Nordic socio-recreational ecosystem services in a hydropeaked river

Zeeshan Tahir Virk; Faisal Bin Ashraf; Ali Torabi Haghighi; Bjørn Kløve; Seppo Hellsten; Hannu Marttila

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169385

Nordic socio-recreational ecosystem services in a hydropeaked river

Zeeshan Tahir Virk, Faisal Bin Ashraf, Ali Torabi Haghighi, Bjørn Kløve, Seppo Hellsten, Hannu Marttila

Water Resources Science & Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Fluctuating energy prices call for short-term river flow regulation at hydropower plants (HPPs), which can lead to hydropeaking – the pulsating water flow downstream from a HPP. Hydropeaking can affect land use areas of regulated rivers and subsequently their socio–recreational ecosystem services (SRESs). These areas often offer a range of services, such as swimming, boating, fishing, hiking, cycling, and berry picking. Such activities hold significant value in Nordic culture and for human wellbeing. We have examined how SRES land use areas are affected by hourly hydropeaking in a reach of the Kemijoki River in Finland. First, we determined the state of hydropeaking in the river by employing two indicators, normalized daily maximum flow difference and sub-daily flow ramping. Next, we looked at the spatiotemporal impacts of peaking hydrology using inundation maps derived from 2D-hydrodynamic modeling and a high-resolution land use map with clearly identified SRES areas. Finally, we examined the hazards to hydraulic safety in the river channel in the context of instream recreation. Our results show that hydropeaking levels in the study area remained consistently high throughout the entire study period, from 2010 to 2021. This was the case in all seasons except for the spring of 2013, 2016 and 2019. We determined that hydropeaking impacts on SRESs are mostly felt in the littoral zone (0.84 km² i.e., 3.1 % of the study area) during the summer season as 25 % (0.21 km²) of this zone is influenced by hydropeaking. In addition, multiple recreational use areas in this zone, such as beaches, riparian forest, and summer cottages, were found to be affected by hydropeaking. The results show that most of the river channel becomes hydraulically unsafe during high ramping flows. The highest hazard to instream recreation opportunities is likely to occur during summer. Consequently, hydropeaking can threaten the social and recreational services of Nordic rivers.

Original language	English
Article number	169385
Journal	Science of the Total Environment
Volume	912
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169385
State	Published - Feb 20 2024

Funding

Academy of Finland under the EcoRiver Project (Grant 323810 ) and Maa- ja Vesitekniikan Tuki ry (MVTT) (Grant No. 4425 ) have funded this research. The Research Council of Norway supported the writing part under the WATNEX project (Grant No. 314608 ). The study is part of Freshwater Competence Centre (FWCC) activities. We thank Kemijoki Oy hydropower company for providing bathymetry and discharge data for our study reach in Kemijoki River. Faisal Bin Ashraf is an employee of UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). Accordingly, the US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript or allow others to do so, for US Government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( https://www.energy.gov/doe-public-access-plan ).

Keywords

Ecosystem services
Hydraulic safety
Hydropower
Load balancing
Machine learning
Recreation
Short-term regulation
Social
Sub-Arctic rivers
Supervised land use classification

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10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169385

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title = "Nordic socio-recreational ecosystem services in a hydropeaked river",

abstract = "Fluctuating energy prices call for short-term river flow regulation at hydropower plants (HPPs), which can lead to hydropeaking – the pulsating water flow downstream from a HPP. Hydropeaking can affect land use areas of regulated rivers and subsequently their socio–recreational ecosystem services (SRESs). These areas often offer a range of services, such as swimming, boating, fishing, hiking, cycling, and berry picking. Such activities hold significant value in Nordic culture and for human wellbeing. We have examined how SRES land use areas are affected by hourly hydropeaking in a reach of the Kemijoki River in Finland. First, we determined the state of hydropeaking in the river by employing two indicators, normalized daily maximum flow difference and sub-daily flow ramping. Next, we looked at the spatiotemporal impacts of peaking hydrology using inundation maps derived from 2D-hydrodynamic modeling and a high-resolution land use map with clearly identified SRES areas. Finally, we examined the hazards to hydraulic safety in the river channel in the context of instream recreation. Our results show that hydropeaking levels in the study area remained consistently high throughout the entire study period, from 2010 to 2021. This was the case in all seasons except for the spring of 2013, 2016 and 2019. We determined that hydropeaking impacts on SRESs are mostly felt in the littoral zone (0.84 km2 i.e., 3.1 % of the study area) during the summer season as 25 % (0.21 km2) of this zone is influenced by hydropeaking. In addition, multiple recreational use areas in this zone, such as beaches, riparian forest, and summer cottages, were found to be affected by hydropeaking. The results show that most of the river channel becomes hydraulically unsafe during high ramping flows. The highest hazard to instream recreation opportunities is likely to occur during summer. Consequently, hydropeaking can threaten the social and recreational services of Nordic rivers.",

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doi = "10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169385",

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AU - Virk, Zeeshan Tahir

AU - Ashraf, Faisal Bin

AU - Haghighi, Ali Torabi

AU - Kløve, Bjørn

AU - Hellsten, Seppo

AU - Marttila, Hannu

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N2 - Fluctuating energy prices call for short-term river flow regulation at hydropower plants (HPPs), which can lead to hydropeaking – the pulsating water flow downstream from a HPP. Hydropeaking can affect land use areas of regulated rivers and subsequently their socio–recreational ecosystem services (SRESs). These areas often offer a range of services, such as swimming, boating, fishing, hiking, cycling, and berry picking. Such activities hold significant value in Nordic culture and for human wellbeing. We have examined how SRES land use areas are affected by hourly hydropeaking in a reach of the Kemijoki River in Finland. First, we determined the state of hydropeaking in the river by employing two indicators, normalized daily maximum flow difference and sub-daily flow ramping. Next, we looked at the spatiotemporal impacts of peaking hydrology using inundation maps derived from 2D-hydrodynamic modeling and a high-resolution land use map with clearly identified SRES areas. Finally, we examined the hazards to hydraulic safety in the river channel in the context of instream recreation. Our results show that hydropeaking levels in the study area remained consistently high throughout the entire study period, from 2010 to 2021. This was the case in all seasons except for the spring of 2013, 2016 and 2019. We determined that hydropeaking impacts on SRESs are mostly felt in the littoral zone (0.84 km2 i.e., 3.1 % of the study area) during the summer season as 25 % (0.21 km2) of this zone is influenced by hydropeaking. In addition, multiple recreational use areas in this zone, such as beaches, riparian forest, and summer cottages, were found to be affected by hydropeaking. The results show that most of the river channel becomes hydraulically unsafe during high ramping flows. The highest hazard to instream recreation opportunities is likely to occur during summer. Consequently, hydropeaking can threaten the social and recreational services of Nordic rivers.

AB - Fluctuating energy prices call for short-term river flow regulation at hydropower plants (HPPs), which can lead to hydropeaking – the pulsating water flow downstream from a HPP. Hydropeaking can affect land use areas of regulated rivers and subsequently their socio–recreational ecosystem services (SRESs). These areas often offer a range of services, such as swimming, boating, fishing, hiking, cycling, and berry picking. Such activities hold significant value in Nordic culture and for human wellbeing. We have examined how SRES land use areas are affected by hourly hydropeaking in a reach of the Kemijoki River in Finland. First, we determined the state of hydropeaking in the river by employing two indicators, normalized daily maximum flow difference and sub-daily flow ramping. Next, we looked at the spatiotemporal impacts of peaking hydrology using inundation maps derived from 2D-hydrodynamic modeling and a high-resolution land use map with clearly identified SRES areas. Finally, we examined the hazards to hydraulic safety in the river channel in the context of instream recreation. Our results show that hydropeaking levels in the study area remained consistently high throughout the entire study period, from 2010 to 2021. This was the case in all seasons except for the spring of 2013, 2016 and 2019. We determined that hydropeaking impacts on SRESs are mostly felt in the littoral zone (0.84 km2 i.e., 3.1 % of the study area) during the summer season as 25 % (0.21 km2) of this zone is influenced by hydropeaking. In addition, multiple recreational use areas in this zone, such as beaches, riparian forest, and summer cottages, were found to be affected by hydropeaking. The results show that most of the river channel becomes hydraulically unsafe during high ramping flows. The highest hazard to instream recreation opportunities is likely to occur during summer. Consequently, hydropeaking can threaten the social and recreational services of Nordic rivers.

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KW - Load balancing

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KW - Short-term regulation

KW - Social

KW - Sub-Arctic rivers

KW - Supervised land use classification

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ER -

Nordic socio-recreational ecosystem services in a hydropeaked river

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