HR: 1330h
AN: NB33G-01    [Abstracts]
TI: The downstream effect of hydropower release in an Alpine glacial stream
AU: * Maiolini, B
EM: maiolini@mtsn.tn.it
AF: Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali, via Calepina, 14, Trento, Ita 38100 Italy
AU: Gumiero, B
EM: bruna.gumiero@unibo.it
AF: Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali, via Calepina, 14, Trento, Ita 38100 Italy
AU: Silveri, L
EM: luanasilveri@yahoo.it
AF: Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali, via Calepina, 14, Trento, Ita 38100 Italy
AB: Hydroelectric power production is highly important in Alpine areas and recent research has highlighted the ecological problems caused on river ecosystems, changing public opinion from a general approval of hydropower as "renewable and environmentally clean" to a more critical position. Most research has focused on the effects of water abstraction and dams, and less on water release in the channel from power plants. The aim of our work is to contribute to this scientific debate. Here we present results from a study on the Noce, a stream dominated by glacial run-off in the central-eastern Italian Alps. Water is stored in a reservoir at 2600 m a.s.l., and released through turbines at 1900 m a.s.l. It then is mixed with water from another watershed and released again in the Noce through turbines at 1300 m a.s.l. Temperature was recorded at hourly intervals above and below the last power plant. Conductivity, turbidity, oxygen and various chemical parameters were recorded hourly over 12 h on different occasions. The structure of the zoobenthic community was analysed above and below the lower release. Results indicate major hydro-peaking effects on the physical proprieties of the stream and on the zoobenthic community.
DE: 1803 Anthropogenic effects
SC: North American Benthological Society [NB]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly