达赉湖从海拉尔河“引河济湖”水工程

该工程计划从海拉尔引水到达赉湖（图片见达乌尔全球200生态区域）。

正常状态下，海拉尔河的水从东流向西，在离达赉湖北边20km处拐向东北。海拉尔河从此处开始被叫做额尔古纳河（中国名）或者阿共河（俄罗斯名），并形成中俄的边界。计划开凿的河道，每年从海拉尔河引走大约10亿立方米的水。河道的实际流量速度是70立方米/秒，而在引水处海拉尔-额尔古纳河的平均流量速度是117立方米/秒。因此，河道引走的水量占到了河水总量的大部分。

在过去的五到六年中，达赉湖的水量下降，大部分的原因是因为雨量的减少，导致湖水水位下降，湖水面积和整体水量减少。这次引水工程声称其将遏制这几年雨量减少对湖边生态环境造成的影响，特别是希望能够减少草地过度盐碱化，降低湖水过营养化和控制草地退化。支持者还希望高水位能够给达赉湖低迷的渔业带来新的希望，并为4万头牲口和2千公顷打草场的灌溉提供水源。还有一个相关的引水项目，是从达赉湖中引水12%作为中俄边界城市满洲里的城市用水。我们相信另有其它相关的水利项目及用途，而媒体并没有披露，如一些想利用或正在利用达赉湖水的煤矿对这个水利项目感兴趣。

最明显的是项目对海拉尔河-额尔古纳河下游的生态环境的影响。额尔古纳河是黑龙江流域一条较脆弱的分支，相对多水年份的年总流量60亿立方米，而缺水年份的年总流量仅有15亿立方米。和达赉湖一样，从2001年开始，额尔古纳河的年流入水量也减少到了只有15亿到17亿立方米。从作为界河处开始，直到黑山头根河的注入口，近300km的距离内，这条河并没有其它支流汇入。不难想象，每年从这样一条河里引走10亿立方米的水对下游会造成多大的影响。

对额尔古纳河的河道、河漫滩、沼泽湿地以及河湾的考察显示，这是全球范围内一个重要的迁徙水鸟落脚点。同时也是全球东亚－澳大利亚鸟类迁徙通道大陆支线达乌尔狭口的一部分。每年春、秋大约有一至两百万只鸟聚集在此。这里还是一个对某些珍稀濒危鸟类十分重要的地方，关系到IUCN红色名录上的19种鸟类。该地记录了从全球范围看都属于数量巨大的鸿雁、丹顶鹤、大鸨、红胸滨鹬、 阔嘴鹬、豆雁、大天鹅、赤膀鸭和针尾鸭等鸟类种群。大部分额尔古纳中游的考察工作都是由边界另一边俄方的欧雷戈-格拉许卡博士带领进行的。根据他的考察结果，整个额尔古纳中游湿地群都符合拉姆萨国际公约的标准：1a、1c、2a、2c、3a、3c(格拉许卡,2006)以及IBA(国际鸟类区域)的标准：a4(i)、a4(ii)、 a4(iii)、 a4(iv)。调查结果显示，在干旱季节，达乌尔地区的大部分鸟类需要依靠额尔古纳河的湿地生态环境生存。

我们相信这个项目将极大的破坏额尔古纳河沿岸湿地的质量，并将很难为如此大量的珍惜水鸟和无以计数的其它物种提供生存环境。在缺水时期的引水将会对下游造成灾难性的破坏：导致下游水量急剧减少、地下水位下降，漫滩湿地保水性减退并干燥、许多浅水湿地的消失，而且很有可能影响沉积从而改变河道。即使设计引水达年总量的30%也会导致下游在夏天的雨季没有足够水量漫过河岸形成河漫滩和沼泽湿地，湿地的大量水泡子也会很快的干涸。这个项目将对下游二卡湿地造成直接的影响。但有关部门提出一旦河道修好，就会开展监测以解决这个问题。很明显，这不是一个能让人满意的回答。其它相关的文件都很明确地指出，必须在河道开挖之前评估该项目对二卡及额尔古纳河其它下游地区的影响。

另一个潜在影响是改变达赉湖的水文变化。资料显示，达乌尔地区经历着30年一次 “多雨到少雨”的气候变化大周期。现在我们正处于一个少雨低水的阶段，并且会持续到2010年，之后达赉湖的水位又会重新涨起来。现在的事实是，我们不知道人为的保持水位——失去那种自然的干与湿交替的循环，将会对达赉湖的生态造成怎样的影响。不过，我们至少知道达赉湖和达乌尔地区其它的湖一样，它们也经历着干与湿的交替，很多湖在干旱季节都是消失的。

除此以外，海拉尔河的水污染较严重，周围有许多造纸厂和其它工厂。这对达赉湖的生态、渔业来说将是很大的威胁。

        评估和申请：

        1、较早时候，项目申请获得了呼伦贝尔市政府批准。

        2、2006年4-5月，由内蒙古环保局主持进行了环境影响评估，但到目前为止并没有将结果透露给达赉湖国家自然保护区、三边达乌尔国际保护区域等各方作正式的讨论与研究。但通过媒体和网络的报道来看，我们猜测这份环境影响评估报告具有非常大的偏见。

        3、到2007年1月1日为止，国家环保局还没有下最后的审批通过文件，但已经有支持该计划的迹象，而该项目很可能只在等省里的资金和规划方案。

        对整个达乌尔保护区域下游的影响：

 1、在根河及其它小的支流与额尔古纳河交汇处的额尔古纳市省级湿地自然保护区将会受到这次引水工程的很大影响。

2、引水工程将会对处于额尔古纳河中游的二卡区域造成更为严重的后果。

The proposal is to divert water from the Hailaer River to Dalai Lake (see the attached map of Dauria Global 200 ecoregion). Ordinarily, the water of the Hailaer River flows from east to west before turning north-east about 20 km north of Dalai Lake. At this point, the Hailaer River becomes the Eerguna (Chinese name) or Argun (Russian name) River and forms the Chinese-Russian border in this area. The proposed canal would divert an annual volume of approximately 1 cubic km of water to Dalai Lake per year. Actual flow capacity of the canal is 70 cubic meters per second, while average flow of Argun-Hailaer River at the construction point is 117 meters per second, therefore the canal potentially might divert a much greater volume than stated.

Over the last five to six years, Dalai Lake has held a reduced volume of water due largely to low rainfall, which resulted in lowering water level, lake area and overall volume. The reasoning given for the diversion of water to the lake is to protect this environment from the assumed negative impacts of these low rainfall years. In particular it is expected to arrest further salinization, reduce eutrophication, prevent dessication of adjacent grasslands, etc. The proponents also expect that higher water levels will help replenish diminishing fish stocks in Dalai Lake, provide water for 40 000 livestock and 2000 hectares of irrigated hayfields. An associated project will use 12% of diverted water to supply the municipal needs of Manzhouli City – the major crossing at the Russian-China border. We believe that there are also other projected uses of water not quoted in press, for example by other settlements, or this project may be attractive to mining interests who use the water of Dalai Lake in their operations [U1] .

Potential Impacts:  

The most obvious potential impacts are on the downstream habitat of the Hailaer-Eerguna River system. The Eerguna (Argun) River is a relatively fragile branch of the Amur-Heilong River catchment with a total annual flow of between 1.5 cubic km in low rainfall years and 6 cubic km in high rainfall years[U2] (only in 2004 flow was about 3.0 cubic km). Similar to Dalai Lake it has had reduced annual inflow of 1.5-1.7 cubic kilometers since 2001. The river does not have any significant tributaries for at least 300 kilometers from the point it comes to the border to the mouth of Gen River at Heishantou-Priargunsk border crossing. It does not take great imagination to see that the removal of 1 cubic km of water from this system per year is likely to have significant downstream impacts.

Surveys of the waterways, floodplains, marshes and oxbows of the Eerguna valley have found the area is a globally important stop-over site of many migratory waterbird species and is part of the Daurian bottle-neck site of the continental branch of the global East Asian-Australasian Flyway. About 1-2 million birds gather there every spring and autumn. It is also an important area for rare bird species, supporting 19 IUCN Red List bird species. Internationally significant populations of Swan Goose, Red-crowned Crane, Great Bustard, Red-necked Stint, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Bean Goose, Tundra Swan, Gadwall and Northern Pintail have been recorded in the area. Most work done in the Eerguna Midflow has been lead by Dr. Oleg Goroshko on the Russian side of the border. According to him, the whole Eerguna-midflow wetland cluster meets Ramsar criteria: 1a,1c,2a,2c,3a,3c (Goroshko 2006) and criteria for international IBA: a4(i), a4(ii), a4(iii), a4(iv). It is listed as IBA#57[U3]  in the latest IBAs of Asia list, in the Russian section.

We believe that the proposed action is extremely likely to decrease the quality of the wetlands along the Eerguna River to the point that they no longer provide viable habitat for large populations of waterbirds and numerous other species that rely on wetland habitat. As you understand, diversion in low-flow period will result in drastically reduced flow downstream, leading to lowering of water tables, reduced water retention and desiccation of floodplain wetlands, dissapearance of many shallow water habitats, likely change in sedimantation and channel formation patterns. Proposed diversion of up to 30% of annual average flow may also leave the downstream stretch without sufficient flow during the high rainfall period in summer, the river will not break its banks to inundate the floodplains and marshes and the bulk of the wetlands will simply dry out.

The other possible set of impacts relates to potential impacts from altering the natural high volume-low volume cycle of Dalai Lake. It has been shown that the Dauria area experiences 30-year climatic cycles of high rainfall-low rainfall years. At the moment, we are in a low rainfall period that is not expected to end until 2010 at which time the water levels of Dalai Lake will rise again. The point is that, while the proponents of the project are advocating the environmental merits of the project for the lake, the truth is that we do not know how this artificial stabilization of lake water levels and loss of the wet-dry cycle will affect the ecology of Dalai Lake. However, we do know that this lake is not dissimilar with all other brackish lakes of Dauria, which periodically dry out naturally The regional biota is adapted to such a natural cycle. This was studied on similar large Torey lakes in Daursky Biosphere Reserve, Russia, and on smaller lakes of the steppes, and at least for fish there is an evidence of higher productivity of such “pulsating” water bodies, if compared with spring-fed lakes with stable water level in the same region. Given hasty project preparation it is unlikely that proper ecosystem studies have been done at Dalai Lake prior to the project.  In the absence of such knowledge, a precautionary approach should be taken, particularly given the acknowledged importance of Dalai Lake as a National Nature Reserve, component Reserve of the Dauria International Protected Area, Ramsar site, UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserve, International IBA and Important Shorebird Site of Wetland International’s Shorebird Site Network, North East Asian Crane Network Site.

Another grave concern is that the Hailaer waters are highly polluted by all major settlements and industries of Hulunbeier prefecture to a point that has necessitated the formation of a special international Russian-Chinese commission in 2003. Favorable influence of such water on the Dalai Lake ecosystem, fisheries, etc. is highly unlikely, and quick deterioration of hydrobiological system due to massive influx of new pollutants and pathogens is very probable. 

-         Assessment and approvals:

1.      The project has already received approval from the Hulunbeier Prefecture Government.

2.      Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was handled by Inner Mongolia EPA in April-May 2006, but so far its result has not been formally discussed and disclosed to Dalai Lake Reserve, let alone international commissions on Eerguna River and the trilateral Dauria International Protected Area. However some reports in the press and internet make us believe that a heavily biased EIA report was used in their preparation.

3.      The National Government has not yet given its final approval but has shown signs that it is leaning towards supporting the proposal. As of January 1 2007, the project most likely only awaits approval of the State Planning and Reform Commission (Jiwei).

-         Downstream impacts on Protected Areas:

1.      The Eerguna Wetland Provincial Nature Reserve, on the confluence of the Gen and Eerguna Rivers will be profoundly impacted by the proposed water diversion.

2.      Diversion will have even greater impact on Erka municipal nature reserve and Huliyetu district-level wetland nature reserve, lying in Erguna Midflow between the project site and Gen River mouth.

-         Water Quality and Equality of Access to Resources: The project will reduce water available for human use, fisheries and pollution dilution further downstream, which will negatively affect the well-being of the already economically depressed districts of Xinbaerhu, Chenbaerhu and Erguna in China and Krasnokamensk and Priaargunsk in Russia. Eerguna River is the only sizable source of water all the way to the Gen River mouth, and presently without any project there are already issues of water resources deterioration affecting local people.

-         The proposed project will be damaging to China-Russia relations and bi-lateral co-operation on conservation matters, particularly since:

1.      There is an existing agreement between Inner Mongolia and Russia to protect the waters, biodiversity and landscapes of Eerguna River, and

2.      Russia is in the final planning stages for the development of a Nature Reserve along the Argun River between Abagaitui and Heishantou.

-         The proposed project also has negative implications for wider regional nature-conservation and resource-use processes:

1.      So far, research staff of the trilateral Mongolian-Chinese-Russian Dauria Nature Reserve has no official information on the project, and this important trilateral mechanism of monitoring and protecting biodiversity in the Daurian Global 200 ecoregion has not been used to analyze possible consequences and ways to avoid them. If the project is implemented it will decrease the chances of DIPA reserve network expansion into the Erguna Midflow, which had been discussed as a very likely development.

2.      Plans to form a trilateral international biosphere reserve also are likely to be reevaluated if such a project is implemented, as are plans for the first tri-lateral World Heritage Site nomination in the Dauria region. The same issues relate to the projected establishment of a bilateral Ramsar site (and trilateral Ramsar complex), since the Erguna(Argun) Midflow definitely meets Ramsar criteria and three adjacent  areas in DIPA are already Ramsar sites.

3.      The project presents a classic example of introducing inappropriate engineering solutions to deal with natural water scarcity, instead of adopting sustainable land-use strategy adapted to regional ecological conditions. If implemented it will trigger similar efforts to divert Kherlen and other rivers in Mongolia and will fully preclude the three countries from establishing a coordinated, equitable and ecologically-sound water use regime in the Amur River headwaters.

4.      Since important migratory routes are affected, negative consequences for various species populations are possible in many remote areas (even in Australia).

WHAT SHOULD BE DONE

1)Domestic and international environmental organizations and experts should address State Environmental Protection Agency of China (SEPA) with request to disclose results of EIA and postpone implementation of water transfer project until comprehensive evaluation of its ecological impacts on:

-         Argun/Eerguna River aquatic ecosystem;

-         Argun/Eerguna River midflow wetland hydrology and ecology;

-         Populations of globally endangered species and important migratory bird habitat in Daurian ecoregion;

-         Dalai lake freshwater biology and role of long-term draught cycles in sustaining its ecosystem

-         Impact of polluted Hailaer River waters on downstream ecosystems, including Argun/Eerguna River midflow and Dalai lake.

2) Similar appeals should be forwarded to the Government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Hulunbeier Prefecture.

3) Appeals should be forwarded to China’s Ministry of Water Conservation calling for halting the water transfer project until scientifically valid sufficient volume of ecological flow is determined for downstream ecosystems of Argun-Erguna River. This ecological flow (differing between seasons and years depending on climate patterns) is essential to secure to retain unique wetland ecosystems of Argun River midflow. Since Argun is a transboundary river, Russian side should be properly involved in determining this flow.

4) Publications in domestic and international press are urgently needed to draw attention to this acute but poorly known problem. This is also needed to confront and balance two years of propaganda efforts by Prefecture Water Bureau that presented this project as the only way to “save Dalai Lake”, “restore wetlands”, etc. the sad fact is that in Hulunbeier prefecture and beyond both officials and lay people are honestly convinced that the project is very beneficial for region’s nature, while in fact it severely threatens key ecosystem processes. (2004-2006 articles and papers from internet available on request in Chinese and Russian translation from E.Simonov-Ximeng).

5)The case Argun river shows that preservation of globally important biodiversity of Daurian ecoregion requires effective cooperation between China, Mongolia and Russia and urgent development of water management agreements and coordinated policies that ensure sustainable development in this fragile ecosystem. Expertise and mediation of international organizations will be very much needed in assisting development of such agreements and policies.

http://www.weforum.com.cn/model/works/w053.htm

http://www.sepa.gov.cn/info/gw/huanhan/200604/t20060421_78179.htm

http://www.nmgnews.com.cn/hm/article/20050419/50522_1.html

http://corp.dnc.cn/com/sohozyh/ns_detail.php?id=6551&nowmenuid=9165&cpath=&catid=0

http://www.mzlnews.com.cn

For additional information please contact

oleggoroshko@mail.ru

Eugene Simonov.

Haerbin North-East Forestry University. Ph.D.candidate.

Amur-Heilong  Programme consultant. WWF

Tel  86-13936260032

esimonovster@gmail.com