic structures must be preserved, if

- the nature-geographical situation of the country justifies it, - their use and development would cover larger areas, even regions.

In this spirit, the new laws created recently chould go quickly in effect overshadowed by the ongoing social-economic changes. (This is valid for the laws dealing with water management, self- governments and with self-governmental properties).

Water, hydraulic establishments in the close neighbourhood of state owned properties but inside locally ruled interest ranges and local water works should belong to the self-governments.

Experiences gained in Hungary after the declaration of Act XXXIII of 1992 pointed to the fact that the self-governments are not too happy with this opportunity. The reason was that the state owned facilities had secured a comfortable position for the interested parties. Enforced ownership, nevertheless, is untreatable.

The role played by the state, and the significance of the ownership structure are not indifferent from a financial point of view. Local interest systems based on small property ownership will find more economic, money saving solutions. By levying a catchment-fee, the beneficiaries can be involved in the bearing of operational and maintenance costs.

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In the economic programs of the countries in transition, privatisation plays an important role. One cannot, however, disregard the peculiar characteristics of the water sector, in this respect. Privatisation cannot be unlimited because the structures are either not negotiable, or the process is unreasonable due to the regional importance thereof.

Contracts for concession are also used in a predetermined narrow area, e.g. in waterworks services and irrigation water supply.

V.

A significant decrease in water demand was observed and partly explainded by economic recession, by the structural changes in industry and agriculture, by the use of a close-to-value fee in drinking and irrigation water supply. Increases in water demand - characteristic in the previous decades - was fallen back at the beginning of the 90s. Radical reduction was measured in water supply. This tendency was strengthened by a number of bankrupted companies using tapwater for production. The process resulted in the following consequences for today and for the near future:

- Exploitage of the servicing system diminished, the specific costs arising from the use of fixed assets had grown along with a significant dissatisfaction of the population due to higher water fees.

- With a decrease of the stresses due to former water shortages the urgency to establish ‘new water services faded away.

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- Water quality was upgraded and improved in more catchments due to reduced discharges of effluent and other water quality hazards.

It is obvious, the listed problems are transitional and may take an adverse turn if the ownership changes and the economy is getting consolidated.

VI.

Social-economic restructuring may necessitate reorganisation of the state administration. It is clear that a “prescribed” structure does not exist. Different administrational patterns, historical traditions, naturegeographical conditions are found in each country.

The demand, however, can be general: “clean ‘I, legally pure administration is required. In certain “party-ruled” systems administration was soaked with politics which cannot be the case any more. Qn the other hand, as a contradiction, water licensing and entrepreneurship were united in the same organisation.

VII.

The old practices in decision-making are incompatible with the philosophy of the democracies.

Arbitraric, dictated decisions should be replaced by participation of the interested parts or of their representatives, by compromises and deliberations. This was especially important in water management because activities in this sector are infrastructural of nature, and the decisions have widespread consequences on people and larger regions.

Sustainable management of water resources and preliminary strategic decisions in water damage control would need, therefore, double leveled social and professional forums:

- one for the discussion of national problems and for nationwide deliberations - called: national council for water management,

- another for the discussion and preparation of local decisions and regional deliberations - called:

regional coouncil for water management.

All these should be legally well-founded. The process is just underway in Hungary.

VIII.

Decentralisation is desirable even from a practical point of view. Parallel to a transtion in ownership, it is useful in the disintegration of large, complex organisations, of the waterworks systems.

This trend may go in the reverse direction - due to strong local interest - than it is desirable from the point of integrated water management. A good example is with the public waterworks companies in Hungary. The water supply, sewage sector is in close connection with the costumers and is one of the most sensitive areas in water management because of the decisive role of the water fees.

The change in the social-economic system has caused significant consequences in water management:

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- The Act on Self-Governments made it obligatory to supply with healthy drinking water the settlements until the end of 1994 (the program has been basically ended, and 98 percent of the population is already supplied by tapwater).

- In harmony with this task, and based on Act XVCIII of 1992 the waterwork companies were transferred into the ownership of the, selfgovernments.

- The authority to set prices has been also transferred to the selfgovernments except the right to determine water fees in the so-called regional waterworks companies.

Along with this procedure, state subsidies supporting the public waterworks were reduced acting again against the interest of the costumers. Parallel to a diminishing load-bearing capacity of the population, the problems in servicing and pricing became more and more apparent.

The self-governments, therefore, had reshuffled the structural set-up of the waterworks in hoping to gain more favourable water fees. The consequence was the fragmentation of the watenvorks companies. There were 33 reliable water companies earlier, now there are innumerable smaller entities (companies limited, share companies, etc.) with inestimable technical backgrounds.

This sketchy process is only an example. Similar tendencies can be observed with the irrigation systems.

It should be taken into account that changes in the structure of ownership, stronger local interests, subdivision of the regional systems may act against the well-known pattern of integrated water management.

The deliberations will be more and more difficiult if 500 owners will seek to make compromises among 500 interests, instead of the former 50 owners and 50 interests.

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Changed interest-conditions are reflected in the growing social sensitivity against floods, against damages due to water shortage or degraded, water quality. Formerly, the large cooperatives and state farms were insensitivie to local damages. Today for the new farmer it is a matter of life and death to protect, or to irrigate his small land.

Sensitivity, however, may produce a variety of water demand, with a variety of water services.

The many, small entities with diverse profiles may ask for different services having different water quality, different safety of supply, and naturally different price structures, It is necessary to prepare ourselves to such aims.

Changes in ownership require higher level and a more differentiated hydraulic control and servicing ability.

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Social changes, democratisation and integration to Europe had “opened” the borders. This has been reflected in the need to use European standards and in a free extension of economic relationships. New features became visible, not yet experienced in the 80s:

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- a constant presence of the worlds large banks, - the possibility of obtaining PHARE or other grants,

- the possibility to participate in intensive professional co-operation on the international level, - appearance of foreign capital in privatization beside the money of the domestic investors, - invitation and participation of foreign companies in tenders,

- consideration of the rights and obligations connected with a possible EU membership, - a complete restructuring of the formely existing international economic relation-system,

- countries in Central and Eastern Europe undergo drastic changes, borders are altered, co-operation in common, or international catchments became different (Hungary has now seven borderwater partners, whereas there were only five, before).

,All these had made it necessary to cope with the inland water problems of the country in a much broader sense than before, in the international framework.

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The influence of hydraulic engineering on flood plains formation and productivity

Baryshnikov N.B., Isaev D.I., Mozdakova M. Yu.

Water Economy Sciences Academy, Moscow,

Russian State Hydrometeorological Institute. St.-Petersburg

It is hard to overestimate the importance of flood plains for the national economy. They provide guaranteed fodder resources for live stock-raising throughout the country, and in the south they are intensively used for growing rice and other hydrophilous crops. In their natural state they are unique natural systems with the richest flora and fauna.

Flood plains are a result of erosion-and-accumulation activities of the river when its channel is meandering across the plane over the valley floor, The morphological structure of the flood-land depends on the character of these meandering, i.e. the type of channel process. Under flooding of a flood plain, a part of suspended load is deposited, and the flood-plain alluvium facies forms. The high spring water moistening the flood-land soil and carrying there various, substances dissolved in water creates specific ecological conditions for development of the vegetable and animals in this area. This, in its turn conditions formation of a specific soil cover.

Form composition of the flood-land vegetation is determined, first of all, by the conditions of flooding, i. e. flood-land regime. Besides, the flood-land vegetation directly depends on the character of the soil and the age of the flood-land. Over the young areas, composition of the flood-land vegetation formation is more or less the same, regardless the composition of the flood-land alluvium and physical- geographical conditions of the flood-land development, and it is mainly represented by the osier-beds.

The location of various vegetation complexes over the area of a rather mature massif may correspond to the following scheme. The upper scoured part of the massif, the oldest one, is either a meadow or covered with forest, it is relatively dry and covered with sand. The zone near the channel in the middle and lower part of the massif is covered with osier-beds. The central parts of the massif are forested or represented by meadows: in depressions one can observe hydrophilous vegetation. The sedge meadows and dwarfed birch-and-aspen forest are located parts of the massif in the rear. The above scheme is considerably general and it can significantly vary, depending on the specific local conditions and activities of a man.

Various kinds of vegetation possess various resistance to the water movement, thus determinng the hydraulics of the channel-flood flow (the flow velocity and distribution of water discharge over the flood plains and in the channel, maximum flooding levels, regimes of load redeposition etc). Thus, the type of channel process is acted upon.

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Under the natural conditions, the “basin-river flow-channel and flood-land system” is considerably stable and an for self-regulation.

The mechanism of antropogenetic impact on flood plains can be shown only on the basis of studying the complex of natural relations between the processes of formation of liquid and solid runoff, vegetation growth, etc. [Baryshnikov, 19841. In particular, hydrotechnic building causes adverse effects on the agricultural productivity and ecological condition of flood plains.

Thus, especially significant is the effect of regulating reservoirs changing both the regime of liquid runoff and that of the solid one, In the head races the flood plains are either completely or partially flooded. The most complex processes are observed in the zone of changing backwater conditioned by the draw-down regime of hydroelectric stations, In the tail races, one observes lowering of channel bottom marks and maximum water levels caused by runoff regulation by reservoirs, This leads to decreasing in frequency and duration of submerging the flood plains, and sometimes. as, for example. in the Irtysh-river down the Bukhtarminskaya Station the lands are never flooded, which causes their degradation. After the cascade of small power plants in the upper reaches of the Oredege- river having been finished, the flood plains practically stopped to be submerged and started to get waterlogged. Changes in the moistening conditions in the flood-land led to that the meadows there and coniferous forest started to be replaced by the bog vegetation (sedge meadows and osier-beds), and the forest vegetation has practically died out.

In the southern regions of the country the flood plains being not flooded, acquire the steppe features and sharply reduce their productivity. Their flooding after draw-downs from the reservoirs located upstream does not solve the problem as instead of the humus particles it is sand that is deposited on the surface of the flood-land, which substantially deteriorates the soil structure.

Other hydrotechnic constructions and water-economic activity also significantly affect the flood-land life. They are in particular, large guarries and pits in channels and river flood plains, long levees cutting off practically completely the channels and preventing their flooding Baryshnikov, Samuseva, 19921.

The impact of channel careers by their character is close to the processes going on in the tail races of regulating power stations; with mining there one can observe significant drops in water levels reaching several metres (for the Tom-river by the city of Tomsk, 2.7 m). This leads to further downcutting in the channel and passage of floods, even high ones, without water flooding the plain, as well as - and quite often - to change of type of the channel process. Even more destructive processes occur when careers are made on the very flood plains. When wholeness of the turf is damaged, the magnitude of critical velocities decreases. which causes intensive scouring of the flood-land. We know the cases when only due to a local dislocation of the turf, e.g. in the Dnieper flood bed, in the subsequent flood period there appeared a channel more than 100 m wide and up to 10 m deep.

After constructing levees the flood plains are either never flooded or flooded for a short period of a time. Especially illustrative one is the case of levying the great Chinese rivers Yangtzetzan and Huang He, where the longitudinal dams are of 2000 km and 700 km long, respectively. In this case. the lands in the flood-area are in fact never flooded. Their formation process is qualitatively different from

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that under the natural conditions, and a complex of expensive measures is needed to restore their agricultural productivity.

It is more difficult to estimate the influence of forest-melioration measures in the river basins on the flood plains formation processes and their productivity, as that influence occurs indirectly.

through changes in the formation processes of liquid and solid runoff, and it needs a long observation period.

Recently, of special importance have become the problems related not only to studies of ecological effects of developing the flood plains by man, but also to the possibility of restoring natural flood plains landscapes. Thus, the Federal program for “renaturalisation” of the flood-land areas in the upper reaches of the Elba in Germany has wide financial support. By the term “renaturalization” the German scientists signify restoration of not only vegetation and animal lives in the flood-land, but also restoration of its natural landscape as well as the hydrological conditions forming the latter.

Here, one should bear in mind that restoration of the initial state and look of flood plains (especially on small parts of the river valley) is not feasible as it would require restoration of all broken relations of the natural system, too. Similar problems will be evidently met when developing the project of restoration of the natural regime of the Rhine channel process.

References

Baryshnikov, N.B. (1984) Morphology, hydrology and Hydraulics of flood-plains. Leningrad:

Gidrometeoizdat Publisher. 280 pp.

Baryshnikov, N.B., E.A. Samuseva (1992) System approach to estimation of resistance of river channels-St.-Petersburg: Gidrometeoizdat Publisher. 80 pp.

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Large-scale water engineering projects and their impact on river channel and flood-plains

K.M. Berkovitch, Y.M.Natalchuk, R.S.Chalov Water Economy SciencesAcademy, Moscow, Russia

The river channel processes are often may be indicators of possible or going on disturbances of the natural system covering a river basin. Their development depends on many natural factors which determine the formation of water runoff and sediment flow as well as an interaction between a river stream and its bed at different phases of a hydrologic regime. Therefore, the river channel processes are very sensitive to natural conditions changes and many kinds of the economic activity in a river basin and also in a river itself, its banks and floodplain. Natural conditions changes cause slow , during centuries and even millenniums. river bed and flood-plain transformation and changes caused by human economic activity develop very quickly and sometimes unpredictably. The river bed processes transformation, in its turn, affect the water exchange, hydrochemical budget of river water, alluvial sediment composition, etc. It causes river and flood-plain ecosystem reorganization and even its environmental degradation.

Most essential channel processes and flood-plaines changes of a regional character occur when the large hydropower stations and reservoirs are built. They change radically course of river channel processes (intensity, direction, form of manifestation) and the process itself as well. In that case, the ecological tension may occur as a result of a system (stream-channel) stability loss, because the man- made changes of system parameters exceed usually the natural of long-term fluctuations of those parameters. For example, the high water discharge decrease by more then 25% for a flood period lead to irreversible formation of new flood-plain feature below the hydropower plant. Opposite appearance can be observe in backwater zones of reservoir. The reaction of alluvial relief and stream structure is progressing in time and space.

The river-bed wash- out below the large dam causes dying of side arms of river. Then the flow is concentrated in one channel. Which conveying capacity does not satisfy a new condition. Because of that the bank destruction is getting more active. The river meanders are rebuilt. This fact results in further strengthening the bank erosion and loss of valuable land and also makes danger engineering objects destruction. River erosion causes bars wash out, they cannot more fulfil the regulation function.

The bed and water surface gradients become even, the stream velocities increase. The changes of water and channel regime result in decrease of flood-plain submerging, its landscapes xerophyting, definitive change for the worse pasture and meadow quality.

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In the backwater zone of water reservoirs, where the sediment goes on accumulation. river becomes wider and banks are washed out due to shallowing. The flood-plain submerging increases, it causes the sand layer forming on one side, out at the same time bogging of a flood-plane area as distance from the river increase. The flood-plain inside of backwater zone often transforms into “wet meadows”

that is place of silting and sorption of chemical elements.

The small rivers silting with the product of soil erosion, especially in steppe zone, is attributed to similar reactions too. During the last century, many rivers of first-third ranges in the Oka and Don basins disappeared. Downstream aggradation can be observe on the high range rivers. For example, the Oka-river and some of its tributaries bed aggradation was noticed since the beginning of XX century, when the specific sediment discharge from the slopes exceeded 400 tikm2’y. The researches show that the low water level’of the Oka-river near Belev (212 km from river source) increased in by 15 cm\year.

Water level increase was observed also near Kaluga-city (400 km from the river source). The downstream progressing aggradation propagates by about 5 km/year.

One of the causes of a river net drying up and degradation is the abundance of biogenic elements in river water runoff. This fact promotes water plants development. First, the river bed being over grown blocks the alluvium mobility, then stream velocity decreases, so the stream loses its erosion and carrying capacity and cannot scour off its bed from the soil erosion products.

River bed and flood-plain are extremely sensitive to direct influence which causes the longitudinal profile transformation, such as construction materials excavation from river valley. These materials are of good quality, that is why enormous volumes of alluvium sand and gravel are mined. It often exceeds many times the sediment load. It results in deep man-made transformation of a channel cross-section, alluvial relief destruction and stream structure changes.

More then 92 mln.m3 of sand and gravel was mined from the Oka-river upper part during last 20-25 years downstream Kaluga-city. It exceeds 18 times the sediment load runoff for the same period.

Every year was mined from 1,6 to 4,2 mln.m3. The cross-section shape was changed essentially. The volume of low-water channel increased during 1950-1991 ys in 30 mln.m3 only in the stretch between Serpukhow and Kolomna-town. The mean depth increased within the bounds of pits twice or more. It causes decreasing of the river incline and water level lowering. Thus, lowest water level near Kashira gauge decrease by 1,6-1,s m since 1940. Level lowering is less in Serpukhov and Alexin gauges - 1,2- 1,4 m. It should be noted that the channel of the Oka-river in the section between Kaluga and Kolomna is very stable, the stability coefficient values correspond to ones for undeformed channel. The alluvium mining promotes latent mechanism of erosion-accumulation processes. Also it disturbs the stable connections between hydraulical parameter of the stream and morphometrical characteristics of the channel. It results in both, upstream and downstream, progressing degradation. The armouring quickly forms in the section of the river where alluvium is coarse and the erosion ends. However, the longitudinal profile of the river becomes step-like with heterogeneous incline distribution along the river (Figure 1.). The flat parts of “steps” usually coincide with the extraction parts. they are devised by the sections with steep incline. Thus, the river incline near Kashira is about zero in the section about 10 km long, at the same time it exceeds O,lO-0,14%0 directly upstream in the section more then 20 km

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long. The step-like longitudinal profiles forming and water level lowering were observed at the Tom’, Chulym, Katun’, Irtysh and other rivers. River bed lowering results in bankful discharges increase, the flood-plain disjoining from channel, landscape and ecosystem change.

Man-made flood-plain transformation influences significantly also on the course of erosion- accumulation processes and fluvial ecosystem condition. The conveying capacity of flood-plain changes as a result of agricultural works, road and canals construction. It destroys the course of erosion accumulation processes on the flood-plain surface as well as flood-plain itself steadily influence on the channel processes disturbance. Such transformation happened at the Dedinovsky flood-plain section including three large bends downstream of the Moskva and the Oka rivers joint. The flood-plain submerging was limited that disturbed steady sediment exchange between the channel and flood plain and caused the flood plain function change as the seasonal filter for water cleaning. It resulted in water plant and ichthyofauna environment conditions.

30

25

20

Altitude,m 15

IO

5

0

-

. \

\ Ho

Hi

0 26 50 72 110 140 154 180 220 272 314 360 394 418 436 470

distance, km from Kaluga

Figure 1. Longitudinal profile of the Oka-river between Kaluga-city and Polovskoye hydrogaugs.(Ho-profile of 1992.;Hl- profile of 1949.)

The special form of man-made impact is flood plain mining of sand and gravel. The bed facies of alluvium, which founded the fluvial deposits of flood plain, are valuable construction material. Its mining causes flood plain destruction, creation man-made pits of enormous capacity, which regulate the flood. Such pits are known on downstream section of the Katun’, on the Desna-river near Bryansk and on many other flood plains especially near big cities and industrial centres.

