Study of the impact of the discharges of the Vila-Viçosa small hydroelectric development (Portugal) on the water quality and on the fish communities of the Ardena river (original) (raw)
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Limnetica, 2004
Over a two-year period a study of the Vila Viçosa small hydroelectric development, located on the Ardena river (hydrographical basin of the Douro river, Portugal), was conducted, with the objective of evaluating the impact of its operation on the water quality and on the dynamics of the benthic macroinvertebrate community. A morphological, hydrologic and physico-chemical characterization of the system was done, an analysis of the benthic macroinvertebrate communities looking into their structure and dynamics, as well as ecological and physiological characteristics. With the physical and chemical data, a study of its spatial and temporal variation was performed. With the data related to the macroinvertebrate communities, an analysis of the spatial variation of some indexes and metrics and of the (non) similarity between the samples collected were done, bearing in mind the composition of the communities, through different techniques of multivariate analysis. After the analysis of the data, it is possible to say that the Ardena River is a lothic system, with good water quality, in which the working of the small hydroelectric power plant causes alterations on the macroinvertebrate community, due to the alteration of the "natural" hydrologic regime. The impact on the macroinvertebrate communities is lower upstream of the plant, where the flow is minimal throughout the whole year leading to a change in the structure of the community. Downstream of the plant, where the flow is extremely variable, there is an impoverishment of the communities, leading to the displacement of substrate and organisms.
Influence of a Small Hydroelectric Power Station on the River Ecosystem
European Journal of Sustainable Development, 2014
To assess the effects of the Small Hydroelectric Power Station (SHP) on the fluvial ecosystem, some environmental values are required to measure. This work provides a characterization of the water quality status in a river stretch around a SHP plant on river Mandeo, (NW Spain), for three years after its construction. The ecological and chemical status of the water and the ecological quality of the riparian habitat was analyzed and comparing with the water quality requirements. The results showed that there were not significant differences between sampling points (before and after of the plant), as well as a stabilization of the parameters within two years after the construction of the Station, achieving conditions ecologically compatible. We concluded that the construction of the SHP plant caused an adverse effect in the ecosystem, which was subsequently improved. Highly positive results from the point of view of their contribution as a source of renewable energy.
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2021
Hydropower is currently experiencing a boom in southeast Europe. For Romania, the number of hydropower plants is estimated to be between 545 and 674, but little has been published about their environmental impact. We provide the first overview of the geographical distribution of hydropower plants in Romania, supplemented by a review of current knowledge about their environmental impact, and present case study evidence on the effects of small hydropower plants on fish in headwater streams of the Carpathian Mountains. We show that 49% of the documented 545 hydropower plants in Romania are located in Natura 2000 or other protected areas, 5% are located in water bodies with 'very good' ecological status, and another 12% in water bodies with 'good' ecological status and 'very good' hydromorphological status according to the EU Water Framework Directive. Second, we demonstrate that hydropower plants significantly impact fish populations in several ways, both in upstream and downstream reaches, e.g. by water abstraction, dam construction and other hydromorphological alterations. Following the construction of hydropower plants in headwater streams, trout (Salmo trutta fario) and bullhead (Cottus gobio) populations often disappeared completely, and only remained in 38% of the stream reaches either upstream or downstream of the respective hydropower plants. In conclusion, the significant environmental impacts of each individual hydropower plant combined with the large number of them as well as the relative lack of effort to mitigate environmental impacts together represent a significant threat to aquatic biodiversity in Romania. The impacts exerted by hydropower plants are often unjustifiable by public interest according to EU directives, as small hydropower plants account for only around 3% of Romania's total electricity production. Better availability and access to environmental monitoring data are needed, as this would greatly support the development of more integrative management approaches to Romanian rivers.
Impact of the ecological flow of some small hydropower plants on their energy production in Romania
Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 2020
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2013
The Paciência hydro power plant, located near the city of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais State - Brazil, was the scenario of many studies done in 2011-2012. These surveys were carried out in the scope of a project supported by CEMIG - electric utility responsible for the operation of the plant. The objective of this work is to present the results of the some studies conducted on the site, in particular those related to water quality and the existent benthic macroinvertebrate community, and the correlation of these parameters with the bottom discharge. The assessment of water quality showed the presence of critical levels of organic load in monitoring stations. The macrozoobenthic community found in the stations of the biomonitoring network reflected the conditions of water quality in this stretch of the Paraibuna River. The place was fairly poor in taxonomic variety and with excessive densities of a few taxonomic groups that are very resistant, characteristic of aquatic environments wit...
Water and Environment in Portugal: The Dammed and the Reborn
Book chapter in "The Portuguese Republic at One Hundred", Edited by Richard Herr and António Costa Pinto, published by the Portuguese Studies Program - Institute of European Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 2012. ISBN: 9780981933627, pp. 209-232.
Definition of ecological flows downstream of dams located in the South of Portugal: A new method
2008
One of the environmental issues related with the numerous dams of the Alqueva irrigation system (South of Portugal) was, and still is, the definition of the ecological regimes. Besides other features, those regimes must account for the extreme water scarcity that characterizes the region. For the 12 dams of the Alqueva system (either existing or new ones) several methods aimed at defining the ecological flows were applied. The comparison of the ecological flows thus predicted revealed the inadequacy of the different methods, suggesting the need for a new approach capable of providing comparable ecological flows under similar hydrologic constraints. In the previous scope a new method supported by hydrologic and hydraulic criteria was developed. The hydrologic criteria account for the water scarcity and for the temporal irregularity of the natural hydrologic regime and the hydraulic criteria, for the geometry of the cross sections and of the river reaches. The method is briefly described and the ecological flows achieved for 12 case studies are presented.
“Alqueva – a Water Project for the Sustainable Development of the Alentejo – Portugal”
2003
The socio-economic evolution and adverse climatic factors which have traditionally affected the Alentejo region in southern Portugal, in which special reference should be made to water shortages, explain the importance afforded to the resolution of this constraint with a view to preventing the region’s decline in a national and Community context. The adoption of the Alentejo Irrigation Plan in the fifties demonstrated the need to regularise the water resources of the basin of the River Guadiana, shared by both Portugal and Spain, as the source and strategic water reserve which would effectively ensure that the objective of guaranteeing public supply, downstream environmental flows and the generation of renewable energy would be achieved These aims were provided for by the construction of the Alqueva Dam and Hydroelectric Power Station and infrastructures associated with the Multipurpose Alqueva Project as a structuring development instrument for a significant zone of the Alentejo. T...
Hydroelectric towns in Portugal
2014
During the 20th century, the production of electricity by hydroelectric methods brought about dramatic modifications in the Portuguese landscape. This paper looks at the work produced by architect Januário Godinho between 1945 and 1964 for the Cávado Hydroelectric Company (HICA), and his design on different levels for the hydroelectric complex on the Cávado River, located in the inland region of Trás-os-Montes in the north of Portugal. HICA and the architecture of Januário Godinho addresses the relationship between technological development and structural conception, and the use of design on a largescale landscape to overcome the limits of 'modern architecture'. The disproportionate nexus of scale between the operation itself, the obsession of the Portuguese political body and the ethnographic interests of the intellectuals created a clash that may bring about a new understanding of the facts when looked at in relation to the debate on contemporary planning. Located at a great distance from major cities, very difficult to get to and with very few, if any, resources available, the structures built by HICA necessitated the creation of a series of small, brand-new urban settlements. New settings were designed, which fell somewhere between the two apparently opposed worlds of the village and the hydroelectric power station. Places with economic, social and cultural dimensions such as houses, schools, churches and other social areas coexisted with workplaces, dams, hydroelectric power stations and control centres. The mixed nature of these activities, which were superimposed on the previously existing low-income agricultural structure, created original landscapes as well as an alternative approach to understanding Portuguese postwar architecture. The methods used to produce this landscape of infrastructure were plain: political will supported by technical knowledge, resulting in the creation of a layout in which a cultural approach would inform the design. But if we are asking two apparently neutral questions, a third very simple one also emerges. What did the landscape of Cávado look like before the construction process began? How did the technicians and architects bring about its transformation? If we take a look at the architectural production that emerged there, the answer does not seem clear. The question, then, is: what were the models used in the production of this landscape? Can they be found in the midst of the postwar architectural debate?