Environmental Flow Scenarios for a Regulated River System : Projecting Catchment-Wide Ecosystem Benefits and Consequences for Hydroelectric Production
To enable prioritization among measures for ecological restoration, knowing the expected benefits and consequences of implementation is imperative but rarely explicitly quantified. We developed a novel method to prioritize among environmental flow measures to rehabilitate ecosystems in the Ume River...
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Umeå universitet, Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och geovetenskap
2022
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Online Access: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-192267 https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR030297 |
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ftumeauniv:oai:DiVA.org:umu-192267 2023-10-09T21:54:37+02:00 Environmental Flow Scenarios for a Regulated River System : Projecting Catchment-Wide Ecosystem Benefits and Consequences for Hydroelectric Production Widén, Åsa Malm-Renöfält, Birgitta Degerman, Erik Wisaeus, Dag Jansson, Roland 2022 application/pdf http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-192267 https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR030297 eng eng Umeå universitet, Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och geovetenskap Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Institute of Freshwater Research, Drottningholm, Sweden AFRY, Stockholm, Sweden Water resources research, 0043-1397, 2022, 58:1, orcid:0000-0003-1767-7010 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-192267 doi:10.1029/2021WR030297 ISI:000751310200022 Scopus 2-s2.0-85123633958 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess consequences on electricity production cost-benefit analyses environmental benefits estimated by habitat hydropower optimization software regulated rivers and hydropower river restoration and environmental flow assessment at catchment level Environmental Sciences Miljövetenskap Ecology Ekologi Article in journal info:eu-repo/semantics/article text 2022 ftumeauniv https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR030297 2023-09-22T13:55:12Z To enable prioritization among measures for ecological restoration, knowing the expected benefits and consequences of implementation is imperative but rarely explicitly quantified. We developed a novel method to prioritize among environmental flow measures to rehabilitate ecosystems in the Ume River catchment in northern Sweden, a river system heavily regulated for hydropower production. Our strategy was to identify measures with minimal impact on hydropower production while providing substantial environmental benefits. Based on field surveys of remaining natural values and potential for ecological rehabilitation, we quantified the projected gain in habitat area of implementing environmental flows for target organism groups, for example, lotic fish species and riparian vegetation, along the whole river length. We quantified the consequences for hydropower production by identifying a set of hydropower operational rules reflecting the constraints added by environmental flows. We then used production optimization software to calculate changes in hydropower production and revenues. Implementing restrictions on zero-flow events by mandating minimum discharge at all run-of-river hydropower stations and allocating 1%–12% of mean annual discharge to bypassed reaches in the entire catchment would result in a 2.1% loss of annual electricity production. Adding flow to fishways would increase the loss to 3.1% per year. With implementation of more natural water-level fluctuations in run-of-river impoundments, the loss increases to 3.8%. These actions would increase the habitat for lotic species like the grayling Thymallus more than threefold and increase the area of riparian vegetation by about 66%. Our method forms a basis for ongoing implementation of nationwide environmental rehabilitation schemes. Originally included in thesis in manuscript form. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northern Sweden Umeå University: Publications (DiVA) Water Resources Research 58 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Umeå University: Publications (DiVA) |
op_collection_id |
ftumeauniv |
language |
English |
topic |
consequences on electricity production cost-benefit analyses environmental benefits estimated by habitat hydropower optimization software regulated rivers and hydropower river restoration and environmental flow assessment at catchment level Environmental Sciences Miljövetenskap Ecology Ekologi |
spellingShingle |
consequences on electricity production cost-benefit analyses environmental benefits estimated by habitat hydropower optimization software regulated rivers and hydropower river restoration and environmental flow assessment at catchment level Environmental Sciences Miljövetenskap Ecology Ekologi Widén, Åsa Malm-Renöfält, Birgitta Degerman, Erik Wisaeus, Dag Jansson, Roland Environmental Flow Scenarios for a Regulated River System : Projecting Catchment-Wide Ecosystem Benefits and Consequences for Hydroelectric Production |
topic_facet |
consequences on electricity production cost-benefit analyses environmental benefits estimated by habitat hydropower optimization software regulated rivers and hydropower river restoration and environmental flow assessment at catchment level Environmental Sciences Miljövetenskap Ecology Ekologi |
description |
To enable prioritization among measures for ecological restoration, knowing the expected benefits and consequences of implementation is imperative but rarely explicitly quantified. We developed a novel method to prioritize among environmental flow measures to rehabilitate ecosystems in the Ume River catchment in northern Sweden, a river system heavily regulated for hydropower production. Our strategy was to identify measures with minimal impact on hydropower production while providing substantial environmental benefits. Based on field surveys of remaining natural values and potential for ecological rehabilitation, we quantified the projected gain in habitat area of implementing environmental flows for target organism groups, for example, lotic fish species and riparian vegetation, along the whole river length. We quantified the consequences for hydropower production by identifying a set of hydropower operational rules reflecting the constraints added by environmental flows. We then used production optimization software to calculate changes in hydropower production and revenues. Implementing restrictions on zero-flow events by mandating minimum discharge at all run-of-river hydropower stations and allocating 1%–12% of mean annual discharge to bypassed reaches in the entire catchment would result in a 2.1% loss of annual electricity production. Adding flow to fishways would increase the loss to 3.1% per year. With implementation of more natural water-level fluctuations in run-of-river impoundments, the loss increases to 3.8%. These actions would increase the habitat for lotic species like the grayling Thymallus more than threefold and increase the area of riparian vegetation by about 66%. Our method forms a basis for ongoing implementation of nationwide environmental rehabilitation schemes. Originally included in thesis in manuscript form. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Widén, Åsa Malm-Renöfält, Birgitta Degerman, Erik Wisaeus, Dag Jansson, Roland |
author_facet |
Widén, Åsa Malm-Renöfält, Birgitta Degerman, Erik Wisaeus, Dag Jansson, Roland |
author_sort |
Widén, Åsa |
title |
Environmental Flow Scenarios for a Regulated River System : Projecting Catchment-Wide Ecosystem Benefits and Consequences for Hydroelectric Production |
title_short |
Environmental Flow Scenarios for a Regulated River System : Projecting Catchment-Wide Ecosystem Benefits and Consequences for Hydroelectric Production |
title_full |
Environmental Flow Scenarios for a Regulated River System : Projecting Catchment-Wide Ecosystem Benefits and Consequences for Hydroelectric Production |
title_fullStr |
Environmental Flow Scenarios for a Regulated River System : Projecting Catchment-Wide Ecosystem Benefits and Consequences for Hydroelectric Production |
title_full_unstemmed |
Environmental Flow Scenarios for a Regulated River System : Projecting Catchment-Wide Ecosystem Benefits and Consequences for Hydroelectric Production |
title_sort |
environmental flow scenarios for a regulated river system : projecting catchment-wide ecosystem benefits and consequences for hydroelectric production |
publisher |
Umeå universitet, Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och geovetenskap |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-192267 https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR030297 |
genre |
Northern Sweden |
genre_facet |
Northern Sweden |
op_relation |
Water resources research, 0043-1397, 2022, 58:1, orcid:0000-0003-1767-7010 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-192267 doi:10.1029/2021WR030297 ISI:000751310200022 Scopus 2-s2.0-85123633958 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR030297 |
container_title |
Water Resources Research |
container_volume |
58 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1779318268650061824 |