LA RIVIERE SHILKA (SOURCE DU FLEUVE AMOUR) ET SA VALLEE MENACEES PAR UN PROJET DE BARRAGE VIEUX DE PLUSIEURS DECENNIES QUI RESSORT DES CARTONS CONTRE TOUTE LOGIQUE. MISE EN LUMIERE DE PERSPECTIVES PARTICULIEREMENT DESASTREUSES D'UN TEL PROJET, DIGNE DES PLUS CALAMITEUX DU XXEME SIECLE. SEMAINE D'ACTION DU 14 AU 22 MARS (WWF RUSSIA, CE JOUR).
"20 years ago, the project Shilkinskoy HPS was considered the most inefficient possible in the Amur basin - and not only environmentalists, but also specialists "Soyuzintervoda" and "Lengidroproekt.This target was not included in the recommended number of Russian-Chinese commission on water resources of the Amur. However, the project is the 50s of last century trying to revive again, just to get investment from China, contrary to the interests of nature and local people ", - said PhD, Director of WWF Russia Amur branch Yuri Darman, co-chair of scientific and public Council Coordinating Committee on Sustainable Development of the Amur basin.
The motto of the actions of the Week of Action in defense of the river Shilka will be a tough sentence: "Shilka - the source of the Amur River, the death of the Shilka - Death of Cupid." What now threatens Shilka, the source of the most affluent of the great rivers of Asia, which, in essence, is the beginning of the main channel of the Amur River and provides nearly two-thirds of the flow at the confluence with the Argun?
In June 2011 the company En + / Evrosibenergo and the largest hydropower Corporation of China "Yangtze Power" announced plans to build the Trans-Siberian (Shilkinskoy) hydropower plant in the lower reaches of the river Shilka.
February 18, 2012 at a round table in Krasnoyarsk Valery Rudnev, director of the Krasnoyarsk branch of JSC "Siberian ENTC," said that by the order of "EuroSibEnergo" they are preparing the documentation for the Trans-Siberian (Shilkinskoy) HPS and develop a declaration of intent necessary to justify the investment in construction. And despite the fact that the Trans-Siberian (Shilkinskaya) HPS is not officially included in any energy program in Russia, nor in the program of socio-economic development of the Far East and Transbaikal region, nor in the Scheme of complex use and protection of water bodies Amur basin.
On the tributaries of the Amur river - rivers See and Bureya already built hydro, and their influence affects many hundreds of kilometers downstream: floodplain dries, disappearing lakes and spawning grounds. At WWF developed a simple and reliable method of basin-wide analysis calculated that the specific damage to the ecosystem of the Amur basin hydropower plant in the lower reaches of the Shilka is about 2.3 times worse on indicators of environmental impacts per kilowatt-hour than the existing and the Zeya hydroelectric Bureyskaya.In comparison with those considered by WWF in the Amur basin hydroelectric project 55, the Trans-Siberian (Shilkinskaya) HPS is among the ten worst both in absolute and in terms of specific indicators of environmental impacts.
First, hydroelectric dam blocks a further 10% of the Amur basin, blocking the migration routes of fish and other organisms, sediment runoff, and a communication channel for the main tributary of the Amur.
Second, in the lower reaches of the reservoir will be created Shilka area of 500 square kilometers, flooding has mastered the pioneers of the valley farmland and historic villages. It will increase another 17% of the existing area of artificial seas.
Third, the flow control will lead to additional loss of 3% of all flood-lands of the Amur, with a heavy blow on the mountain will have the Upper Amur, where you will lose up to 50% of original verhneamurskih floodplain ecosystems, whose total area is very limited.
Creation of the Trans-Siberian hydropower plant will cause the accumulation of contaminants in the reservoir and the subsequent secondary pollution of the Upper Amur. The dam in the lower reaches of the Shilka undermine recent populations of valuable species of fish not only in the vicinity of the reservoir, but also in the pool Shilka in general, and in 10-20 years will be depleted fish stocks up to the cross-border Onon, where touristic fishing today is an important source of income of the Mongolian population. Subject to flooding in the valley of the Shilka - is also a major migration corridor for the enrichment of the Far Eastern and Siberian flora and fauna, the habitat of rare species for the Trans-Baikal.
From the perspective of WWF, the environmental costs of this project extremely high. and implementation of its projects is not allowed on a par with the main channel of the Amur. After construction of the facility the total environmental impact of Russian hydro on tributaries of the Amur to grow by 50%, while total production of electricity will increase by only 17% -20%.
The Coordinating Committee on Sustainable Development of the Amur River basin in September 2011 gave a sharply negative assessment on the idea of hydro Shilka. The Committee proposed the deletion of the Trans-Siberian hydroelectric power station from the list of planned construction of hydroelectric power. This is associated with risks to the Amur basin as a whole, and the downstream regions, in particular.
The scientists and the public, students and pupils of the Trans-Baikal Territory, the Amur region, Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai and Primorye begin "A week of action in defense of the Shilka. We demand not to include the Trans-Siberian (Shilkinskuyu) hydroelectric power development plans and to stop the development of feasibility studies for investment in construction. This idea is supported by trade unions of the Khabarovsk Territory and Amur Region.