The essential changes of flood plains occur after dike construction, tillage, surface rise, road embankment construction. These measures result in essential change of the hydrological regime of a flood plain area. The flood is concentrated in a river channel and that fact causes the irreversible changes in bed morphology and deformation. By example, when the bridge across the Ob’-river in Barnaul-city was built, the lo-km wide flood plain was crossed by unbroken embankment which closed

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the flood plain streams and one arm of river. As a result the bank collapse became more active near the bridge as well as downstream of it. Besides the dangerous landslides occurred on the high bank where the city is situated.

River bed and flood plain protection against deterioration is one of most actual tasks of ecological crisis to resist:The channels and flood plains of river flowing in different natural terms are in various degree vulnerable to the antropogenic impact. So. the urgent task is to work out the basin and regional schemes of river melioration drawing most attention to those rivers which still keep their natural ecosystem in spite of strong man-made pressing.

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Influence of the specific water consumption structure on the environment under the large-scale irrigation development

A.I.Budagovsky*, T.Yu.Golubash**

*Water Problems Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences,Moscow

**ScientijTc-Coordinative Centre Y’aspy”, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow

In the process of evaluation the economic efficiency of the large-scale irrigation development and its effect on the environment, it is reasonable to use the analysis of the specific water consumption structure in both, during construction of new and reconstruction of the existing irrigation systems. It is understood as a, quantity of irrigation water consumption per unit of irrigated area. The structure of the specific water consumption is determined by a complex of natural conditions and technical equipment of irrigation systems.

First and main component of the specific water consumption is evapotranspiration from irrigated fields, more correct transpiration. which is the most important factor of production process of the vegetation, and also yield of irrigated crops. The relative speed of yield decrease caused by the reduction of soil moisture content below some “critical” value occurs considerably faster, than the decrease of transpiration, and, hence, evapotranspiration. Figure 1 presents the dependence of relative cotton yield on relative value of evapotranspiration, constructed on the basis of data obtained by V.E.Eremenko and F.A.Muminov [Eremenko. 1957; Muminov, 19701 (for more details, see [Budagovsky, Golubash, 19941). .

Second component is the seasonal leaching aimed at removal of evaporites (easily soluble salts) contained in irrigation waters. Their concentration is at least an order larger than their concentration in the atmospheric precipitation. Increase of the salts concentration in the soil root zone up to about 0.20- 0.30 ‘?A of the absolutely dry soil weight (depending on salinization type) results in yield reduction.

Therefore, the leaching waters should be necessarily removed into the drainage and then sewerage network. Otherwise, the decrease of yield and progressive salinization of irrigated lands are inevitable.

Hence, the sewerage and drainage waters should be necessarily removed outside an irrigation system into local depressions with accounting a possibility of their intermediate use on a periphery for salt- tolerant crops cultivation. Spill of these waters into an irrigation source under pretext to increase their irrigation capacity is deeply fallacious, because it can cause a necessity of more frequent leachings of lying below irrigated fields owing the water mineralization increase. Besides, sources of irrigation become unusable for domestic and industrial water-supply, It frequently results in ecological accidents.

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Third component of the specific water consumption is the vertical discharge of irrigation waters outside root zone of the soil, causing mainly due to the spatial heterogeneity of its permeability. It grows when planning of irrigation fields worsens.

Y

0.5 -.

Od/

^0.5 ^C

Figure 1. Dependence of a relative yield (

Y

) on a relative evapotranspiration ( ‘Tic ). 1 - on data from [Eremenko, 19571, 2 - on data from [Muminov, 19701.

Fourth component of the specific water consumption is the filtration water losses from the irrigation network. The radical measures for combating filtration losses consist in closing of the irrigation network (concreting and other methods) but it needs with very essential economic expenditures.

