ARRN International Forum 2009

6th International Forum on Waterfront and Watershed Restoration
29 September 2009 (Asian River Restoration Network)

Progress of Ri
RivererRestoration in China
Sun Dongya
China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (IWHR)
sundy@iwhr.com

ARRN International Forum 2009

Contents
1 Introduction
2NNationaltil policyli andd regulations
l ti
offMinistries
3 Progress in river restoration
theories and technologies
4 Typical cases of river conservation
and restoration
5 Conclusive remarks
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1 Introduction

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1 Introduction
50,000Rivernumber

1,500

3079

Total river length:g430,000 km

watershedarea (km2) >100

>1000

>10,000

Total area of lakes: 80,000 km2
Total area of wetlands : 38,485,500 hm2

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1 Introduction Water problems
120

River resourrces
exploitation level％

101
100
76

80

Reasonable exploitation

60

53
40

40
20

19llevell
1741

16

17

10区
区
区
区
区
区
区
区
区
区
河江河河河河江 诸河江 诸河诸花辽海黄淮
长珠南南
北松东
西
西

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ARRN International Forum 20092 National policy andregulation of Ministry2009-10-9

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ARRN International Forum 20092 National policy and regulation of Ministry

Scientific concept of development

Ecological civilization

New thoughts for water resourcesmanagement
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Water Law of PRC(2002)
With respect to the exploitation, utilization…… ofwatert resources ……, planninglishouldh ld beb carriedi d out:
tin a comprehensive and systematic mannerwith all aspects being taken into accountwith emphases on multiple purpose uses
to allow full play to the multiple functions
off watert resources
rational allocation among domestic, industrial
and ecological waterater users
sers

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Water Law of PRC(2002)
In the process of making planning of thepand …… of water resource,,
exploitation

maintaini t i a reasonable
bl flow
floff rivers
imaintain reasonable water level of lakes,reservoirs and groundwatergmaintain the natural purification capacity ofwater bodies

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ARRN International Forum 2009

Environment Impact Assessment Law of PRC(2003)• to analyze, estimate and assess theenvironment impacts possibly caused byplanned or constructed projects• to propose countermeasure to preventor alleviate adverse environment
impacts• environment impact assessment
should be conducted on relevant
planning of land utilization andexploitation planning of regions,watersheds and sea areas
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China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research10ARRN International Forum 20092 National policy and regulation of Ministry
Regulations of Ministries

Ministry of Water Resources(MWP)
Ministry of Environment Protection(MEP)

wetlands conservation

protection of special fish resources

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Regulations of Ministries － MWR
2004.9Wang Shucheng
2004
MWR

MWR

2009-10-9

2000-

River basin commission should become
the pprolocutor of rivers to maintain thehealthy life of rivers

Some Opinions
SO i iaboutb tA
Aquaticti EEcosystemtConservation and Restoration

Ten pilot projects for aquatic ecosystemconservation and restorationlate 1990s

Emergency water diversion

2008.12

Statement of planning tasks for Aquatic
Ecosystem Conservation and Restoration ofMain Rivers and Lakes in China

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Regulations of Ministries － MEP
LettingL
tti rivers
iandd llakes
k restt iin peace andd rehabilitate
h bilit tthemselves
Guidelines for the Plan on the Protection and Utilizationof National Resources of Biological Species
Guidelines for the Plan on National Key Ecological
Functional Protected Areas
National Ecological Regionalization

Policy of total amount control2009-10-9

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Main natural conservation regions
China had established 2358 nature conservation regions of various types and grades.
The total area of conservation regions has amounted to 148,943,000 hm2

Changbaishan

Qinghaihu
Qglake birds

Zhalong Wetland
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Dafeng elk

Sichuan panda

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Policy of total amount control of pollutants

COD concentrationof key sections in
the first quarter of2005-2009¾ chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration isdecreased from 2005 to 2009 because of the policy
pyof total amount control .
¾ By 2010, 70 percent of urban sewage will beprocessed before being discharged and COD will
drop by 10Chinapercent
from the 2005 level.
Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research

ARRN International Forum 2009

Regulations of Ministries －wetlands conservation

1992: acceded to the Convention on Wetlands ofInternational Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat
1992:six Chinese wetlands became the first set ofi tinternational
til iimportantt t wetlands
tl d2000 Chinese
2000:ChiW
Wetlands
tl d CConservationti A
Actionti
2006: The first national wetland resources survey

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5 types:
Eastnorthwetland

 Coastal
Cwetlands,
 River wetlands,

Mengxingwetland Lake wetlands, Swamp wetlands,

QingzangQi
altiplano wetland

 Reservoir andYangtze Riverdownstream wetland

ponds
d wetlandstl d(constructed

Yungui altiplanowetlandCoastalwetlandwetlands)

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Main international important wetlands 36 natural conservation
regions are listed ininternational importantwetlands table ofRamsar Convention

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Regulations of Ministries － Aim：To take into account both hydropower exploitation and the protection
off specificifi fifish
h resources National nature reserve for precious, rare and endemic fish species in theupper
pp YangtzegRiver was established in Aprilp of 2005
 The nature reserves are divided into core, buffer and experimental zones.

白鲟达氏鲟Acipenser dabryanusPsephurus gladius

长薄鳅
薄鳅胭脂鱼

Leptobotia elongata

Myxocyprinus asiaticus

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3 Progress in river restoration
ththeoriesi andd technologies
t h l i2009-10-9

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Stresses of HydraulicyProjects
jon River Ecosystemy2009-10-9

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3.1 Stress mechanism of hydraulic engineering on river ecosystem andriver restoration models
Stresses of Hydraulic Projects onRiver Ecosystem

Channelizationof Natural river

Water diversion
Wdiiprojects

Stresses on the area alongg
the divversion chhannel

China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower ResearchStressses on waateracquiisition areea

Stressses on waater sourrce
area

Laterral discon
ntinuitybecau
use of dik
keconsttruction

Discoontinuity along rivverflow directiondnImperrmeable revetmen
rnt

Regullarized cross-secttion

Straigghtening
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Discontinuity ofNatural river

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3.1 Stress mechanism of hydraulic engineering on river ecosystem andriver restoration models
Holistic model of river ecosystem
structures and functions

River restoration

4-dimension continuum model for
structure and function of ecosystem
Ecological water demand
3-D spatial Continuity

River evolvement history
Restoration of riverconnectivity

Coupling model of hydrologicalregime- ecological process
Ecological operations ofreservoirs
Environmental flow

Flood pulse

Coupling model of spatial heterogeneity ofmorphologicalh l i l landscapel dandd theth diversity
diitof biological community

Meandering
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Increase of spatial
heterogeneity of habitat

Diversity ofcross-section

Permeability and porosity ofrevetment material

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 Long-Term Ecological Effects of Large
Dams on the Important Living Resources
Effect degree, characteristics and area

Important living resources and protection strategy

Method of sustainable utility of water resources andliving resources

Research objectives
Large dams

Impact area

Important living resources

NutrientThreeGorges
ProjectandGezhouba
Project

Three Gorges

Food net

Yangtze river
downstream

Acipenser sinensis

Yangtze river
estuary

Four carps
Coreius guichenoti

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3 2 Ecological water demand
3.2

Liu Changming（1999）

Yan Denghua（2007）

Lian Yu（2008）

2009-10-9

fd theh principles
i i l off
• put forwardbalances in four aspects•worked out the framework to study
ecological water demand under water
use competition• adopting the principle andmethodology of landscape ecology• established the models to assess
environmental water demand of theYellow River Delta

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3 3 River health assessment
3.3

Healthy life of the river¾ no dyke breaches¾ no depletion¾ no pollution exceeding thestandards
Yangtze River¾ no rising of the riverbed

Pearl River
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Yellow River

Taihu Lake

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3 4 Ecological effect of flood pulse
3.4Water Level
(m)

Yidu

46

Spawning records
4544

Jianli43 31

Guangji
42 30 23

41 29 2240 28 2127 20

26 191817

Month.date 4.30

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5.10

5.20

5.30

6.10

6.20

6.30

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3.5 Adaptive management of river restorationTo modify and improvethe design

Coordination among
stakeholders
Public participation

Mechanism in revising
design scheme

Multi-discipline
cooperation

To set up targets

Fuzzy evaluation

Targets
Differences
Planning anddesign scheme ofriver restoration

ImplementationRiRiver
ecosyste(interfere)m status

information
exportM th d off minimum
Methodi ivariance

Hydrologicalevaluationl ti

Water quality
monitoring

physicochemicalevaluation

Geomorphologicalmonitoring
Biologicalmonitoring
gicalmonitoring

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Targetdifference
evaluation
systemHydrologicalmonitoring
it iData uppdating

Monitoringsystem

Expert experiences

Condition
evaluation
systemGeomorphologic
al evaluation

Biologicalevaluation

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4 Typical cases of riverconservation and restoration

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Water diversion to the Yellow River delta

Aims

stabilize and expand theestuarine wetland, improve thewetland ecosystem and protect
the biodiversityy

Activity

13.56 Mm3 water had been
diverted to the Yellow Riverestuarine wetland

The water area in the wetland is increased.
Groundwater level is increased .
Effects

Coastal freshwater supplement is increased.
Appropriate runoff process can be produced .
Land reclamation process can be expedited .
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ARRN International Forum 2009

Integrated management of Tarim River basin 2001
2001~2006
2006,eighteight times
 from Bosten Lake to the lower reach ofTarim River the total water quantity: 22. 75 billion m3
 Length of restored segment: 360km

 2008 from Akesu River basin
 the total water quantity : 0.2 billion m3

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ARRN International Forum 2009The training of urban lake and river system
 Many cities of China have taken actions to make planningand practices on the environmental improvement of riversand lakes.
 Beijing, Shanghai, Guilin, Wuhan, etc.

Planningandddesignprinciples

2009-10-9¾maintaining its natural meandering
and width;¾Stones and wood-like concrete
piles;¾porous and pervious materials
and live vegetation for riverbank
protection and erosion control.

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Zhuanhe river environment improvement
pproject,p j , 20012001-2003
stone and watersightseeing

2009-10-9

riparian travel
corridorvegetated navigationand HydropowerchannelChina Institute of Water Resources
EcologicalparkResearch

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The training of urban lake and river system

奥林匹克公园龙型水系

 Olympicy p Dragon-shaped
gp Water systemyChina Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research

ARRN International Forum 2009

Ecological restoration of rural rivers
 Xinjiangtang River in Haining county in Zhejiang Province

Natural river form
Diverse cross-section
cross section
Diversity of aquatic habitat
Plant revetment
plants for landscapepDiverse penhancement

Benefits of traditional hydraulicprojects
Water quality improvement
Increase of biodiversity
Cost saving of 1 million Yuan/km


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5 Conclusive remarks
Water p
pollution control should be p
put in topppriority and then ecological restoration can berealized.
realized
The spatial and temporal scale issues need muchconcerns andd long-termlplanningli
i riverinib ibasin
scale should be carried out.
Monitoring and evaluation should be strengthened,
esp. the coupling monitoring of fluvial ecosystem
and river process.

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5 Conclusive remarks
 Studies
St di stilltill needd tto bbe conductedd t d iin projectj t planningli andd
operation technologies in order to achieve the objectives ofecologicali securities
i i off riveribasins.
i
 It is suggested to carry out planning, design, construction
and adaptive management of river training projects for thebenefits of ecological conservation and restoration.
 Related technical standards and regulations for theplanningpg and design
g of river restoration pprojects
jshould beworked out.

China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research