Only the first and the second components of the specific water consumption have a profound impact on the yield formation of irrigated crops and, at present, can be quite satisfactory evaluated. The third and the fourth ones vvater strongly fluctuating with space are usually included into irrigation rates gross or net with insignificant changes and their relations with yield of irrigated .crops are searching. For above-mentioned reasons, these relationship can not be close and furthermore universal. Hypothetical yield dependence on the irrigation rate with maximum is also used to produce recommendations for construction of new or reconstruction of existing irrigation systems, which causes in wrong results. It is easy to show anachronism of such approach if description will be more detailed. I

In the case of construction of new or reconstruction of existing irrigation systems on territories, where relative confining layer or ground waters lie on comparatively small depth and the conditions for development of a controlled drainage network exist, it is advisable to use the double regulation. The essence of its functioning is that the drainage and sewerage network is used for the discharge of leaching waters, and with the beguming of water applications in vegetative season it is blocked. So, leaching water and filtration losses participate in the replenishment of fresh ground water

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storages, which feed the root zone of the soil, i.e. subirrigation arises thus enhancing efficiency of the irrigation water use with the conservation of favourable ecological conditions.

Sometimes, the double regulation is developing in a natural way without expensive engineering measures. Thus, before the mass irrigation development in Golodnaya Steppe in the State farm Pahta- Aral leaching waters of the autumn-winter period flowed into a periphery of irrigated territory. In vegetative season due to filtration losses and vertical discharge during water applications subirrigation arose. As a result, in the vegetative period irrigated fields needed water applications of about 50% of water discharge on evaporation from their surface for the same time interval [Eremenko, 19571.

In the cases of development of new or reconstruction of existing irrigation systems on the territories with deep ground waters, the economies of irrigation waters due to the reduction of filtration losses and vertical discharge is possible only by means of rather expensive engineering measures (closed irrigation networks, careful planning of irrigated fields, measures of parcelling out the water application maps). Besides, systematic leachings, as well as partial vertical water spills during water applications in vegetative period should inevitably result in the increase of level of strongly mineralized ground waters and further, depending on relief, in their growing unloading. Sometimes, it can cause rather undesirable ecological consequences, the liquidation of which will require the development of special, as a rule, complex and expensive measures. However, these processes proceed relatively slowly, frequently during many decades. But the indicated consequences are inevitable.

The steppe and, in a less degree, the forest-steppe zones of our country suffer from systematic droughts, frequently of catastrophic character. Therefore, since 30-s of the last century until recently the question of wide development of irrigation in these zones has been risen. Thus, in the paper [Berezher, 19851 shows, that in the European part of these zones 49.6 mil. Ha of lands are defined as acceptable for the mass development of irrigation. Taking into account a complex of natural conditions of these zones and above-mentioned reasons, the realization of it would inevitably cause an ecological accident. In particular, in the lower Don it would be similar to the Aral situation [Budagovsky, 19921.

As an alternative of large-scale development of irrigation in steppe and forest-steppe zones can be served further development of principles of dry agriculture system. They consist of application of long-term mulch of plant rests, mainly of straw. Using of this method will allow to reduce lower considerably repeatability and intensity of droughts ~udagovslcy, Grigorieva, 199 l] and it not only does not require capital costs, but permits the application of system of “nought” soil cultivation, means mainly sowing and combine harvesting, which allows to reduce expenditures on a fuel and agricultural instruments.

The ecological importance of the long-term mulch of plant rests follows from the fact that it should be considered as an artificial equivalent of “plant thick felt” formed in natural virgin steppe or steppe reserve. Under this, the soil structure and its microbiological activity are improved, scales of water erosion are reduced. Moreover, the necessity of application of herbicides is considerably reduced or disappeared. However, due to inertia of thinking of the experts in the field of agriculture and water reclamation, the considered problem has not meanwhile received the serious adoption.

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Environmental and socio-economic consequences of water resources development and mangement

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